Gender Stereotypes In The Help

The Help (2011)

1. How do culture, ethnicity and race affect people's leisure choices?

Culture, ethnicity and race affect people's leisure choices by setting guidelines that are enforced by laws and norms. In The Help, Jackson, Mississippi was divided by racial fueled views. These views developed into ideas which bloom laws that allowed for the segregation of people. Today, you only need money and a desire to do most things but back then another requirement was your physical characteristics. If you was black, you couldn't enter this theater or that restaurant. If you was a woman, you couldn't get this job or live that life style. This is shown clearly when Emma stone character Skeeter interviews Viola Davis character Aibileen.

2. How are gender stereotypes portrayed in this film? How are they culturally influenced?
It was the ideals of motherhood and what makes a good woman. It was the presumed duty of a woman to have and take care of children and because of this, was the main factor on judging a woman worth. Throughout the film, Skeeter was pushed toward giving up her dreams of being a writer and starting a family. For Skeeter, she had to hide her values in order to keep her dream alive. For Aibileen, work was a necessity to keep her family afloat, but even in her situation she had to hide certain facts from her love ones. In the end, their gender and culture put them in positon that they could not fit, so they had to become defiant to do what they believed