The Help
Movie Paper: The Help
Victoria Harris
December 2, 2012
I decided to watch the movie titled The Help. Sitting down to watch the over two hour movie I hoped that it would be as good as everyone made it seem. Shortly after the first fifteen minutes into the movie you could tell that it was going to be a really great and interesting movie. The Help was actually a novel first based on a book written about African American maids around the time of the civil rights movements around the fifties and sixties. Those maids where called “the help” by their white bosses. This movie showed how an aspiring female writer who thought differently than most other white women in her time, had the courage to interview the black maids to bring their story out about what it was like to be a maid in Jackson, Mississippi. Since this was around the time of the civil rights acts and movements, there was a large amount of racism and discrimination between the two races creating these conflicts in their relationships. Even though slavery was thought of as being demolished and done, it didn’t seem as so because of how these women were being treated.
The conflict between the black maids and the white women, whom they worked for, was the main focus in this movie. This was a relationship that has been touched but never been shown in this light before. Most, if not all of the maids came from families that were slaves before them. Even though there was some change such as there being laws that outlined certain rules and regulations between the black people and the white people, there was still separation between the two race groups. Both sides adhered to this way of living accordingly. The white women in the move definitely stuck together and developed this empowerment while treating their maids with in one way or another with some kind of discrimination. For example there was one part in the movie where the writer wanted to interview one of the maids for her article in the newspaper, and when
Victoria Harris
December 2, 2012
I decided to watch the movie titled The Help. Sitting down to watch the over two hour movie I hoped that it would be as good as everyone made it seem. Shortly after the first fifteen minutes into the movie you could tell that it was going to be a really great and interesting movie. The Help was actually a novel first based on a book written about African American maids around the time of the civil rights movements around the fifties and sixties. Those maids where called “the help” by their white bosses. This movie showed how an aspiring female writer who thought differently than most other white women in her time, had the courage to interview the black maids to bring their story out about what it was like to be a maid in Jackson, Mississippi. Since this was around the time of the civil rights acts and movements, there was a large amount of racism and discrimination between the two races creating these conflicts in their relationships. Even though slavery was thought of as being demolished and done, it didn’t seem as so because of how these women were being treated.
The conflict between the black maids and the white women, whom they worked for, was the main focus in this movie. This was a relationship that has been touched but never been shown in this light before. Most, if not all of the maids came from families that were slaves before them. Even though there was some change such as there being laws that outlined certain rules and regulations between the black people and the white people, there was still separation between the two race groups. Both sides adhered to this way of living accordingly. The white women in the move definitely stuck together and developed this empowerment while treating their maids with in one way or another with some kind of discrimination. For example there was one part in the movie where the writer wanted to interview one of the maids for her article in the newspaper, and when
References: Koppelman, K. L., & Goodhart, R. L. (2005). Understanding human differences: multicultural education for a diverse America (Third ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Taylor, T. (Director). (2011). The Help [Motion picture]. USA: Touchstone Home Entertainment