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"The Help" is a safe film about a volatile subject. Presenting itself as the story of how African-American maids in the South viewed their employers during Jim Crow days, it is equally the story of how they empowered a young white woman to write a best-seller about them, and how that book transformed the author's mother. We are happy for the two white women, and a third, but as the film ends it is still Jackson, Mississippi and Ross Barnett is still governor.

Still, this is a good film, involving and wonderfully acted. I was drawn into the characters and quite moved, even though all the while I was aware it was a feel-good fable, a story that deals with pain but doesn't care to be that painful. We don't always go to the movies for searing truth, but more often for reassurance: Yes, racism is vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people are bad.

The story, based on Kathryn Stockett's best-seller, focuses on Skeeter Phelan ( Emma Stone ), a recent college graduate who comes home and finds she doesn't fit in so easily. Stone has top billing, but her character seems a familiar type, and the movie is stolen, one scene at a time, by two other characters: Aibileen Clark ( Viola Davis ) and Minny Jackson ( Octavia Spencer ).

Both are maids. Aibileen has spent her life as a nanny, raising little white girls. She is very good at it, and genuinely gives them her love, although when they grow up they have an inexorable tendency to turn into their mothers. Minny is a maid who is fired by a local social leader, then hired by a white-trash blonde. Davis and Spencer have such luminous qualities that this becomes their stories, perhaps not entirely by design.

The society lady, Hilly Holbrook ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), is a relentless social climber who fires Minny after long years of service. The blonde is Celia Foote ( Jessica Chastain , from " The Tree of Life "), who is married to a well-off businessman, is desperate to please him, and knows never learned anything about being a housewife.

Minny needs a job, and is happy to work for her. Celia wants her only during the days, when her husband is away, so that he'll think he's eating her cooking and enjoying her housekeeping. Minny helps her with these tasks and many more, some heart-breaking, and fills her with realistic advice. Chastain is unaffected and infectious in her performance.

Celia doesn't listen to Minny's counsel, however, when she attends a big local charity event (for, yes, Hungry African Children), and the event provides the movie's comic centerpiece. Celia's comeuppance doesn't have much to do with the main story, but it gets a lot of big laughs. Some details about a pie seem to belong in a different kind of movie.

Skeeter convinces Aibileen and then Minny to speak frankly with her, sharing their stories, and as the book develops so does her insight and anger. A somber subplot involves the mystery of why Skeeter's beloved nanny, who worked for the family for 29 years, disappeared while Skeeter was away at school. Her mother ( Alison Janney ) harbors the secret of the nanny's disappearance, and after revealing it she undergoes a change of heart in a big late scene of redemption.

Two observations, for what they're worth. All the white people in the movie smoke. None of the black people do. There are several white men with important speaking roles, but only two black men, including a preacher, who have much to say.

There was a 1991 movie named " The Long Walk Home " that starred Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek as a maid and her employer at the time of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It had sharper edges than "The Help." But I suppose the Stockett novel has many loyal readers, and that this is the movie they imagined while reading it. It's very entertaining. Viola Davis is a force of nature and Octavia Spencer has a wonderfully expressive face and flawless comic timing. Praise, too for Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard and Alison Janney. They would have benefitted from a more fearless screenplay.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Help (2011)

Rated PG-13

146 minutes

Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan

Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark

Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson

Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook

Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote

Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt

Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan

Anna Camp as Jolene French

Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth

Cicely Tyson as Constantine Jefferson

Mike Vogel as Johnny Foote

Sissy Spacek as Missus Walters

Mary Steenburgen as Elaine Stein

Written and directed by

• Tate Taylor

Based on the novel by

• Kathryn Stockett

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50 The Help (2011)

Discrimination in ​ the help.

By Alexia Privratsky

Imagine washing dishes and caring for another woman’s children all day, every day, with little to no appreciation or recognition; feeling like the children are your own, due to the fact that you practically raised them. Imagine being an African American woman in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, working as a housemaid, when the civil rights movement was in full motion. Jim Crow laws prohibit you from entering the same stores as white people, sitting in the same bus seats, using the same restroom, and even going to the same schools. You live a life entirely separate from that of white people, yet they still allow you in their home to work for them. This depiction of the lifestyle of African American housemaids in the 1960s is portrayed in the movie, ​ The Help . This movie is about a young woman, named Skeeter, who recently graduated college and has returned to her hometown, Jackson, Mississippi, to work on a project for her career as a journalist. The other white women that are the same age as Skeeter refer to their housemaids as “the help,” who are predominantly African American women. The treatment that the maids receive from the white women sparks unsettlement in Skeeter’s gut, giving her the idea to write a book about the relationship between housemaids and Southern white women. Skeeter eventually has numerous of the housemaids agree to tell her their stories, from which eventually Skeeter is able to publish a book. The main purpose of this movie is to portray the reality of racial discrimination in the 1960s. ​ The Help ​, overall, effectively portrays the magnitude to which racial discrimination impacted the lives of many African Americans in the 1960s through the use of specific visual and audio techniques, including editing, sound design, mise en scene, cinematography, and visual design.

During the 1960s, when ​The Help is set, the civil rights movement had begun to run full force. At this time, people were protesting, sit-ins were taking place at restaurants, the Little Rock Nine made a bold move attending an all-white high school, Rosa Parks got arrested for not giving up her seat, and so on. African American people were pursuing change in the world and were tired of the consistent discrimination that they faced. The director, Tate Taylor, and the producers of ​The Help​wanted to portray the racial discrimination that many African American women faced on an everyday basis, that was not always talked about in the media. The Associate professor of Theater at Tufts University, Monica Ndounou, states the filmmakers’ purpose as well when she states in her book, ​ Shaping the Future of African American Film ​, that “the black female protagonists in each film are intended to appeal to female audiences across color and class lines on the basis of women’s issues.” This shows that not only were the filmmakers of​ The Help ​seeking to portray issues of race, they also included issues regarding women’s rights. The filmmakers were able to convey the importance of the historical component of the movie through using film elements as well, such as mise en scene. The filmmakers created each set to include specific details, such as in the white womens’ homes the scenes had expensive decorations and looked virtually perfect while when the scene shows one of the black womens’ homes, it is not as nice nor particular (12:06 and 41:01). This detail that the filmmakers included also entails the historical importance of the impact that racial discrimination had on class standing. Since black families were not able to pursue the same careers or education that white people had the opportunity to, they often lived very simplistic and poor lives. Overall, this film portrays a very important time in history when minorities were finally embarking upon freedom and independence.

Through the historical component of this film, viewers are also able to determine instances of difference portrayed. The filmmakers were trying to exhibit the large social gap between African Americans and white people during this time period; they accomplished this through including scenes that show the difference in housing, clothing, lifestyles, and careers that different racial groups had. For example, at 8:21 in the film, Hilly, her mother Missus Walters, and Minny are walking down the sidewalk. In this scene, the camera makes a following shot, meaning the camera follows the characters’ movement to keep them in the frame.

This technique accentuates the clothing that each character is wearing: Hilly and her mother are wearing nice dresses and heels while Minny is wearing a maid’s uniform. This technique peaks the attention of viewers at each character’s outfit, and shows the drastic difference that their social classes are through the things they are wearing. Another instance of how the filmmakers portray examples of difference in the film is seen through Skeeter’s character. Although Skeeter is a white woman, she is still widely different from her peers. Exactly like Carol Miles, a professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha, states, “from [Skeeter’s] untamed curly locks to her practical shoes, and seeming lack of interest in marriage and starting a family, she is unconventional by the standards of the day and among her peers.” The filmmakers purposefully create Skeeter’s character to be an outsider to justify her decision of completing illegal acts, such as when she listens to the black womens’ testimonies regarding the treatment they receive from white people (56:26). Due to the time period exemplified in ​ The Help , the filmmakers worked very hard to distinctively portray differences among the black and white characters. Without these differences, the stark laws regarding interracial friendships would not be as understood by the audience. Not only was it dangerous for black and white people to become friends in the 1960s in Mississippi, like Skeeter did with the maids, “it was dangerous in Mississippi for whites and blacks [to even] talk about racial oppression” (Denby). The portrayal of difference in this film has such a heavy importance that without it, the civil rights movement of the 1960s would be inaccurately represented.

Not only are instances of difference among the characters important in the film, instances of the amount of power that different characters have is as well. The filmmakers of ​The Help crafted each character’s socioeconomic standing to represent the amount of power that they had in society. For example, due to the fact that the maids worked for the white women, they were often treated as if they did not have any power in society at all. At 32:24 in the movie, Hilly and Minny have an argument about Minny using Hilly’s restroom, which leads to Minny getting fired. In this scene, the amount of power that Hilly has is seen through the sound design in the film; when Hilly screams at Minny when she hears the toilet flush, she immediately uses her power to fire Minny. This scene directly correlates to the power that black people had in society in the 1960s as well. Manohla Dargis illustrates the degree to which white people had power over their maids when she states that the filmmakers included scenes of Aibileen and Minny “cleaning white houses and polishing the silver — and cooking meals and tending children and smiling, always smiling, even as they pretend not to hear the insults — to remind you that this is at least partly about backbreaking, soul-killing black labor.” Another instance of the portrayal of white power in this movie is when Hilly states that as a Christian, she is doing Yule Mae Davis a favor by not loaning her the money to pay for her sons’ college. This scene uses a medium close-up on Yule’s facial reaction to show the disappointment that she has in Hilly after she says that she would not loan her the money. Overall, the portrayal of power in this film is crucial to the central purpose of the movie, which is to accurately depict the lifestyle of African American women in the 1960s in the South.

Similarly to how difference and power are portrayed in the movie, discrimination is also depicted. In the Southern states amid the civil rights movement, white people were incredibly discriminatory towards African Americans. Due to the fact that the movie, ​The Help, takes place during this time period and the main characters are African American women, discrimination is central to the development of the plot. An example of when discrimination is portrayed is when Hilly finds it unacceptable that the black maids use the white women’s restrooms (14:52). In fact, due to Hilly’s disgust, she refuses to use the restroom despite how badly she has to go. This scene directly illustrates the degree to which black women faced discrimination during this time period; due to their color of skin, they were not allowed to use the same restroom as white people. The filmmakers of the movie were able to use frontality shots and still focus of the camera to isolate Aibileen’s reaction to Hilly’s statement regarding the bathroom, which provides a detailed explanation of the emotions that the black women felt from the discrimination they faced.

Another example of discrimination that is portrayed in the film is when Aibileen and Henry are riding the public bus home when the bus stops at a traffic block and the driver tells the “colored people” to get off the bus so that he can take the white people home (1:21:07). This scene contains numerous different forms of discrimination, from the fact that Aibileen and Henry were riding in the very back of the bus, entirely separate from the white people to the fact that they were forced to walk home. The filmmakers use a medium close-up on Aibileen and Henry before they are forced to get off the bus, to subtly show that they are in the very back of the bus, which is seen ever so slightly to the left of the camera’s focus. This technique enhances the portrayal of discrimination in the film because it adds another aspect of African Americans’ daily lifestyle that was affected by racism. This distinct illustration of racism also contributes to the film’s sole purpose, which is to show​“the​ injustice of black-white race relations in the South at the dawn of the civil rights movement” (Rainer).

Even though the filmmakers of ​The Help ​carefully crafted the film in order to ensure that every detail was accurately portrayed regarding the real-life events during the civil rights movement, there was still a minute amount of criticism. Tiyi Morris, a professor of African American studies at Ohio State University, states that the filmmakers of movies, including those of ​ The Help ​, “continue to ignore or deny the ugliness of racism and race relations throughout our nation’s history, instead opting for a sanitized and ultimately fictitious version of the past.” This was a common criticism of this film, due to the fact that it glazes over the harsh realities of racism and discrimination in the South, such as in lynching and violence. While this statement does contain some truth since ​The Help ​does not portray instances of the true violence that many black people faced during this time, there is valid reasoning as to why the filmmakers did not include such scenes. Since the film is rated PG-13, there are certain requirements that it must fulfill; if the movie were to portray the degree to which black people faced violence, the movie would need to be rated R. Also, the filmmakers made a decent effort in trying to depict the violence that African Americans faced, such as at 1:22:37 in the film, when Minny and Aibileen hear on the radio that a black man was killed by the KKK. Even though the film never shows the instance of the man being killed, the impact that it has on Minny and Aibileen shows enough. The filmmakers implicitly show their audience the violence that black people faced without graphically showing it on screen. So while criticisms of the movie state that the film shows a “fictitious version of the past,” others could counter the argument by showing scenes in the movie where the filmmakers allude to such violence black people faced amidst the civil rights movement (Morris).

The movie, ​ The Help , portrays such a realistic and appalling version of the past that draws viewers in instantaneously. It is because of this reason that I decided to analyze this film. When I first watched ​ The Help , I was astounded to see how white people treated such kind-hearted and hard-working African Americans. It truly broke my heart to see the amount of discrimination and power that white people had over innocent black people. I felt a deep connection to this movie in my heart because of the way that it portrayed white and black people. I found it interesting that while the white women were always trying so hard to look “perfect,” they often had more flaws than their maids. This shows the amount of humor that the filmmakers tried to include into The Help ​, they have a better interpretation of what it was truly like to be an African American in the 1960s. It is through films such as this that the issue of racial discrimination is brought to people’s attention in an urgent matter.

Due to the urgency of the issue regarding racial discrimination, it is important that people place themselves in the shoes of those who are part of racial minorities in order to understand the struggles that they have gone through. For example, imagining you were an African American maid in the South in the 1960s can directly show the treatment that black women received during this time period; not receiving appreciation, being paid incredibly low wages, not being able to use the restroom in the house, and raising another woman’s children as if they were their own are all hardships that these maids faced during this time. The movie, ​ The Help ​, portrays the relationship between black maids and white women to show viewers how influential the civil rights movement was to today’s society; without the civil rights movement, society would not be as progressive as it is today, meaning that even more racial discrimination would exist than what already does. Overall, this film discusses such important topics regarding racial discrimination that everyone should watch it. If we want society to continue to progress towards racial equality, we must first become educated on what initially caused racial tension to understand the pain that many white people have caused other races.

Baek, Su Bin. “Minny Is Using the Guest’s Bathroom Not Maid’s Bathroom | © DreamWorks.” Medium.com,​18 Dec. 2017, medium.com/@subinbaek/the-help-2011-you-is-kind-you-is-smart-you-is-important-5c04de42d28d.

Dargis, Manohla. “‘The Maids’ Now Have Their Say.” New York Times, 10 Aug. 2011, p. C1(L). Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A263841461/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=2f46ca21. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Davis, Sharen. “Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone, Back to Camera) Plays Bridge with Friends Elizabeth Leefolt (Ahna OReilly, from Right), Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard and Jolene French (Anna Camp), While Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) Looks On.” Latimesblogs.latimes.com,​10 Aug. 2011, latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2011/08/sharen-davis-dressing-southern-belles-maid s-for-the-help.html.

Denby, David. “Maids of Honor.” The New Yorker, vol. 87, no. 24, 15 Aug. 2011, p. 96. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A265027401/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=31ab6a75. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Miles, Carol. “The Help.” ​Journal of Religion and Film,vol. 15, no. 2, 2011. ​Gale Academic OneFile​, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A271665744/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=d95a6eda. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Morris, Tiyi M. “(Un)Learning Hollywood’s Civil Rights Movement: a Scholar’s Critique.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 22, no. 4, 2018, p. 407+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573714537/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=613252ff. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Ndounou, Monica White. ​Shaping the future of African American film​. Rutgers University Press, ebookcentral.proquest.com​,​ https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/linnbenton-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1687285. Accessed 17 11 2020.

Rainer, Peter. “The Help: Movie Review.” Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2011, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=63993388&site=ehost-live.

Robinette, Dale. “Heavy Handed Help Saved by Great Acting,” www.npr.org​,2011, www.npr.org/2011/08/10/139086532/heavy-handed-help-saved-by-great-acting.

Difference, Power, and Discrimination in Film and Media: Student Essays Copyright © by Students at Linn-Benton Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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by Kathryn Stockett

• The Help Summary

The Help focuses on three women in 1960s Jackson Mississippi: Aibileen, who works as a nanny and housekeeper for the Leefolt family; Minny, an outspoken maid; and Skeeter, a recent college graduate. Skeeter longs to pursue a career in writing that will take her beyond the stifling confines of her refined white southern society. Dismayed by the racist Home Help Sanitation Initiative started by her childhood friend Hilly Holbrook , Skeeter starts to think about what it might mean to change attitudes about race in Jackson Mississippi. On the suggestion of Harper and Row editor Elaine Stein , Skeeter starts a dangerous new project: interviewing the maids about what it is like to work as a black maid for a white family. Aibileen and Minny are initially skeptical of this idea, but soon realize that this is an important chance to tell their stories.

Spurred by Hilly's cruel and racist initiatives, the maids of Jackson Mississippi share their stories with Skeeter. Concerned that people will recognize themselves in the book, Minny adds a dark secret about Hilly to the book so that Hilly will stay quiet about the identity of the maids. The book is a surprise hit, generating a great deal of discussion between black and white women. After the success of the novel, Skeeter moves to New York to work in publishing. Aibileen is fired from her job and embarks on a writing career of her own, and Minny leaves her abusive husband.

The Help Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Help is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What Page number is this quote on?

Page numbers differ depending on the copy you have.

What is the conclution of the drama?

In the final chapter, all three of the main characters (Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen) are poised on the edge of a great change in their lives. Skeeter's new beginning is a bit more promising than that of the others; though she cannot publicly...

What role does mothers and daughters play in the play?

Mothers and daughters have difficult but deeply loving relationships. The Help examines several different types of mother-daughter relationships.

Elizabeth Leefolt has a strained relationship with her mother, who is aloof and demanding; she...

Study Guide for The Help

The Help study guide contains a biography of Kathryn Stockett, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Help
• Character List

Essays for The Help

The Help essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

• Devastation Through Segregation
• Internalized language stereotypes within The Help
• The Problem of Female Identity: Restrictive Gender Constructs in 'The Help' and in Plath's Poetry
• Trauma and Racism: 'The Help' as Understood in Print, in Film, and in Scholarly Sources
• Challenging Behaviors and the Audience

Lesson Plan for The Help

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Help
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Help Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Help

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• Film adaptation
• Awards and honors

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Life In The South, Through The Eyes Of 'The Help'

Ella Taylor

Help Me Help You: Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone, left), a neophyte journalist in Mississippi, interviews housemaids Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer, center) and Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis, right) about what it's like to work for white people. The Help aspires to be a three-hankie melodrama, but there's no steady directorial hand summoning the tears. Dale Robinette/Dreamworks Pictures hide caption

• Director: Tate Taylor
• Genre: Drama
• Running Time: 137 minutes

Rated PG-13 for thematic material

With: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain

Watch Clips

'I Got A Job'

Credit: Dreamworks Pictures

'Put Momma In A Chair'

'Minny Agrees'

As the lights went down on a press screening of The Help, the very nice young woman next to me offered a tissue for the tears she fully expected both of us would be mopping up throughout. I'd done a little weeping while reading Kathryn Stockett's lively — if brazenly string-pulling — 2009 novel about black maids and their white mistresses in the Deep South. Yet while my neighbor had used up her hankie supply by the end of the movie, I left dry-eyed and disappointed.

Set in Mississippi on the cusp of the civil rights movement, Stockett's best-seller — based in part on her own family experiences — is deftly constructed and briskly paced. She has an attentive ear for multiple voices and a sympathetic feel for the ambivalent ties that bound the privileged lunching ladies of the Junior League to the black women who raised their children, just as they had been raised while their own mothers made the bridge club rounds.

Adapted and directed by Hollywood hopeful Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of Stockett's, The Help trots stolidly after the book, replicating its basic structure while ironing out the verve with which its nested stories unfold. Taylor has none of Stockett's feel for the seething impulses of character, and he has a clunky way with some serious acting talent. In fairness, Emma Stone, the exuberant young star of Easy A, may not be built for earnest melodrama, but she's unaccountably tamped-down as Skeeter, the spirited young daughter of white privilege who powers this tale of racism and tentative reconciliation.

In an effort to launch a career in journalism ("the last stop before marriage!" one of her lunch chums cries merrily) and uncover the secret behind the disappearance of her own beloved nanny (Cicely Tyson), Skeeter embarks on a series of clandestine interviews with Aibileen (Viola Davis), a stoical, middle-aged maid submerging her grief over the death of her own son in her love for the little white girl she's raising in the shadow of an indifferent young mother.

Cutting between their stories, Stockett produced a portrait of a community painfully and, at times, hilariously awakening to the demise of its discriminatory system. This is a hard thing to pull off without winking at an audience familiar with how this story continued. Where Stockett told her story from the inside, Taylor suspends it in historical quotes with heavy-breathing allusions to the death of President Kennedy, the shooting of Medgar Evers and, inevitably, the wicked fashion sense of Jackie O.

Fearing retribution from their employers, Minny and Aibileen are at first reluctant to share their stories, but they eventually come around to allow Skeeter a glimpse into their world. Dale Robinette/Dreamworks Pictures hide caption

Fearing retribution from their employers, Minny and Aibileen are at first reluctant to share their stories, but they eventually come around to allow Skeeter a glimpse into their world.

Big hair, fine period frocks and interior design lend The Help a pleasingly retro look. Yet for someone who grew up in Mississippi, the director has little sense of place, unless you count one decidedly low-rent tornado and a few inside shots of a black church. Unlike Stockett, who might have been better off writing her own screenplay, Taylor has a tin ear for the vernacular speech of his own region. Much of the dialogue seems lifted from Margaret Mitchell, with the result that virtually no one escapes caricature, from Bryce Dallas Howard, anxiously overdoing a vicious housewife who has made it her life's mission to bar servants from their employers' bathrooms, to Sissy Spacek, marooned in an excruciating dotty-old-lady role as her mother, to Jessica Chastain as a good-hearted white-trash interloper trying to break into a circle as conscious of class as it is bigoted about color.

Worst of all, the pivotal figure of Minny (Octavia Spencer), a motor-mouthed maid with a gift for ruffling white feathers, has been broadened into something approaching a black mammy, then drafted, in the movie's last act, into an episode of The Jeffersons, complete with revenge in the form of chocolate pie containing suspect ingredients.

In his lumbering way, Taylor makes Stockett's story his own by expanding the book's mild lavatorial metaphors for the ill-considered farce that pretty much takes over the movie's last act. All of which shoves into the background some beautifully tempered acting by one of our great character actresses. Holding the line for intelligent restraint, Davis' Aibileen subtly navigates the blend of loyalty and rising anger that binds her to her employers, then leads her to break free. Under Davis' skillful hand, Aibileen emerges as the reluctant heroine of The Help, the dignified face of nonviolent resistance, and the one who argues wordlessly for the union between two people on opposite sides of the racial divide that ends this rather wishful tale.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

• An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
• Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times. — Walt Disney Pictures
• Jackson, Mississippi, 1963. With the Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation, budding journalist Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan returns to her hometown after graduation. But the vibrant, good-hearted white woman doesn't come home empty-handed: Skeeter has come up with the radical idea to interview local black maids and tell their side of the story in her book, a collection of their distressing, moving stories. As Skeeter gradually wins the cooperation of the fearful African-American housekeepers to dish the dirt on the upper-crust southern families, she inevitably locks horns with bigoted community leaders, arrogant childhood friends, and her family. However, nothing can stop the winds of change--not even the assassination of American civil rights activist Medgar Evers . — Nick Riganas
• In civil-rights era Jackson, Mississippi, 23-year-old Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan ( Emma Stone ), a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi and an aspiring writer, attends a bridge game at the home of her friend Elizabeth Leefolt ( Ahna O'Reilly ). Skeeter's girlhood friends have all gotten married and started families, but Skeeter is disturbed to see how they treat their African American maids. Elizabeth's maid, Aibileen Clark ( Viola Davis ), fields a call from "white trash" Celia Foote ( Jessica Chastain ), who wants to help with a benefit being organized by the Junior League. Elizabeth and fellow socialite Hilly Holbrook ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), head of the local Junior League chapter, laugh at Celia's efforts to be accepted, as they don't think she's up to their social standards. (We learn later that Celia's married to Hilly's former boyfriend, which might have something to do with Hilly's attitude.) Celia mentions to Aibileen that she's looking for a maid. After refusing to use Elizabeth's toilet because Aibileen uses it ("they carry different diseases than we do!"), Hilly describes the Home Health Sanitation Initiative she hopes to get passed in the state legislature. The bill would require white-owned homes to have a separate toilet for the Negro "help." This conversation is conducted within earshot of Aibileen. Skeeter has been assigned to write the Miss Myrna housekeeping column for the local newspaper. Because she has never had to do much housework herself, she asks Aibileen for assistance. In addition to doing all the cooking and cleaning for Elizabeth's family, Aibileen is the de facto mother of Elizabeth's toddler daughter, Mae Mobley ( Eleanor Henry and Emma Henry ), for whom Elizabeth shows heart-rendingly little concern. Every day Aibileen tells Mae Mobley, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." When Skeeter gets home, her mother, Charlotte ( Allison Janney ), is trying on a dress. Charlotte gets Skeeter to try it on and bugs her about still being single. Skeeter mentions the job she landed, and her mother frets that she'll never get married. Charlotte asks whether Skeeter is attracted to women, as she's "heard of an herbal remedy than can cure such 'unnatural' urges." Skeeter is horrified. At dinner that night Skeeter makes a rude remark about liking girls and her mother excuses herself from the table because Skeeter has upset her cancerous ulcer. Skeeter runs to a favorite spot outdoors, a small bench under a tree, and remembers how Constantine ( Cicely Tyson ), the maid who raised her from a child, comforted her when she wasn't asked to a dance. Skeeter desperately misses Constantine, who according to Charlotte quit while Skeeter was away at college. Skeeter can tell there's more to the story, but no one will say what really happened. Disturbed by the sudden loss of Constantine and at how Elizabeth and Hilly treat their own maids with bigoted condescension, Skeeter conceives a writing project: a book about the lives of Jackson's maids. She describes the project to Elaine Stein ( Mary Steenburgen ), an editor in New York, and receives lukewarm encouragement; Elaine doubts that any maids will agree to participate. Skeeter approaches Aibeleen about the book, but Aibileen declines to be interviewed. Hilly's maid, Minny Jackson ( Octavia Spencer ), disobeys Hilly's order not to use the family's bathroom during a violent thunderstorm that makes a trip to the outhouse dangerous. Hilly fires her over the objections of her own mother, Mrs. Walters ( Sissy Spacek ). In retaliation, Minny makes a chocolate pie into which she has baked her own feces, and takes it to Hilly in a fake act of contrition. While Hilly greedily eats two slices, she asks why her mother can't have a slice, to which Minny explains that it's a "special pie, just for Miss Hilly." A moment later Minny tells Hilly, "Eat my shit!" Hilly asks if Minny's lost her mind, and Minny replies, "No, ma'am, but you is about to. 'Cause you just did." Hilly's mother laughs and laughs and Hilly retaliates by having her mother committed to a nursing home. Later that night, Minny's husband beats her while Aibileen listens on the phone. At church the next day, Aibileen hears a sermon about courage and changing her mind, resolves to help Skeeter with her book. She tearfully recounts to Skeeter and Minny the story of her son's death years before: At age twenty-four, Aibileen's son was run over by a truck at his workplace. The white foreman drove him to a colored hospital, dumped him on the ground, honked the horn, and left. By that point it was too late to save him, so Aibileen brought him home, where he died on the sofa right before her eyes. She expresses her pain, saying "The anniversary of his death comes every year, and every year I can't breathe. But to you all, it's just another day of bridge." She becomes even more invested in the dangerous book project. Meanwhile Minny goes to work for Celia Foote, who's had no luck breaking into the Junior League social set and is therefore somewhat isolated. Celia pays Minny under the table because she doesn't want her husband to know that she has no domestic skills. Although she is generally suspicious of white people, Minny finds herself becoming more comfortable around Celia, who is bubbly and treats Minny with respect, but is deeply insecure. Minny improves Celia's dismal cooking skills by teaching her how to make fried chicken on her first day. They bond further when Celia suffers her fourth miscarriage. While Minny helps her into bed and soothes her, Celia is overwrought. She reveals that she married her husband Johnny ( Mike Vogel ) because she was pregnant, but quickly lost the baby and hasn't told him about the three failed pregnancies that followed. She worries that she will never be able to have children. Hilly's new maid, Yule Mae ( Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor ), explains to her employer that her twin sons have graduated high school and that she and her husband have been saving for years to send them to college. However, they are short $75 on one tuition, and are on the verge of having to choose which son can go. Yule Mae respectfully asks Hilly for a loan, saying that she will gladly work for free until the loan is paid off. Hilly refuses, explaining that it's "the Christian thing" to do because God does not give charity to those who are well and able. While vacuuming Hilly's living room later, Yule Mae finds a ring, which she pockets and later tries to pawn, hoping to get the tuition money. Hilly finds out and has Yule Mae arrested at the bus stop in front of the other maids, all of whom are deeply shaken by the event. Aibileen recruits a reluctant Minny into the book project, but Elaine Stein (who's warming to the idea) insists the book will need at least a dozen voices -- including the story of Skeeter's own relationship with Constantine. After Yule Mae's arrest, nearly all the local maids volunteer to help with the book. Though she has changed the names of everyone involved, Skeeter remains concerned that people will recognize the maids and create more trouble for the Negro community in the wake of the recent murder of Medgar Evars. Minny insists that they include the story about Hilly and the chocolate pie -- which she refers to as her "terrible awful" -- as insurance against being identified; an embarrassed Hilly will not want anyone to know that she ingested her maid's feces and will do all she can to convince everyone that the book isn't about Jackson. Hilly has several times directed Skeeter, who writes the Junior League newsletter, to include an item about her proposed "sanitation initiative," but Skeeter keeps putting her off. Now Hilly adds an item about a charity coat drive, the coats for which are to be dropped off at Hilly's house. Skeeter includes both items, but changes "coats" to something else. The next day Elizabeth gets a call and rushes herself, Mae Mobley, and Aibileen over to Hilly's, where Hilly is screaming, "I told her to write 'coats'! Not 'commodes'!" On Hilly's lawn are about 40 toilets. While Hilly continues her histrionics, Mae Mobley innocently sits on a toilet and Elizabeth slaps her till she sobs. Mae Mobley runs to Aibileen, who holds her and whispers, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Skeeter eventually pries the story of Constantine's departure out of her mother: Charlotte fired Constantine because Constantine's daughter Rachel ( LaChanze ) refused to use the back door and embarrassed Charlotte while she was hosting an important DAR luncheon. Charlotte regretted it and tried to get Constantine to come back, going so far as to send her son, Skeeter's brother, to Constantine's new home in Chicago, but by the time he got there, Constantine had died. Skeeter's book The Help is published anonymously, and soon everyone in Jackson is reading it. True to Minny's prediction, Hilly is horrified to find the chocolate pie story therein and goes out of her way to assure her friends that The Help isn't about Jackson. Skeeter splits the advance she receives evenly among all the maids, promising that more is on the way. She's offered a job at the publishing house in New York, which she is disinclined to take, but Aibileen and Minny insist that she must. Stuart Whitworth ( Christopher Lowell ), whom Skeeter has been dating, breaks up with Skeeter when he finds out it was she who wrote The Help. Hilly also figures out who wrote the book and storms over to Skeeter's house in a drunken fury. She threatens to tell Skeeter's mother, but Charlotte kicks Hilly off her property after insulting her and insinuating she knows about the pie. Charlotte tells Skeeter to take the job in New York, which Skeeter does, and Charlotte tells her she's proud of her. Celia works hard to prepare a lavish meal for Minny in gratitude for all she has done. Celia's husband, who has known all along that Minny is working for Celia, tells Minny she will have a job with them for as long as she wants it. Inspired, Minny leaves her abusive husband, taking their children with her. One of the final scenes shows Hilly taking in her mail. One item is a check for $200, a donation from Celia to the Junior League benefit. When she sees that the check is made out to "Two-Slice Hilly," she throws a tantrum and tears it up. Hilly, falsely claiming that Aibileen has stolen some silverware, browbeats the weak-willed Elizabeth into firing Aibileen. When alone with Aibileen, Hilly cruelly tells her that while she cannot send Aibileen to jail for her involvement in the book, she can send her "for being a thief." Aibileen snaps and finally stands up to Hilly, calling her a "godless woman" for her false accusations and for her conniving and backstabbing ways, at which Hilly bursts into tears of rage and leaves. Mae Mobley begs Aibileen not to leave her. They share a tearful goodbye, during which Aibileen repeats her affirming mantra: "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Elizabeth shows a rare glimpse of emotion, tearing up as she watches Mae Mobley bang on the window, crying for Aibileen to return. As she walks away, Aibileen promises herself that she will become a writer, as her son had encouraged her to do.

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How ‘The Help’ Depicts Race Relations

To the Editor:

In “ Dangerous White Stereotypes ” (Op-Ed, Aug. 29), Patricia A. Turner argues that the white characters in the film “The Help” who supported racist practices were portrayed as “bad” people, which implied that “good” people were not racists. But in reality “that wasn’t the case,” she says; many of the supporters of racist practice were “white middle-class people, people whose company you would enjoy.”

Trying to understand racism by classifying people as good or bad is one of the oldest traps that conversations about race fall into. Being called a racist is a powerful attack that most Americans recoil from. And it stops further conversation that might help to resolve past wrongs.

Shouldn’t we use a film like “The Help” to talk about how racism can engulf an entire culture and ruin lives in the process?

Defining the problem as one of good and bad people only serves to create fissures that get in the way of talking about how racist practices harm us all. This is what “The Help” helps us to see. It is a far stronger statement against racism than many critics have acknowledged.

DAN ROMER Bryn Mawr, Pa., Aug. 30, 2011

The writer is a social psychologist who has studied racist practices and beliefs.

Prof. Patricia A. Turner makes an excellent point when she criticizes “The Help” for implying that good white people of the 1960s were by definition non-racist. But it does something even more insidious. It invites white audiences, as do most Hollywood movies about race, to identify with an enlightened white character — in this case, the stand-in for the author of the book, Kathryn Stockett.

In so doing, it validates our fantasy that we would have seen the truth and we would have risked our comfort for the sake of justice. It assures us that we would have been, and by extension we are now, on the side of right.

Funny how racism persists despite us white people being so darn virtuous!

MARY BROWN New York, Aug. 29, 2011

The writer is a director and producer of documentary films.

The median age of Americans is 37.2 years. So many viewers were not even born during the time depicted in “The Help”; hence, they have no idea what life was like in the Jim Crow-era South.

No one can argue that there wasn’t an oppressive political power imbalance, but not all whites were versions of Simon Legree (the cruel slave dealer in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”) and not all blacks were the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks.

In the black community we’ve had similar arguments before about “Roots” and “The Color Purple” that often ended in the following stalemate: The younger generation will not concede anything to the older because it doesn’t know what happened, and the older generation will not concede to the younger because it does know what happened.

DAVID L. EVANS

Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 29, 2011

Patricia A. Turner’s excellent essay confirms much of what I saw as a white girl growing up in Atlanta in the 1950s and ’60s. I, too, recall many estimable white people who harbored racist sentiments. I also know that there were at least two who vehemently opposed the racism that infected our world: my mother and father.

I remember boarding an Atlanta bus with my mother and finding no empty seats in the “whites only” section. This must have been before 1959, when Atlanta was forced to desegregate its buses. As dictated by local law, the most forward-sitting black person was required to vacate his seat so that my mother and I could sit. This would have meant dislodging an elderly black man with a cane.

My mother decided she wanted no part in supporting segregation. As he started to stand, she asked him please not to move, and sat me beside him.

Only as an adult did I understand how much courage it took for my mother to engage in this small act of civil disobedience.

It’s too bad that there weren’t more good white people who shared my parents’ convictions; it might have hastened the end of American apartheid.

MARIAN BASS Truro, Mass., Aug. 29, 2011

The situation portrayed in “The Help” didn’t exist only below the Mason-Dixon Line. Growing up in a 1960s liberal middle-class household on Long Island, my mother regularly referred to “the girl,” our 52-year-old housekeeper — and locked up the liquor when she came.

So, before we self-righteous Northerners point a finger at stereotyped Southern “white trash,” we should first look in the mirror.

PETER J. PITTS

New York, Aug. 29, 2011

As a Caucasian native of Jackson, Miss., where “The Help” is set, I devoured both the book and the film.

I disagree with Patricia A. Turner’s claim that segregation was “unquestioned” by whites. True, open opponents numbered few. But some whites kept their children in public schools after desegregation, despite peer ostracism. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy formed an interracial Committee of Concern to rebuild black churches that were burned.

Jackson today, while imperfect, is transformed. The state’s history museum is honest. Brochures guide visitors to civil rights sites. And there’s Jackson-Evers International Airport, named for the civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

DWYN MOUNGER Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 29, 2011

Racial and Ethnic Conflicts in “The Help” Film Report

“the help”: a synopsis, racial and ethnic conflicts in “the help”, causes and consequences of racial and ethnic conflicts in real life, analyzing racial and ethnic conflicts from sociological perspectives.

A social problem is a major issue that affects the lives of many people in society (Macionis, 2011). It results from factors that are beyond the control of the individual. Scholars use a number of sociological perspectives to analyze these social phenomena. The theories developed by the researchers help individuals to better understand the complex nature of the environment they live in. In this paper, the author will discuss racial and ethnic conflicts as examples of social problems. The phenomena will be analyzed in the context of the movie “The Help.” The causes and consequences of these issues will be examined from a real-life point of view. In addition, two sociological perspectives will be used to analyze the elements.

The film is set in 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Era. It is about a 23-year-old white lady, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, and her relationship with two African-American maids (Columbus, Barnathan and Green 2011). The two bits of help is Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson. Phelan is a recent graduate from the University of Mississippi. She hopes to become a writer. All of her girlhood friends are already married and have families. However, she is not happy with the manner in which they treat their African-American maidservants. At one point, Celica Foote, a white lady, refuses to use Elizabeth’s toilet just because Aibileen has used it (Columbus et al. 2011). She claims that African-Americans carry many diseases than Europeans. Hilly explains the Home Health Sanitation Initiative she hopes to get passed in the state legislative assembly. The bill will make it mandatory for white-owned homes to have a separate toilet for the Negro house helps. 1 The conversation between the socialite ladies is held within Aibileen’s earshot.

Phelan is asked to write a Miss Myrna Housekeeping article for the local newspaper. Since she had never been involved in house chores, she seeks Aibileen’s assistance. The maid acts as the de facto mother of Elizabeth’s young daughter, Mae Mobley. The toddler’s mother shows less concern and cares for her child. Phelan gets back home and informs her mother, Charlotte, about the new assignment. Charlotte is worried that her daughter will never get married. She asks her whether or not she is attracted to other women. During dinner, Phelan rudely talks about the issue of liking girls (Columbus et al. 2011). Charlotte excuses herself and gives her daughter the opportunity to go to her favorite spot outdoors. At that moment, she recalls the caring and loving nature of Constantine. 2

Hilly’s maid, Minny Jackson, is unfairly treated, and she gets fired. In addition, she is battered by her employer as Aibileen listens on the phone. Aibeleen accepts Phelan’s offer to participate in her writing assignment after attending a church service. The reason is that the sermon highlighted on courage. Hilly’s new house help, Yule Mae, suffers a similar fate as Minny. However, her case is worse as Hilly gets her arrested at the bus stop in the presence of all the other servants. Aibeleen manages to convince Minny to take part in the book project. Elaine Stein, an editor, based in New York, explains to Phelan that the book will need more stories, including hers and Constantine’s. The arrest of Yule prompted most of the local maids to participate in the project. To hide the identity of the volunteers, Phelan changed their names. However, she is still afraid people may recognize the Helps .

With the help of the volunteers, Phelan’s book gets published. Within a short time, it becomes the favorite of almost everyone in Jackson. However, Hilly is afraid of her embarrassing incident with Minny will be revealed. As a result, she tries to convince her friends that the book is not based on Jackson’s help . To return the favor, Phelan shares her advance equally among all the maids who participated in the project. She is offered a job at the New York Publishing House. In spite of this, Stuart Whitworth breaks up with Phelan after discovering that she was the book’s author. Hilly also figures this out and storms into Phelan’s house drunk and full of rage. However, she is kicked out and insulted (Columbus et al. 2011).

In the end, Minny gets employed by Celica. She also separates from her abusive husband and takes the children with her. Aibileen is fired by Elizabeth, leaving Mae Mobley heartbroken. Finally, she (Aibeleen) decides to pursue writing after she is encouraged by her son (Columbus et al. 2011).

The causes of racial and ethnic disputes include the negative attitude that the European employers have towards the Negro community. Others are superiority complex and social status (Lawler, 2007). Elizabeth and her friends consider African American maids as inferior beings. They regard them as individuals who need the help of the whites to survive. In addition, socialites treat them as disease carriers. It is the reason why Hilly has at least forty toilets in her compound. She believes it is not right for a white to share a sanitation facility with a Negro (Columbus et al. 2011). The maidservants are not considered worthy enough to appear in parties reserved for the Europeans. They only appear when offering their services. Charlotte, for example, fires Constantine because her daughter declines to use the backdoor. Charlotte considered the moment to be very embarrassing because she was hosting a DAR luncheon. Generally, European women regard their matters to be of utmost importance compared to those of their servants (Macionis 2011). Their ill-treatment of the maids illustrates their belief that the servants were born to act as helpers.

The racial and ethnic problem portrayed in the movie has a number of consequences on the masters and their maids. To begin with, Aibileen loses her only son to an accident in the workplace. He was run over by a truck. The white driver did little to save his life. He took Aibileen’s son to a colored hospital, dumped him on the ground, and drove off (Columbus et al. 2011). At the time, it was too late to save his life. Aibileen just carried her son home where he died on the couch. The servant is a victim of ill treatment as Elizabeth’s employee. However, she plays a key role in helping Skeeter with the book project. Elizabeth’s decision to fire her deprives Mae of a good and caring mother figure.

As a result of the racial and ethnic conflicts, Hilly is humiliated by Minny. A heated argument ensues after Minny uses the family’s bathroom since she could not access the maids’ toilets. As a result, Hilly fires her. To retaliate, Minny spikes a chocolate pie with her excrement and offers it to Hilly. The latter eats the pies without knowing what they contain. However, she is finally told the truth behind the sweetness. She lives with this shame throughout the movie. Hilly’s new maid, Yule, is arrested for taking a ring in order to sell it and raise $75 for her son’s tuition. Her employer had initially failed to help her raise the money in spite of her request to work for free until the debt is cleared (Columbus et al. 2011).

Racial and ethnic disputes also make Charlotte experience regrets and guilt (Walters 2012). She fired Constantine for no good reason. Her efforts to make up for her mistakes did not work. The reason is that Constantine has died by the time Charlotte’s son reached her new home in Chicago. The act made Phelan lose a great friend who had brought her up.

However, the conflict also has positive consequences. The maids get an opportunity to lead better lives in the end (Walters 2012). The book project acts as a breakthrough for them and Phelan.

Racial and ethnic discrimination is a major human rights problem in the world. Both minority and majority groups are affected by this social challenge (Walters 2012). Prejudice refers to the irrational attitudes and opinions held by one group of people towards another (Lawler 2007). On its part, discrimination entails unequal treatment of a certain group. The numerous racial and ethnic groups in the world hold unequal powers, prestige, and resources (Walters 2012). Power in the society is enjoyed by majority groups. They create a system of inequality by dominating and oppressing the less-powerful. The dominant cultures maintain their control through the use of social forces. The minorities are not fully represented in the economic, social, and political institutions.

The main cause of racial and ethnic conflicts in the world is power. Power brings about the issue of superiority complex. Conflict arises when the oppressed groups attempt to revolt, demanding for equal treatment. Racial and ethnic conflicts take various forms. They have numerous impacts on the society (Walters 2012).

Today, the social challenges are not limited to the interaction between whites and blacks (Walters 2012). They are experienced everywhere in the world. They lead to civil wars, ethnic cleansing, genocides, and violent separatist movements. They also result in oppression and less organized violence. As a result, lives are lost, properties destroyed, and the economy disrupted. The most rampant acts experienced are hate crimes and racist movement activities. Examples of groups involved in these evils include the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation. 3

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Canadian social life was disrupted by the violent acts carried out by the French Canadian separatists of the Front DeLiberation du Quebec [FLQ] (Walters 2012). Mexico has also experienced phases of fierce upheavals instigated by native communities in the southern state of Chiapas. The descendants of the indigenous population of Central and South America continue to fight back in spite of violent subjugations. Britain and Germany have also been faced by the problems of anti-immigrant and anti-minority riots (Walters 2012). Apart from the European countries, racial and ethnic conflicts continue to wreck havoc in Africa. Examples of the affected countries include Congo, Darfur, Nigeria, Somalia, and Kenya. 4

The Functionalist Perspective

A ccording to the functionalists, the society operates like a living organism. Each part of this collection plays a role to promote the survival of the entire being. The components of a society are set to maintain its stability. For example, the helps and the masters in The Help play specific roles to maintain social order. An aspect of social life that does not contribute to the promotion of culture is not passed through the generations (Lawler 2007). The existence of different races and ethnic groups results in the numerous problems experienced in the society. Social balance is disrupted when a new group enters the scene (Macionis 2011). However, the levels of dysfunction are reduced if the newcomers share some common attributes with the natives. If the group is different, integration will be a challenge. The element of race creates problems for a short period of time. Generally, the functionalists stress on the importance of assimilating minority groups into the dominant society.

The Conflict Perspective

According to this perspective, social structure is clearly understood in terms of conflict between groups competing for power. A society is characterized by the struggle between the dominant and subordinate populations (Macionis 2011). The whites and the blacks in The Help are in conflict. The conflict approach considers the social world to be full of tension and rivalry. It seeks to ascertain the main causes of these strains. Some groups have more power, money, and prestige than others (Lawler 2007). The group with more resources works hard to maintain its status. The one with less power fights to secure more resources and gain some level of control. The need to control others is what fuels the racial and ethnic conflicts.

Racial and ethnic conflicts are prevalent in human history. The clashes persist in spite of the high levels of modernization. The social problems have been the root cause of some of the most inhumane acts in human history. In the movie The Help, these issues are highlighted in detail.

Columbus, Chris, Michael Barnathan, and Brunson Green. 2011. The Help. DVD. Los Angeles: DreamWorks Pictures.

Lawler, Stephanie. 2007. Identity: Sociological Perspectives . Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Macionis, John. 2011. Sociology. 14 th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.

Walters, Sue. 2012. Ethnicity, Race and Education: An Introduction . New York: Continuum.

• This is an indication of widespread racism in 20 th century America.
• The loss of Constantine and the ill-treatment of Negro help compel Phelan to write a book about the daily lives of Jackson’s maidservants.
• These are just examples of violent groups operating on the basis of racial and ethnic profiling.
• The major causes of the problems in Africa are ethnic conflicts. However, in the western world, the major problems entail racial discrimination.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, January 14). Racial and Ethnic Conflicts in "The Help" Film. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-ethnic-conflicts-in-the-help-film/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Racial and Ethnic Conflicts in "The Help" Film." January 14, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-ethnic-conflicts-in-the-help-film/.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Movie Review — The Main Issues Represented In “The Help” Movie

The Main Issues Represented in "The Help" Movie

• Categories: Movie Review The Help

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Words: 830 |

Published: May 7, 2019

Words: 830 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Highlighted "Coloured" Social Issues in the Movie "The Help"

Works cited.

• Boyd, V. (2012). Wrestling with the Help: Literary and Cinematic Conversations with Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. University Press of Mississippi.
• Chapman, A., & Hughes, J. (2013). Screening the Help: How American Movies Portray Race, Class, and Gender. University of Georgia Press.
• Collins, P. H. (2015). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge.
• Crowe, C. (2013). The Help (Movie Tie-In). Penguin Books.
• DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., & Gunby, N. W. (2014). A Lesson in "Help"-ing: Examining the Transformative Potential of Reading a Novel and Watching the Movie. The Social Studies, 105(2), 59-69.
• Ehrenreich, B. (2011). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Picador.
• Hall, S. (2013). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. SAGE Publications.
• Hooks, B. (2014). Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Routledge.
• Stockett, K. (2009). The Help. Penguin Books.
• Tate, C. (2011). Domestic Allegories of Political Desire: The Black Heroine's Text at the Turn of the Century. Oxford University Press.

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The Film “The Help” from a Sociological Perspective

Introduction.

One of the most ideologically reactionary varieties of naturalism in sociology is the racial-anthropological approach. The main theme of the film ‘The Help’ is the relationship between representatives of different social and racial backgrounds. Therefore, this particular sociological perspective will be rational as the other approaches do not concentrate on the concept of race as much. Racism as a socio-psychological phenomenon has existed since time immemorial, but in the XIX century (Nanlohy et al., 2021). For the first time, this phenomenon began to appeal widely to the authority of science.

The main ideological functions of this trend were to justify the privileges of the ruling class within bourgeois states and imperialist colonial expansion in foreign policy. The basic principles of this theory are that social life and culture are the product of racial and anthropological factors. The fact that races are not perceived in society as equal among themselves causes inequality. According to the racial-anthropological concept, social institutions are not determined by the vital activity of races, but on the contrary. they determine it, which is demonstrated in the film ‘The Help’.

The film takes the viewer to the USA of the 60s; that is the historical time when Martin Luther King is successfully fighting for the rights of blacks in the capital. In the provincial town of Jackson, Mississippi, the white daughter of a local cotton merchant, Skeeter, unexpectedly decided to stand up for the blacks. There is no slavery in America in the 1960s, it was abolished almost 100 years ago (Nasir and Abdullah, 2021). However, most black people still serve whites. Although they are paid to work, the restrictions in society between whites and blacks are still significant. They are forbidden to ride on the same buses as whites. Blacks are not allowed to use the public library. Although white people are not rude to black servants, they still look down on them, not counting them as people.

According to the royal-anthropological approach, for several centuries’ racism remained the cause of a serious defeat in the rights of entire peoples. Some white people put themselves above other races, believing that their skin color and other features of appearance gave them such a right. Many people are convinced of the incompatibility of different races (Adam, 2018). Therefore, they have a very negative attitude towards foreigners who move to their cities, settle in the neighborhood, start families, give birth to children, and take them to the same kindergarten or school where white children go.

In the film, there is a change of author’s positions, respectively, the ideological points of view of three completely different focal characters are presented in detail. Their lives intertwined, and they came face to face with segregation. The narrators are united by the idea of writing a book with the voice of a servant about their difficult life in the White House and the unfair treatment of them. According to the idea of Skeeter, the initiator of writing the book, the events described not to be subjective, the stories of the twelve maids are included in Skeeter’s novel (Idris et al., 2020). However, all of them somehow support the postulates of the racial-anthropological social theory.

All focal characters act as the subject of evaluation of the social racial-anthropological theory, as well as its carrier. They are estimated from the point of view of the narrator, respectively, they appear to be the subject of evaluation (Hanafiah and Melansari, 2021). The evaluation carriers are in those cases when they act as narrators. For example, Aibileen acts as a carrier of evaluation from the point of view of the racial-anthropological social theory of her mistress. The servants think that Miss Leefolt is completely not engaged in the upbringing of her daughter.

In some scenes of the film, Aibileen is the subject of Skeeter’s assessment, confirming the postulates of the racial-anthropological social theory. Spending more and more time with Aibileen, Skeeter realizes how skillfully the servants have learned to hide their feelings (Iban et al., 2019). Society determines the lack of feelings in its dark-skinned members, but at the same time, the servants are still able to experience emotions, which confirms the principle of determining the racial characteristics of an individual’s behavior by society.

There are three focal characters in the film, each of which is an illustration of the racial-anthropological social approach. Skeeter is a young educated white American woman who wants to become a writer and decides to write a book on behalf of a black servant. Aibileen is a servant who raised seventeen children of white masters, agreed to participate in the writing of the book, and is the link between Skeeter and the servants (Taylor, 2011). Minnie is Aibileen’s best friend, who also agreed to participate in the writing of the book, who is constantly out of work because of her talkativeness. Thanks to Aibileen, they are joined by other maids who tell their stories. These women in this way want to resist the injustice prevailing in society, to give vent to their feelings, to talk about what they did not dare before.

The category of point of view on the racial-anthropological social approach in the film is revealed by the specifics of the narrative of each of the heroines. All three narrators are evaluated to one degree or another from the position of each other (Nanlohy et al., 2021). The various points of view and evaluation systems presented in the film enter into certain relationships with each other, thus forming a rather complex system of social identities and oppositions.

Representatives of the white population of the 60s in the United States had a legal and political system that was characterized by the dominance of white Americans, which Skeeter admits (Adam, 2018). Public figure and Skeeter’s friend, Hilly Holbrook, actively advocate racial segregation. She believes that blacks are carriers of deadly diseases for whites. To minimize the intersection points between blacks and whites, she is preparing a variety of projects, which, in turn, infringe on the rights of colored people. Hilly has significant importance in society, so her opinion is listened to and her ideas are supported.

Aibileen has to follow the rules set by the whites. That is why she does not pour water into a glass for a dark-skinned worker because she knows that her mistress would not like it. Of course, throughout her life, she has learned to suppress her feelings, which she has no right to show (Nasir and Abdullah, 2021). Aibileen does not hide the fact that she has to tell the hostess what she wants to hear.

White ladies, Celia and Skeeter, violate established rules, erasing the boundaries of communication between whites and blacks, which causes an ambiguous reaction from the latter. Minnie is perplexed and calls her mistress stupid when Celia brings her, the servant, a drink (Taylor, 2011). Minnie voices her husband’s point of view, which she shares, that all whites are very strange. Miss Skeeter is the only one who talks to the servants, this is the initial description given to her by Aibileen, who is surprised by it.

Despite the significant differences between Skeeter and Aibileen, their worldview regarding the injustice in the manifestation of segregation coincides. They both think within the framework of the royal-anthropological social theory (Iban et al., 2019). Scooter is different from the rest of the girls in her town, she has a kind heart and a sense of justice. She tries to fight for equality and even loses the support and understanding of her friends.

The socio-ideological point of view of Aibileen and Minnie largely coincides due to their social status and race. Nevertheless, their personalities and how they cope with the difficulties that arise are completely different (Hanafiah and Melansari, 2021). Thanks to the narration from the representatives of the servants, the viewer has the opportunity to experience the world in which these women live.

For example, Minnie and Celia’s relationship is filled with humor, which is absent in the strained and cold relationship between Aibileen and her mistress. In this film, there is a Rashomon effect, which reflects the discrepancy in the ideological point of view of the characters, each of whom is convinced of his rightness (Idris et al., 2020). Skeeter sincerely believes that a personal visit to Aibileen’s home will help her win the favor of the dark-skinned servants. However, Aibileen was not happy about this visit, because such behavior is unacceptable in society, whites do not go to the area for colored citizens. This fact outrages Aibileen, she believes that she spends a lot of time with white people and does not want them to watch her at home.

Despite the good attitude towards Skeeter, Aibileen is unhappy with her arrival and believes that it would be possible to make do with a phone call. The opportunity to see this meeting through the eyes of both heroines reveals to the viewer different sees on segregation within the same sociological approach, without illuminating any of the focal characters in a bad light (Hanafiah and Melansari, 2021). Instead, the recipient sympathizes with them and understands that they are both victims of the racist system adopted in American society.

The ideological point of view of each focal character is formed directly through the prism of their statements, as well as through the description of each other. Getting to know Minnie and Skeeter, the other storytellers, takes place through the prism of Aibileen’s perception, which gives them an evaluation characteristic. Minnie, according to Aibileen, is the best cook in the entire state of Mississippi, but she has a drawback: she does not know how to keep her mouth shut (Taylor, 2011). The viewer finds confirmation of these words in the scene where Minnie says that she would like to find a deaf mistress, which was Miss Wolters.

All levels of manifestation of the ideological point of view have a semantic monologue when the external and internal manifestations coincide. Sometimes the viewer can notice that the internal and external demonstrations of the ideological point of view differ from each other, one of them turns out to be false. In this case, the viewer observes the confirmation of one of the positions of the racial-anthropological social theory (Adam, 2018). The characters in the film demonstrate that society, not race itself, is the determining behavioral factor. For example, this is noticeable when Aibileen, who does not want and has no right to express her attitude on any occasion, is unable to restrain her emotions, and utters a general phrase that does not reflect her inner state at all.

In some of Minnie’s statements, it is seen that Minnie, who understands her precarious position in the city, hardly restrains herself from saying something superfluous. Like Aibileen, she has to play by the rules accepted in society (Idris et al., 2020). Minnie has no right to make remarks to whites; she says one thing, but feels completely different, as evidenced by her facial expressions and phrases uttered by her when she is alone.

Thus, due to the change of narrative situations in the film ‘The Help’, the ideological point of view of the focal characters is manifested. Internal and external points of view can be revealed both in terms of sociology and ideology. They, in turn, may coincide or differ depending on the situation. The focal characters in the film act both as the subject of the assessment of the racial-anthropological approach and as its carrier. The expression of an evaluative point of view is expressed not only by speech but also by behavioral characteristics.

Adam, M. R. (2018). Racism in ‘The Help’ movie by Tate Taylor (a sociological approach). Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, 7 (2), 120–129.

Hanafiah, A. W., & Melansari, N. (2021). An analysis of social conflict between black and white skin in novel ‘The Help’ written by Kathryn Stockett. English Education Journal, 9 (4), 1–12.

Iban, A., Sili, S., & Asanti, C. (2019). Anti-racism: A study of the main characters in ‘The Help’ (2009) novel by Kathryn Stockett. Jurnal Ilmu Budaya, 3 (3), 233–245.

Idris, D., Wahyuni, B., & Prautomo, A. (2020). The influence of social class on racial discrimination in the movie ‘The Help’. Prologue: Journal on Language and Literature, 6 (2), 69–77.

Nanlohy, O. M., Rorintulus, O. A., & Kamagi, S. (2021). The acts of racial discrimination to the blacks as seen in Stockett’s ‘The Help’. Journal of English, Culture, Language, Literature, and Education, 9 (2), 144–158.

Nasir, A., & Abdullah, S. (2021). White saviour complex and (mis)portrayal of blacks in Kathryn Stockett’s ‘The Help’. Journal of Research in Humanities, 57 (1), 43–56.

Taylor, T. (Director). (2011). The Help [Film]. DreamWorks Pictures .

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Tessa Thompson Helpline Volunteer One-Hander ‘The Listener’ Is a Character Drama So Quiet It Cuts Through the Noise

Christian blauvelt.

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It’s always fascinating when a movie with a top star, and directed by another star, goes as far under the radar as Steve Buscemi ‘s “The Listener,” starring Tessa Thompson , has.

But in the case of this particularly gentle movie — available on VOD now for $6.99 — maybe that’s part of its DNA. Like the mental health helpline operator Thompson plays, this is a movie that’s there if you need it: Quiet, thoughtful, and totally shunning the kind of splashiness that most movies are thought to require these days to stand out.

The film takes place almost entirely in a small L.A. bungalow during one long night in which Thompson begins a shift as a helpline operator taking call after call from people who are desperate, anxious, angry, or just need someone to listen. She makes it clear at one point that she’s not an analyst. Like the hospital chaplains in last year’s empathetic masterpiece “A Still Small Voice,” she’s there simply to listen. In that documentary , one of the chaplains says, “People always say, ‘Don’t just stand there, do something!’ But we invert that and say, ‘Don’t just do something, stand there.'” That could describe the approach of Thompson’s character, Beth, too.

Some of these vignettes don’t quite work, or just suddenly end, and there’s a feeling that some of the conversations are plug-and-play interchangeable. But the screenplay from Alessandro Camon, who earned an Oscar nomination for his script with Oren Moverman for “The Messenger,” always prioritizes empathy over sensationalism. And Thompson’s performance is remarkably contained: Buscemi’s camera is essentially locked on her for the entire running time, usually in close-up, so, as she doesn’t always want to tell the people coming to her for help what she really feels, subtle details of her performance indicate her emotional state. When one criminally disturbed guy tells her about a revenge porn scheme he initiated, Thompson still keeps her face blank, but the camera follows her hand as she reaches for a stress ball and gives it a squeeze.

By the time you finish watching “The Listener,” it’s hard not to have a real affection for Beth’s environs: the Tiffany lamp over her kitchen table, the orange Lynchian glow of a desk light, the front porch where she takes much of her call with Hall’s character. This is the kind of stillness and smallness of detail that can stick with you.

Double Feature Recommendation: Pair “The Listener” with Sydney Pollack’s debut film from 1965, “The Slender Thread,” which is streaming on Hoopla with a subscription, and available for rent at $3.99 everywhere else. It’s a very similar premise, though it ends up going much more in the direction of a thriller: Sidney Poitier plays a psych student who moonlights as a suicide prevention helpline operator and takes a call from a despairing Anne Bancroft. In this case, the entire movie is this one conversation as Poitier not only tries to keep Bancroft engaged but also to give emergency workers enough time to trace her call and save her in time.

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