At LEAST it’s Not Just Me: Someone Else Notices the Obvious Problem with Flicks Like “The Help”

"The Help" Shows a time period of the past that we must not forget, but how could a black woman come up and persevere in a different way. I guess people forgot "The Dream" what stereotypes did that portray and Jennifer Hudon winning. I am not disagreeing with what you are saying. However look at the women in that category nominated. All the women showed courage and strength, all in a different way. There are many good movie to come where black women are in high positions and do something great, I hope Jennifer Hudson does the Mandela movie!  

doesn't have to be an either or situation.  can talk about the ratchetness of being erased from history in ONE movie and ALSO talk about the mammified portrayals that we are still being offered in 2011 just like in 1933. 

Is begin a maid considered a negative occupation? What about a server in a restaurent? Should people in these jobs be treated with respect? If your ancestors from this era were resurrected would they proud of those who are ashamed of them? If any could afford a maid would you hire one? If the person was very good a their job would you value them? Would it matter their race? I have enjoyed working in service industries were I have dealt with people who have be rude to me because I was in a subservant position. This dialogue is reminding of such bad experiences.I guess if you don't have a fancy job and/or a husband with fancy job I guess you are not worthy. This is what this feels like.

I am never, never, never, never, never, never, ever going to see that movie. It was funny though yesterday when Billy Crystal said that after he saw the Help he wanted to hug every black woman he saw when he walked out his door but then he had to drive 45 minutes away...lol.

I loved The Help.  See I grew up in a world where my mother was a maid (now called domestic).  She worked for a family and then the daughter's family until she was too old and sick to work anymore.  She made $25 a week!  She took the bus every morning to work in her maid's uniform.  Her off days were Thursday and Sunday.  When we went to her job, we had to go to the back door.  However, the Frougs and Mulmeds were considered nice white folks.  They gave us candy and their used clothes.  On occasion, we got the left overs. We liked at all except for the Passover food!  

The Help tells the truth about many women who worked a different kind of slavery.  There were many moms who raised white children and took care of white families while Black children were left to figure things out on their own.  I am glad this story was told and I will always be proud of my mom who did what she had to do to get us to be successful Black women!

My issue with this movie primarily was that I just didn't think that it deserved all the hype it got.  Movies like this have been done on Lifetime for goodness sake, and were much better in my opinion, than this movie.  That series that I've mentioned before "I'll Fly Away" puts this movie to shame, showing the complexities and nuances of the experience a black domestic worker would have had during that time period, and it was shown from her perspective.   It not only showed her experiences working for her employer, a white family, but also her own familial life.

However, I don't think that The Help reinforces the mammy stereotype.  If anything, the characters truly disliked having to work for the employers they had, and at some points, when they worked up enough nerve, spoke up to their employers about how awful they were.

More than anything else, I thought this movie was more so about a woman's place in society than about race relations.

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hahah

"bunny-boiling PR pro."

Ahhhhhh, bunny-boiling; that fuels a plethora of freight-lift fantasies like nothing else can.

Ummmm; hehhehhehhehheh......

I feel acting is acting and I hope that more black actresses can have more diverse parts. However it costs money.  I have to agree, black people can't get upset about black women playing the maid, but then on the other hand, if they play  more diverse roles, we get annoyed.  I also saw the interview with  Tavis Smiley and I feel there is too much telling grown hard black women what to do, they are entitled to make their own choices on acting. There is no complaint about Tyler Perry. It is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.  There is not a problem with black men playing big fat mamas, Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy to name but a few, plus millions of box office money was made.  No-one in the black community complained about that ever.

I would like to ask say is that we should concentrate on are the magnificent performances of Ms. Spencer and Ms. Davis. That’s if you saw the movie. These women won their awards because of their moving portrayal of the characters. I mentioned this on another blog, that if you actually seen the movie you will see the strong willed black women who did everything they could to support and give their families a better life. When watching the movie I looked past their occupation and saw that these women as human with hopes and dreams of a better life for their children. These black women had a love for literature, they had a sense of humor during those tumultuous times (hence the chocolate pie). They long for higher education for the children. What I find interesting is that in earlier promotion of the movie the white female characters of the movie were being heavily played up (Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, and Sissy Spacek). They all did a great job, but Viola and Octavia stole the movie, but not because of the occupations but because of their amazing acting ability. I went in very closed minded and was prepared to hate this movie but enjoyed it. I was actually ashamed that I let others influence me. We are all entitled to our own opinion, but I think you should see a movie before giving it a negative review. And if you don’t want to see the movie, that is okay as well.

There was a Black female attorney named Eunice Carter who worked in Woman's Court in  NYC back in the early 1930s. She noticed that all the prostitutes used the same lawyer and the same bail bondsman.She relayed the info to NY DA Thomas Dewey, who surprisingly didn't brush her off but gave her the go-ahead to keep looking. She ended up following the money trail all the way on up to Lucky Luciano himself which ultimately led to his arrest, prosecution,  and eventual deportation to Naples, Italy.  Surprisingly, no one has ever made a movie about Eunice Carter. 1930s art-deco New York, the sordid world of prostitution, the mob--it has the chance of being one hell of a bio pic. I'm thinking Zoe Saldana as Eunice Carter, Kevin Spacey as Thomas Dewey, and maybe Christian Bale as Lucky Luciano. It could be a great period piece and the clothes alone would be costume porn.

Funny, on Friday, I was talking with an older (past retirement age) WM co-worker (who comes from old money) about the Oscars. I mentioned I had not seen the movies Incredibly Loud or the Help because I don’t like depressing movies centered around tragedy and suffering. He looked at me like I was crazy and loudly declared, “Oh the Help was not depressing, at all. IT WAS SO GOOD! Not depressing at all. Oh my, it was just fantastic.” I kept trying to explain without going into race but he just did not get it.

My take:

I've seen the movie and read the book, neither of which I had heard about until a good friend, a BW living in L.A. and 35-year Union member, recommended them to me.  Based on her recommendation, I ordered both from Amazon.  I watched the movie first, then read the book, because I've learned that it's almost always better that way.  Such was the case here.

First, both the movie and the book are historically inaccurate in that they don't show the depth of abuse, callous disregard, indifference, and depravity of treatment many AA domestics were subjected to.  Some of that was hinted at, though both stayed completely away from the certain topics like rape.  Even the treatment of domestics as non-entities was glossed over and given short shrift.  I thought the movie was more about the efforts of the young WW to tell the stories in spite of the amosphere of the time, whereas the book told the stories from the perspectives of all the main characters, inaccurate as it was from a historical or even sociological perspective.

That being said, the fact that the book and movie are being talked about is a good thing, one that perhaps would not have happened had they not been put out there.  The discussion is healthy for the most part, in that it promotes the airing of grievances and the disemination of truth on the matter, which might not be taking place otherwise.

Also consider that the movie, especially with the Oscar nominations, was energized the struggle for union rights among domestic workers.  That is a very good thing.

http://www.lefteyeonbooks.com/2011/09/a-domestic-workers-perspective-on-the-help/

 http://www.domesticworkersunited.blogspot.com/

http://uncpressblog.com/2011/08/24/historians-on-the-help-vanessa-may-and-rebecca-sharpless-respond/

http://fromthoughtsintowords.blogspot.com/2012/02/salvaging-help-film-worth-watching.html

It has always been my belief that when postions become engraved in stone around opposite sides of issues, there is a need to consider all sides of those issues.  Some will insist that this isn't true, but it's been my experience and observation that this is just a means of avoiding uncomfortable details and truths.

Make of this what you will, but please don't take a stand based on incomplete information and awareness.  There is, in Truth, a silver lining here.

SIGH friggin hollywood. We need more indie film makers with budget and advertisements. =)

i did not see "the help"....too much of a throwback.i mean come on, it's 2012....

This is somewhat unrelated, but who is that hot guy octavia spencer was with at the oscars?

Anyone know name of the interesting independent film made in early 2000s about the young daughter of a black maid who works for wealthy white New York family. Daughter helps lowlife thugs kidnap and torture Father of household for ransom. Later revealed father has been abusing/ sleeping with teen daughter for years unbeknowst to maid mother. Dark comedy/satire. Beautiful young black actress.

Hey I'm on my iPad cant view the video, but I'm guessing it was her interview from The Colbert Report that you posted. ( http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/405561/january-09-2012/melissa-harris-perry ) I liked her point about how the perception of our country changes when you change the center of the experience. So when you make BWthe central narrative in American history it's apparent how crappy the past has been to women of color. Making all the more repugnant that the Help was made and then honored during black history month! This analysis (changing the central narrative) can be done with any group or minority. The point to these studies/books in college is to bring about a truer and fuller understanding of the American story and stop treating "the history of minorities" as attendant to American (white) history. The Help does not help in anyway.... Stay on your soap box.

Chris, we're all goung to get together and gett you a soap box with a kitchen on it. That way you don't have to leave ot so often. On a serious note, Hollywood has issues. Half of them think what they do shoud be this way, half think it should be the other way, and half of them don't have any idea which way to go. AND half of those above don't care as the only thing that matters to them is $$$$ and reviews. And some of the actors are so cranky and stubborn, they remind me ao a grizzley bear with hemorrhoids trying to pass pine cones. Not all mind you, just the "prima donas" of the acting world. I agree with Chris that Hollywood needs to get thier act together. This sterotyping of AA, American Indians, Asians, Latinos has got to stop in this country or the addage "all people are created equal" WILL never be realized. We have to work together to put an end to this kind of thinking. Where do we start?

At one point I did have issue with "The Help", but then I saw the movie and was swayed by the great performances. Like other posters have said, it is not the "The Help" itself but rather the only stories Hollywood and the larger public has interest in are ones in which black women are subservient. The sad truth is we can cry, scream, and whine all we want this will never change until WE start making films about ourselves. Let me be clear. At this time, NO MAJOR STUDIO WILL FUND A FILM with a black female romantic or dramatic lead. White people are the majority of movie goers and they do not want to see a film about black womens lives, sorry. Further, even the black males with clout in Hollywood are not creating films with black female leads. The few writers or producers who are creating stories about black women are black women themselves. Maybe that is logical as the white filmmakers are creating films that reflect themselves. Also we should stop seeking and asking Hollywood to craft our stories because even when they do we are not happy with the result. We may see a few black women as partners to a white male lead. We can only wish for them not to be fat and ugly as that would take shine from the desired white ingenue.

Regarding the issue of black women as domestics, if any of you were to walk into Central Park during mid-day you would think you have stepped back in time. The Park and all streets surrounding it are filled with black women caring for white children. These women are mostly of Caribbean descent for the last 20 years but nothing has changed for middle class whites. Therefore many poorer whites dream of the same lifestyle. The only reason it seems odd to other black folks is that in Calitfornia and other parts of the country domestic work and maids have been taken over by Mexicans and Central Americans. But in NY, CT, Westchester and NJ, the wealthy for the most part have black Caribbean maids and nannies. And interestingly enough, even when the maid might be Mexican , the family will still choose a Caribbean nanny.

So even today the black nanny is still a real part of our story and our lives as black women, but so is the black Executive and the FLOTUS.

My .02 would be the best route to get an entertaining saleable film made with a black women lead, would be some sort of action film, as running, shooting and car chases travel and sell well domestically and Internationally. A black spy, CIA agent, super hero Alien...something like that with explosions to keep the men interested and a tight suit. As for a film about Bessie Coleman I think I will be ash and bone before that happens.

well..both of the women in the movie had an interview with Tavis Smiley...they said that they have received a lot of flack from the AA community...they said that most of the scripts they receive from AA are ghetto themed with the characters talking Ebonics(I hate this word)....the other scripts given to them evidently had more substance...and they said we should be focused more on the execution of a story...I just didn't want to see the same kind of thing....but I guess the story must be told...by the way  Viola Davis..decide to go wig less..I saw comments about how she looks...everyone said she looks better that way...she had a short Afro...embrace it people...if you wish....