The Help: Film Analysis

Set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett and produced as a movie by Tate Taylor, provides viewers insight into the world of an African-American housemaid, or the help, during the controversial time of the Civil Rights Movement. In Jackson, Mississippi, African-Americans face racial prejudice and unjust treatment compared to the white people, and many women of color spend their whole lives caring for white families despite very little pay. Skeeter, a twenty-three year old white woman, holds a desire to help the maids gain a voice as she is unbelieving of the myths about them. Wanting a change in the way black people are perceived, she finds herself with the idea to write a controversial book, “Help,” in which she interviews African-American maids, among those maids being Aibileen and Minny, concerning their time working for white families. Overall, in both the novel and movie rendition of The Help, Skeeter unites together with the black help despite racial prejudice to give them a voice, showing viewers that collaborating together towards a common goal can lead to social awareness.

Based off of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel, The Help is a movie told from an African American’s point of view during the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. The three main characters include, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan. Skeeter is a young writer who has recently returned from the University of Mississippi. She has been advised by the Elaine Stein, who is the editor at Harper & Row, to write about a topic she is passionate about, that way she can continue her dream of becoming a serious writer. In addition, Skeeter accepts a writing job down at the Jackson Journal where she writes a housekeeping column. Ironically, she has no housekeeping experience

A few years ago, Kathryn wrote her book, The Help. It was rejected by publishing companies over sixty times (“Famous Authors; Kathryn Stockett”). Finally, in 2009, Amy Einhorn Books published Kathryn’s book (“Famous Authors: Kathryn Stockett”). The Help ended up being one of the hit books of summer in 2009 (“Famous Authors: Kathryn Stockett”). Kathryn Stockett wrote The Help because she wanted to address a subject that was rarely discussed (Kathryn Stockett). This subject was the relationship that white families and their housekeepers shared (Kathryn Stockett). The housekeepers were usually black women (Kathryn Stockett). These women were employed in the homes of white families in the 1960’s (Kathryn Stockett). However, her book caused some issues. One was between Kathryn Stockett, her brother and his family’s nanny, Ablene Cooper (Black Nanny Sues…). Ablene felt upset about the way Kathryn characterized black nannies whom worked for white families in the 1960’s.(“Black Nanny Sues…”) Ablene felt that Kathryn was basing the maid, Aibileen Clark, from The Help, after her (“Black Maid Sues…”). She

In Atticus’ situation his main goal was to prove that Tom Robinson was innocent. At this point in time no lawyer would think twice about defending a black man. That is another way of attempting to prove that blacks are not always the ones who are at fault. Similarly, Skeeter also has a goal revolving around the treatment of blacks. In the beginning of the film, Skeeter decides she was going to publish a book, “I'd like to do a book of interviews about working for white families.

What was it like for African American women to work in the homes of white families in one of the most racist and segregated cities in the South during the thriving Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow Era? In The Help, a novel by Kathryn Stockett, the reader gets to personally know the life of some of the black maids that work for southern white families in Jackson, Mississippi. These maids raise the children, cook all the meals, and clean every dish, fabric, toilet, floor, and piece of furniture of these families homes but get treated with the most disrespect, racial prejudice, and

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is a historic novel set in the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. This story is told from the perspective of two black maids, Aibileen and Minny, and a white southern girl, Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan. It focuses in on the black maids, their lives, and their work environment. This book digs into the details of how “the help” were treated even after the civil war had ended. The maids in this novel decide to work together with Skeeter to show all of America exactly how Jackson treats their “help”. The Help shows how black people were treated after the civil war, good and bad, and the views of the maids during this time about this issue all through a book within a book.

Imagine, you are a colored woman in the 1960’s. The job of being a maid is the only job available to you, the pay is not good, and, you are treated lesser than the rest of society. This was the life of many colored women in the 1960s of Jacksonville, Mississippi. In the novel The Help, author Kathryn Stockett tells the story of the maids aka “the help” during this time. One white socialist and two maids put their stories and talents together to pull off one of the greatest scandals in their Jacksonville community .

The film “The Help” (2011), is a story based on the daily lives of prominent white women and the relationships with their African-American housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in America. A well-to-do white woman and central character in this film, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, aspires to be a journalist and decides to write and publish an exposé of the stories of the housemaids in Jackson to achieve this goal, however, only two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson are willing to discuss their experiences with her. The other maid’s in Jackson resist telling Skeeter their stories, fearing the punishments they would endure if the authorities were to find out. In spite of this, after the malicious arrest of one of their befriended maids, all of the maids begin to share their experiences, which consist of racial hostility and being treated as intrinsically subservient to white people. The story Skeeter publishes entitled The Help, creates a disturbance among the white families in Jackson, by exposing the racism the maids are faced with, forcing the white families to reflect upon how they have treated their maids. The storyline represented in The Help exhibits examples of the primordial approach to race and ethnicity, as well as numerous sociological concepts including segregation, internalized oppression, and white privilege, which will be exemplified in this paper in order to uncover the race relations evident within this film.

It was Wednesday choir practice and I was sitting with the director’s wife on the front row waiting for rehearsal to begin. Her husband was on stage arranging his music and making small talk with us. I responded to one of his quips with a “cute”, and I though humorous, quip of my own. I found out immediately that she didn’t appreciate my comment and perceived it as a “territorial dispute” (him being the territory!) when she stomped on my foot with extreme force (I limped for a couple days) and growled in my face, “He’s

The Help takes place during the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. This novel tells a story about the relationships between African-American maids and their white employers. During the 1960’s, not only in Mississippi but the greater part of the south, African-American women were the nannies and maids to white families for generations and dealt with racism in order to earn an income for their own families. The Help not only touches on a racist time era but a sexist one as well. In The 60’s women were to be mothers and housewives but some wanted

A few mouths after arriving in Hollywood at the age of 21(JAZZ MASTERS) to study his passion, dance, on the Gi Bill Luigi was a passenger in a automobile that slammed into a telephone pole, throwing Luigi from m the car, hitting the curb head first. After the accident Luigi remained in a coma for two mouths, waking to discover that the right side of his body and the left side of his face paralyzed. (IS DEAD) His doctors told him he would not walk again but Luigi was only interested if he could dance. Stating, “I don’t care if I can walk, I want to dance.” By repeating the three simple words “ Never stop moving” (JAXX MASTERS)

The movie “The Help” shows the lifestyle of black women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s. A young adult named Skeeter who wished to become a journalist gathers maids to write about their testimonies as black maids, which at first refused because of the fear of getting caught yet later agree. The setting of the movie is historically inaccurate because it didn't go into detail about the civil rights movement and all the things that occurred during this time, which was an important time in history. As well as the Jim Crow Laws, the movie also never spoke about what white people would do to those who were colored for example beating them to death.

In this day and age culture means everything to certain people in this world. Culture is based on how someone lives on their own compared to other ways of standard living. Of course culture is going to be different in America compared to China because of both countries are on two different sides of the planet. In a society if people are treated unequally there is bound to be conflicts which happens because a misunderstanding of someone’s way of living and their culture.

In Elijah Anderson theory of “The Code of the Street”, he talks about the street codes in poor inner city African American communities, where he specifically talks about African American men being under pressured by responding to certain disrespectful situations with violence. His theory reflected not only my neighborhood, but the movie “Juice”, where four childhood best friends from Harlem are looking for a way to get power and respect called the “Juice”. In the movie, they all are in high school. Q lives in single parent household with his little brother. His mother is disciplinarian who wants to make sure that her son goes in the right path and has a stable career for himself. Steel lives with both of his parents and brother. Both

Although the maids were struggling and going through a difficult time in 1960’s, The Help portrays that their family members were too. Segregated society against the backdrop of the growing US civil rights movement in the 1960’s has an impacted. “Race also determines who has access to educational, occupational, and economic opportunity. Racial tensions are high as white community members employ violence and coercion to try to keep the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The white community in the movie continue to keep the black women as their servants throughout their lives. As Skeeter the white lady, who writes a book about The Help and portrays through the book that the African American women go through. As the white women of Jackson, Mississippi read the book they began to act more violent to the black women. The book is away as the black women to make a statement about the civil rights they have.