I've worked in bookstores since I was 16, so I am quite familiar with the bookstore customer. There are the smart ones, the ones who want to talk about new poetry collections, and you have the casual ones, who are in the place for the magazines or the free WiFi. Then, you have the dumb ones, who when discussing a book that has been out and on the bestseller list for two years will walk up to you and say "So, um, I was wondering if you had a book. I don't know if you know it. It's called something like, not sure, maybe 'The Help'?" Yes, these people are the worst. Well, today, I'm identifying with them somewhat. Why? Because I finally got around to seeing the film adaptation of said book last weekend, and I suddenly find myself walking around going "Hey, have you seen this movie, it's called, I don't know, maybe something like 'The Help'? It just came out. It's a small independenty thing."
Yes, you saw "The Help." Most all of you saw it before I did, in fact. Listen, I've said it many times, Junior does not have time to be all current and sh!t. He's currently homeless. And he had to wait for his mom to see it with him because homeboy hasn't paid to see a movie since 2008.
This post was originally supposed to be about my general impressions of the film, but after I started reading more about it online, I realized something else I should have picked up on: people are none too pleased about this movie.
A smattering of headlines:
Black Women Historians come out against "The Help"
Cover story: Is 'The Help' heroic or stereotyping?
‘The Help’: America pats itself on the back
Wait. What? They are talking about the same movie I saw, right? The one with Oscar shoo-ins Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer (above).
The one with Emma Stone and the should-be-nommed-because-she-was-that-good Bryce Dallas Howard (above). The one written for the screen and directed by Supreme Southern Hotness Tate Taylor? That "The Help"?
Surely, you jest. And by "Surely, you jest" I mean "Shut the f*ck up." I'm gonna come out and say it right now, but if you thought "The Help" was anything than a moving, inspirational portrait of a bygone time and place with a nod to the current racial struggles in America, than you are racist. And dumb. Or both. Probably both. I know some of you may be all "That was way harsh, Tai" but honestly, if a movie like "The Help" can't even be judged on its own merits without everyone getting their panties in a twist calling it racist or stereotypical, then what would we do it someone made an even more honest and searing movie about 1960s race in America.
People might die.
Listen, I loved "The Help." I thought it was touching and open and brought up some really overlooked aspects of the Civil Rights Movement that people forget. Like the fact that people still had to work every day in the struggle and that sometimes black people and white people actually got along (The horror! The horror!) But it was definitely a warm blockbuster movie. It in no way was meant to be honest or even realistic. It was a retelling through a lens, which is what movies boil down to. It isn't The Story of All Black Maids in Jackson, Miss. And The Whole South.
It is what it needs to be, a reminder that things have changed, things have not changed, and that we are all just people trying to figure out how to live: be friends, have children, protect ourselves and loved ones, move ahead. In that way, it succeeded admirably. Wrapping it up, I think people who find the movie racist or stereotyping or just plain bad are the same people who live in two camps: either the past was wonderful and nothing bad ever happened or the past was horrible and only bad things happened (but not to white people, who were somehow immune). Neither of these concepts are true.
For those who think the movie was too rosy in its depiction of black life in the 1960s, yes, there was pain and suffering for black people in the day. But it's not like it was 24-7 Utter Misery All the Time. There were moments for sleep, for cooking, for going to the bathroom, for talking that existed in between moments of racism (using a "Colored" entrance, being beaten by racists, etc.) If it was 24-7 misery, do you honestly think any black person would willingly stay in it.
For those who think the opposite, the movie has to show you how black women at the time weren't allowed to be complete pictures.
That for the sake of themselves and their children, they had to become maids to make money that they couldn't use to be as attractive as their white employers, that some had less education so they didn't speak in eloquent English, and that some simply just wanted to survive. The movie showed all that without focusing on any one group (this is not a movie about a white savior or a magical Negro), but allowed all the characters to show how each existed in this time and place.
Plus, Tate Taylor's hot so that invalidates any and all arguments.
Question Time: Have you seen "The Help"? What did you think of it? Did you read the book? Is it better or worse? What did you think of the performances? Who else thinks that Davis, Spencer, Howard, and Jessica Chastain should all be nommed? Who else was in love with Chastain's character Celia's whole life? The house? The gorgeous kind husband? The outfits? The ruby red lips? Who else is so glad that the movie didn't do the stereotypical thing when it came to Stone's character, Skeeter's, boyfriend (not a spoiler)? How hot do you think Tate Taylor is?
For reference, see the trailer below:
p.s. "Cineplexed" is the new movie feature I've been trying to start for like 2 years. We have one for music, two (!) for TV, and now one for movies! Whoo!
12 comments:
Sometimes people get into this notion that unless you portray a black person in a certain way, then you are doing some grave injustice, which in a way is perpetuates a stereotype on a culture that is just as diverse as any other within their own community.
Just wait for hell to break loose if there is ever a movie made about a black person that is...wait for it.... successful and doesn't live in the projects/the bronx/slave quarters/the kitchen of a white persons house.
...And hasn't taught themselves how to read/have 14 children/been abused by everyone they know... Dani, the list goes on and on (p.s. I'm from The Bronx, but I get what you mean). I think that the movie was great at showing how being maids were not who these women are but what they did.
For some reason, people think that's a bad thing. Go figure...
Babycakes, I know you're from the Bronx. And if I ever meet you, you need to show me the scars on your arm that your old man gave you using his cigar...while a Run DMC song is playing in the background...while you are wearing your gang stripes.
*reality is, if we ever met, it would be an awesome day filled with shopping, checking out guys and eating zebra cakes.*
Run DMC is actually piped in through the streetlights all through out the Bronx, while all the cars emit a light dusting of crack cocaine as they drive by...
Dani, a day with you would literally be the best day of my life!
Oh babycakes..i just bought my wedding dress. You must check it out. Keep in mind, I have a longer waist/torso and am not as plump as the model, so I look better in it than she does. Squeeee. If you click on the pic, you can see close up plus the back. I look the best in drop waisted dress with heart shaped neck line.
http://www.privatelabelbyg.com/#/main/collections/bridal/signatureplus/3355
Oh Dani! I'm getting all emotionical! Your dress is beautiful! And you know I wouldn't just say that. I yell out some horrible things at the ladies of "Say Yes to the Dress" so I know a thing or two about wedding dresses, but yours is so elegant and flirty and fun and sophisticated. You're gonna make such a beautiful bride *begins crying*!!!
Question Time: what kind of tux is he wearing. I need the full effect.
I've been stuck in the stock room for the last week, so my brain keeps going back to this movie and your post about it. Y'know, to stay sane.
I think the reason there is so much criticism of The Help is because America doesn't know what to do with it. The characters don't fit into our three "African Americans In Film" groups. These ladies are not BAMFs like Shaft or Foxy Brown, or Wise Sages like every Morgan Freeman role, so they must be the dreaded Objects Of Pity. For heaven's sake, they can't be whole, well rounded people.
I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know if they do fit into one of those categories. But I think it's a sneaky kind of racism that they have to have a serious beat down as a result of being "uppity" (you know, to be authentic) and they can't have any positive interaction with Caucasians (that's sugar coating, not like fiction or anything.)
Things sucked for people of color in the south (and lots of other places) in the sixties. I think that is pretty well established. But somehow we got from there to having an African American president. Some how, walls came down and violence was no longer the answer. At least in polite society.
This movie isn't a documentary about every black person ever. Neither was Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Or Precious. But that's what going to the movies is about. Seeing one facet of a complex story and sometimes a little bit of looking through rose colored glasses. We have a long way to go, but can't we feel good about how far we've come once and a while?
Hi Paul! The first thing I want to say is that you should def see it. Besides everything I said here, the movie is actually really enjoyable and well made. I think you'd like it.
Secondly, I think the comparison to "Precious" is apt because that was a movie that people still make fun of as being manipulative and over-dramatic in its depiction of black people in America. Yet, when The Help, which easily could have gone the melodramatic route, decides to show how life was maybe not bad at every moment for black people, then it also gets called out. I think the problem is like you said, a sneaky racism where black people can't just be on screen. Instead, the depictions are never right so let's not even have them. No. I don't think so!
This is still on my list. I was supposed to see it with my mum but she has a famous saying "not today, maybe next week" So I will probably see it by accident. Maybe I will just put on my best tall hat and treat myself to the jumbo popcorn and see it.
Do it Ermine! And make sure said tall hat has a feather on it for extra height...
Babycakes, we have not picked out a tux yet, but it will be a black tux, likely with a charcoal or silver vest...tbd. My bridesmaid colours are victorian lilac. I have to think on the pairing a litte.
But I know my man will look good in a tux because he's like freakishly tall and skinny. He's got that men's model body...damnit. LOL.
And Paul's commentary was spot on!
"But I know my man will look good in a tux because he's like freakishly tall and skinny. He's got that men's model body...damnit."
You really had to drive the nail in, Dani! That's OK, if my man (yes I know, currently nonexistent) looked like a model, I'd scream it from the rooftops (chances are, I'll do this when any man says yes!)
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