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The Help deals with racial tensions and prejudices during the eve of the civil rights movement. But is this movie just another presentation of stereotyped characters or does it portray genuine human emotion? Find out next, on Movieology.
Movie Summary
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter 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, 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. The Help stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spenser and Jessica Chastain. It was directed by Tate Taylor.
Introduction
Stewart: Welcome to Movieology, your ticket to engaging the spectacular world of film from the bedrock of biblical truth. I’m Stewart Adams. Please do us a favor and subscribe to our YouTube Channel and our podcast, like our Facebook page, and follow our Twitter. If you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected] Today we have a special guest, Dr. Gary DeMar who has graciously offered to provide today’s review. Gary, thanks for coming on the show!
Gary: Thank you.
Stewart: Gary is the President of American Vision and is the author of numerous worldview related books including Movies with Worldviews in Mind which you can get for free in e-book form simply by signing up for Movieology’s newsletter on our website. Now, Gary, if you’re ready, let’s jump right into the review.
Film Quality, Message, & Worldview
Gary: When I first saw the trailer for the movie The Help I thought it was a comedy. There were certain scenes in the trailer that gave the impression that this was going to be a comedic formulation of how black maids were telling stories about their employers and about funny things that they have done. But when I actually got to the movie theatre and began to watch the movie, I began to see that this was a different type of movie.
I also noticed something about the audience. Most of the people were of my age — very few teenagers. In fact, I don’t think I saw a teenager in the movie theater.
Click poster to see movie trailers
So I did a little background on The Help, and found out that is was a novel that came out in 2009 and it was written by Kathryn Stockett. She had gone to sixty publishers trying to get this book published. Not one of those sixty publishers ended up doing it. I think I know the reason why: this particular story is about a white woman tell the stories of black maids in Jackson Mississippi in the early 1960′s (probably between 1962 and 1963), and I’m going to guess that a lot of the publishers thought, “What does this white woman have to do with telling the stories of black maids and the oppression that they felt during the 1960s and the way that they were treated?”
Be that as it may, this was a tremendous book that came out and has sold five million copies and its a shame that these sixty publishers passed it up. The story has gone world wide. As usual, when something this successful takes place [in the book business] a movie is made.
I have to say that this was a very powerful movie, but my suppositions are a lot of people today have no idea how bad it was for blacks in the south in the 1960s. The story surrounds maids who go literally across the tracks into the northern suburbs of Jackson Mississippi and house-keep; they cook the food, they do the laundry, and they raise the children of these white families. But the indignities these women experience are horrifying to such an extent that they couldn’t use the glasses and the utensils in the house. They had to have their own and have those in a separate place. They couldn’t use the bathrooms in the house. There is one particular scene in which one of the maids has to go to the bathroom and its raining outside, she can’t go outside and so she basically has to hold it. What they end up doing is building a bathroom outside for the help.
One young lady, Skeeter, who grew up in this environment and was raised by a black woman herself, comes back to Jackson Mississippi and begins to see the indignities face to face. She’s a single woman who comes back to a time period in which her friends are married and have children and she watches these maids and the things that they have to go through. As an aspiring writer, she wants to tell the story of these women.
But these women are afraid. They know that if they tell the story not only could they lose their jobs, but its a good possibility that they could lose their lives.
Over a period of time, these women band together with the encouragement of Skeeter, and one particular minister in the Church citing Exodus 4:10 (where Moses makes the excuse of being slow of speech and he gets up and he says you have to tell the truth). The preacher knows nothing about whats going on here. But Aibileen, convicted by this passage finally goes to Skeeter and says she wants to talk. The movie goes on and [eventually] the other maids want to talk as well, and they tell how they were horrifyingly treated and so forth.
What caught my attention with all this is how so much has changed since the 1960s in the south. In fact, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I can tell you that there was still prejudice and racism when I was growing up. I never saw a black person until the 7th grade. I finally began to realize that blacks were hidden from most northerners, they lived in the hill district section of downtown Pittsburgh in my own neighborhood. There was a place called The Patch. This was were blacks and poor whites lived. They never would have walked through our neighborhood in those days or bought a house in facet. Where I grew up I have never seen a black person own a house in that area.
So there was a great deal of segregation… a great deal of discrimination in the north… but people just didn’t talk about it because they were pushed outside of our neighborhoods.
In the south, however, blacks would come into the neighborhoods and do their work and then go back to their shacks literally across the tracks. But, again, as I mentioned to you, lots of things have changed here in the south raising our children in neighborhoods. Today, it’s amazing how many blacks are in integrated neighborhoods all over where we live here in western Cobb County.
This is a movie of cultural shifts. It’s a movie of changing attitudes and its really an overwhelming presentation of these types of attitudes.
In addition, what impressed me about this movie is that it is telling serious story but still had a lot of comedic elements to it. The two black women that play the main characters — while their oppression overwhelmed them — still had time for levity. They still had time for the enjoyment of life. They were still hopeful of a better time and of a better era. I found that the church was not stereo typical of a black church. The gospel, while not preached directly, was certainly made effective in loving your enemies and speaking the truth and going out and doing your job as Christians in the world.
At the same time, there was the hypocrisy that took place in the white community — supposedly, church-going Christians have these attitudes towards blacks. It was a very, very different time.
I lived in Jackson, Mississippi for a time (a number of years when I was in seminary). So this movie takes place in the 1960s. I was in Jackson Mississippi from 1974 to 1979 with a year out in North Carolina, and I believe there was significant changes that had taken place even then.
I want to make the point here that a movie like this certainly has to be somewhat stereotypical; enhancing these disparities among whites and blacks. Not all blacks were in fact oppressed like those in this particular movie, and not all whites were oppressors as they are depicted in this movie. That is just the nature of a movie like this.
I left there really struck with the struggles that the blacks have gone through… even in the United States today. And I have to say, one of the things that I think has been detrimental to the black community has been — after Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, we had Lindon Johnson coming up with the Great Society and instituting governmental programs that I think have been very detrimental to blacks today. They have not got as many of them out of poverty as would have happened if we didn’t have the Great Society.
I would like to recommend to you, as you go in there with a very open mind, to see a piece of history that I would say most young Americans are unaware of. One bit of caution: there is a bit of a theme that runs through this particular movie that I would say you have to be aware of that it’s going to take place, and it is instrumental to the theme of the movie. I won’t say anymore about that, but just keep in mind that this is a movie for adults. I hope it stirs you as much as it stirred me.
Rating & Conclusion
I give The Help ★★★½. I thought the acting was excellent with the main characters, and the two black women did an extraordinary job. I think Viola Davis should be up for an academy award. The young woman who played Skeeter did a very good job as well. I thought some of the other actors performances were a little thin. I thought the way the white women acted at their socials and bridge clubs was a little over the top, but I think that added to the comedic elements of this particular film. There was comedy among the blacks and the whites, and I thought it was fair to depict both of them in the same way. The movie will make you think about how to treat other people, and to see how far our nation has come in treating racial minorities.
Stewart: Thank you Gary for your insight and perspective. Don’t forget to let us hear your thoughts on this movie by e-mailing us at [email protected], or you can message us on Youtube Facebook or Twitter. Until next time I’m Stewart Adams with Dr. Gary Demar. Thank you for watching!
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26 Comments
I too thouroughly enjoyed this movie. Poignant, and having some personal freindships with many black families growing-up, would suggest that I think its probably pretty accurate. I would add that the movie gives a great portrayal of what Democrats really think of the people that they call “colored”, (their terminology), and the blessing and substantial change brought about by Northern Republicans with the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Exceptional acting and a moving story.
don’t really have anything to say, but I love the show. keep it up guys
Here is another humanist morality play. Here is the plot, Bad, Bad, Evil White Southerner… Wise,serene Blach woman. How new is this concept; how about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Set before the Yankee Civil Rights Act of 1964. You were not there Gary, in 62, 63 or 64 etc. I was raised in the South and I loved your little analysis of how it really was. Oh, bye the way, I was born in Alabama in the 40,s; Bad, Bad Alabama. Of course, you as a wise Yankee know it all. You Yankees have been ruining the country for 150 years. Look where we stand now! Every story has two sides.
K.L. I picked up on your disliken’ of Yankees, but am wondering about your opinion of the movie. Seemed as if you resent the way it depicts the whites as bad and the blacks as good. Bein’ as you were born and raised in the South, I’d like to know how your memory of the way it was is different than the way the movie depicted it. I imagine there were quite a few folk who treated their “help” rightly and kindly. In the town I grew up in, in Oklahome, we had the poor community literally on the other side of the tracks; where the blacks and the “white trash” lived. My best friend lived over there, and this dichotomy in our town bothered me quite a lot. I was about 8 at this time, in the early 60′s. I didn’t know anyone who hired black help (cuz we didn’t know anyone with enough money to hire help), but I remember that the black and white communities never mixed very well; very awkward for both sides.
Dang, I misspelled Oklahoma!
My sister and I watched it together. A woman at her work were commenting to a coworker how wonderful it was, and how they should watch it. My sister piped in how much she enjoyed it and was told that “it was a movie for us, not her” (they were African American). She was so hurt. Yes, wonderful movie… yes, bad bad time of our history and yes there were some real yucky things going on. I have to question the timing of the movie and the zeal and “humor” in telling a white woman… or any person to “eat my ****”….audience laughter… I have to question, is this a common thought? Is this a movie “for us, not you”. I believe that good people with good intentions will watch this and comment on the many wonderful qualities of the movie… I fear that many others will look at this as salt in a wound that will not be allowed to heal in the time of “improved racial relations” that actually are much worse now than they have been in a very long time. This has nothing to do with saying it was a bad book or movie, so please don’t beat me up. I just wish there were occasionally a balanced offering, perhaps of some movies about some of the wonderful people who dedicated their lives to the abolition of slavery, or running the underground railroad, or the party that actually fought the terrible racism codified in law and politics at that time. God Bless/thanks for letting me post.
Richard, You make an accurate assessment. I always resent malicious fiction directed at my culture. I do remember better. As to the movie, I consider it an exaggeration of a perception. The foundation of this is in the Radical Abolitionism of the Civil Rights Movement of that era. Their preverted views of slavery have been carefully and skillfully used to create and promote hate in blacks towards whites and guilt in whites. The purpose is to create a pagan law system. It is well under way. Just read the comments on this post. To finish my comments why do you use terms such as “disliken, bein’ and cuz along with dichotomy” in the same paragraph? Instresting, I Think.
Might be cuz I’ve lived in several places, and I like words. Oklahoma, England, Georgia, and Indiana. I’d never thought about it before but looks as I’ve lived in a neutral state, a Southern state, a foreign state, and a Northern state. I lived in Ga. for 25 years and was very impressed by the magnitude of real Southern hospitality. Lots of fine easy goin’ folk there. Moved to Indiana from there, because my parents retired there and Mom had Alzheimer’s, and we wanted to be close by. Just FYI, but the biggest and most noticeable difference between GA. and IN. was the driving habits. I never noticed tailgating until we moved here; everybody seems to be in a big hurry. Ga folk were not in much of a hurry; guess it was too hot to be in a hurry.
Got to tell this brief story … had all my worldly belongings in the pick-up truck and was headed to Ga (from Ok.) to find a place to live. I barely had enough money to get there and just as I was coming into Decatur AL at 1:00 AM on a Sunday morning, I went over a RR crossing and the drive shaft fell off. I rolled into a gas station and slept in the truck till morning. Sunday morning! Nobody moving around. After awhile some fellas showed up at the BBQ place across the way (they were there just to clean the grills). I went over to see if this gas station was going to open, and the owner of the BBQ place came out, went over to the station banged on the garage door, the Mechanic came out, said since it was Sunday no parts store was open, but his friend was taking inventory in one, called him, got my part, fixed my truck and only charged me $15 for the part. But wait … there’s more. While all this was going on, the BBQ owner pulled me in his restaurant, personally fixed me a generous breakfast … for free. I was fed and back on the road before noon. As I was pulling back onto the road, I said to myself, “If this is Southern Hospitality … I can deal with it.” That was my first and most lasting impression of “The South”, and my 25 years experience living there never contradicted it. Nice folk down there.
So, you see, I’ve been exposed to a small variety of languages, or dialects, or cultures, whatever …I started off with an Okie drawl, then I picked up a British accent, but when I left GA I had a Southern accent. It’s a hodge podge kind of a thing. Does that answer yer question?
KL. Just to be fair, there’s nice people up here too. My experience is, every culture has their own “black sheep”, but there’s nice folk everywhere I’ve gone. I can’t paint with a too wide a brush.
Richard, You are correct,indeed their are nice people everywhere. Thats not the point here. What is the point is the constant drum roll of hatered against White Southern Culture. There is a massive push from outside the South to portray blacks as opressed by white southerners. White Southern Culture at its base is Christian, thats why we are called the Bible Belt. We did not invent that phrase H.L. mencken did to refer to the Bible believing South because he hated it. Richard Southern Culture was built on regulated order. All men are not created equal,all races are not equal. The statement I just made will send all the Yankees and their clones into a fit of self-righteous rage. There was and there still is injustice in the South. There was and still is the desire in the North to rule the South as if we were still their conquered province.
Define “yankee”.
It can’t mean anyone living North of some geographical line. I’m quite confident that the people I know living up here in “the North” are not sitting around in the evenings discussing how much they desire to dominate “the South” more and more; I’d wager that if I asked any of the people I know up here if they ever thought “the North” is currently dominating “the South” AT ALL, they would look at me as if I had spoken a different language; they’re just not living “on that page”.
I’d like to know …. what is a “yankee”?
I will be happy to define a Yankee for you. Dick Cheney who is back on tv pushing his new book is a great example. Hillary Clinton is another. Obama is also one. I’m giving you a link to read about the Yankee.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/wilson/wilson17.html
But to be closer to home the Yankee is one of those people that move to the South and demand that the Confederate Battle Flag be banished. He or she sits at supper with you and explains just how lazy and stupid all Southerners are. He or she will also explain that coming to the South is like going to a third world country. Least I forget the accent, only rednecks have Southern accents. Richard you will find a couple of Yankees on this posting. Of course the people you know don’t sit around thinking about dominating the South all the time. Give me a break you know they must have something to do on saturday night.
I’m replying to my own comment cuz your last reply didn’t have a “reply” option to click.
I read the link. What I got out of it was that the issue is that there are many people who deeply cherish their “Southern culture” and feel it is threatened from “outsiders” who don’t cherish it. The article goes much deeper than I’ve ever been exposed to on the subject, and I, therefor, didn’t fully apprehend all its implications except for the depth of the issue.
Now I understand more of the basis for your objection to the film.
Richard , Most of what passes as Southern Culture these days has been created through film and tv; in short “Good ole Boy culture”. That type of presentation tells the rest of America that we here in the South are terrible folks. To learn about blacks and whites in the South would require a good deal of study. It has not always been a good one,but better overall than you believe.
I just think that if we remember scripture, Jesus tells us to do good to those who mistreat us, love our enemies; and servants: serve as if serving the Lord. I just feel that “use this toilet instead of that” is evil; as is making someone eat your feces; as is the glee of telling your enemy “eat blahblahblah”; AS IS laughing at the revenge of it. None is christian…and I fear many “christians” ignore what is said in the bible for loyalty to their culture or cause. I just think that the lack of forgiveness is what is at the bottom of the reverse racism and hatred going on now…. it is just as evil as the other. I appreciate an honest evaluation and critique of history; but stirring the pot to make everyone agitated is not profitable if there is nothing to balance the total picture. The younger generations are being brought up with a veneration for civil rights leaders as “god-like” and an instilled hatred for their own selves. I just ask for an accurate portrayal of history of all of the people who fought to end this evil. Thank you for not beating me up!! LOL
Teri, Your use of the terms “I just think, I just feel”, are terms used by people who have very little knowledge. Read God’s law word and know the truth. I suspect the sum total of your knowledge has been acquired through novels and tv. Be careful who you allow to use your toilet, you may acquire critters you won’t like. Do not mistake rules for hate. Our Lord said is it not lawful to do with what is yours as you will. Teri, My Mother had a black maid and this maid also had a black maid. Real raism.
I read the book and two days after reading the book I saw the movie. I could not put the book down and always enjoy a book where you can learn more about what you have actually lived. I was 13 in 1964 in Florida and remember going into stores that had colored and white water fountains. Being the rebel that I was, I remember making a conscious effort to drink from the colored fountain and always waited for some comment, but no comments just stares. This is one woman’s protrayal of her experience. If there are others, than they should do as she did. Tell the story. There will always be criticism whether the protrayals were slanted or accurate, but this was her story and I for one am glad she told it. I believe our country has taken part in two great sins, slavery and abortion. We are paying the price and will continue to pay that price. Only God can heal these two great divides.
“But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”
I suspect the last words of the maid in the movie to turn the other cheek and love your enemies will not be as well remembered by the viewing public as the defiant revengeful statement to “eat my ****”. My “uninformed” thoughts are my personal observations… with some good company.
Regarding the “that’s a movie for us, why are you watching it” meme, I went to Junior High just before “Roots: the Mini-Series”. In my school, there were three copies of Roots (the book) in the library. Soon after the series came out, I happened to re-reading it near the school, and was told that “That book’s not for white folk!”. I retorted that I seemed to be the only one reading it, based on the library check-out cards.
This book and film are FICTION, and is about as “factual” as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Congratulations, Mr. DeMar, on falling for the liberal propaganda, hook, line and sinker.
The review below is a much more accurate assessment of “The Help”:
http://www.thepoliticalcesspool.org/jamesedwards/2011/08/23/driving-miss-ditzy/
“The cultural Marxists never tire of fanning the dying embers of the “Civil Rights” movement (CRM) because it can always be relied upon to burst into flame, warming the hearts of a credulous American public. Whenever the Left encounters massive public skepticism regarding the benefits of homosexual marriage, open borders, global warming, Obama’s presidency, or whatever the liberal cause du jour may be, they can always depend on striking a sympathetic chord with mainstream conservatives and liberals alike by dusting off yet another reminiscence about the bad old days of segregation to remind us of how righteous liberals are.
Unpleasant memories like the French and Bolshevik Revolutions, Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, the Vendee, and the gulags fade into nothingness when those evergreen images of police dogs and fire hoses flicker on the screen. If Tombstone, Arizona was the town too tough to die, the CRM is the radical egalitarian movement too good to be forsaken. Its memory must be kept front and center, and on life support forever, preserved in an environmentally controlled glass covered casket like Lenin’s corpse.
The Help is the movie industry’s latest contribution to this endless enterprise. Billed as this summer’s premier chick flick, The Help gives moviegoers a heaping helping of all of the bromides and stereotypes we’ve come to expect from a Hollywood production depicting the benighted South before the triumph of liberalism – stoic, long-suffering blacks imbued with both homespun wisdom and impeccable moral rectitude. They never lose their tempers or lapse into profanity. They are the match to any and all circumstances they encounter, especially all impediments clumsily thrown in their path by racist whites.”
(The rest of this astute review is found at the link above.)
P.S. Mr. DeMar, how many Blacks do you have employed at American Vision?
This movie is another Hollywood propaganda piece complete with stereotypes on both sides (black and white) with the whites portrayed as thoughtless, arrogant, mean, and clueless whereas the blacks are wise, long-suffering, tolerant, kind, and oh so aware of cultural defects – of the whites, that is. I am very disappointed to see how clueless the two white movie reviewers are – especially since they purport to be somewhat expert in discerning these things. In this review they have failed to see the quite obvious agenda possibly because they have been trained (educated) to miss it. Their lack of discernment is stunning and so complete that the review could be read as satire.
“with the whites portrayed as thoughtless, arrogant, mean, and clueless whereas the blacks are wise, long-suffering, tolerant, kind, and oh so aware of cultural defects – of the whites, that is.”
Show me a black maid in the 60s who wasn’t long-suffering. And I won’t call you a racist. Until then, you’re a racist.
To me, the movie was not so much about black-white relations as about class distinctions. The take away that I got from the movie was how unnatural it was for the upper class whites to not want to care for and raise their own children. They miss out on so much by concentrating on “high society” and all the vanities associated with that kind of empty lifestyle. The poor white ( Miss Foote)who had married up got similar treatment as the blacks. The chocolate pie incident, that was central to the movie, I thought marred the characters so-called courage. It is not courageous to take revenge. It also was in bad taste and makes me understand why Movieguide gave the movie a -2. I did not see the love of enemies that many reviewers talk about. What I saw instead was people getting back at other people and laughing about it. Hilly was not loved by the blacks or even by Skeeter, her former best friend. It definitely was a chick flick with all the elements of small town girl makes big. Having said all that I still enjoyed the movie. I love historical pieces. This one gives you a feel of what it may have been like to live in Jackson Mississippi during the Civil rights era. It makes you wonder how you would have responded. I guess it all depends on what class you were born into (Now I sound Marxist) or better yet, whether or not you were a follower of Christ.
Well said, John. I too appreciate these aspects of the film. Revenge is never right even when there is an absence of true justice when it’s called for. Many audiences accept revenge in the place of justice, which is a reflection of their true character. Now, they might not want to admit it, but given the right circumstances, who isn’t tempted to take vengeance into their own hands?
I enjoyed the movie very much. It was well done and funny too. I have a different angle now when I watch any movie. I look for the political, or perhaps cultural agenda. Most movies nowadays have a message or at least an influence to sway public opinion. I think this movie was intended to grab your heart and feel a twinge of guilt at discrimination. It seemed to arrive at a perfect time to reelect a black man. Maybe it is just me, but does any one else have this notion? I don’t see the discrimination today that we had 60 years ago. Sure, there will always be sins of all kinds, but try looking at what is going around in the world today. Look at who sways public opinion…1st John 5:19…
I see why it would appear the film was an intentional release to sway public opinion. Still, it’s not like this film will appeal to the same group of the public that likes/supports Obama. ‘The Help’ has a basically Christian theme. Obama honestly doesn’t support many (if any) Christian values. It’s true in many respects to the historical times of the early 1960s. It sympathetically illustrates the problems some of our parents and grandparents faced. I think it is those that lived through some of these problems that the story was written and filmed for.
The film is based on a novel by a secular white American novelist. The book was popular, so a film studio picked it up and produced the film while trying to bank on the momentum of the book’s popularity. This means it was necessary to produce the film at the time it was timely; on the minds of the novel’s readers. I doubt the film has any correlation to Obama and his first run for election other than the one we the audience sees because Obama is part black. I’m not saying the film counters Obama’s popularity, just that they seem unrelated in almost every way by their intent.
What struck me was the pettiness of the racism. Not that racism is merely petty, how common it seemed to be. Trying to pass a law were private homes had to have separate bathroom for the the Black employees was a real stunner, and the woman trying to pass the law was not hateful, just a sad and stupid woman. I am a law and order Conservative and have very little sympathy for real crooks and fools, but this movie made me tear up at the racist garbage. A great movie and real insight of human nature. And…the Black maid was very wrong to give that woman a “doo doo” pie, but because I am a sinner I thought it was quite funny. God bless you all.