Lately, the movie The Help has been on everyone’s minds and most everyone’s websites. Some are praising it as a great film, some are condemning it as another “white person’s civil rights film,” or, as a commenter on Bitch magazine’s blog put it, “racist garbage,” and most others are saying it falls somewhere in between. I’ve gone back and forth, originally more in defense of the book and film than not (though always aware that it is problematic) but looking at some well written reviews today, more of the problems were pointed out than I originally noticed. **spoiler alert**
I want to say first that I enjoyed this movie. Aware that I have white privilege, I wasn’t struck by any horrific, racist or anti-feminist moments/themes/ideas right off the bat (I did pause over Minny’s obsession with fried chicken, it seemed so stereotypical, but then I thought that just because it’s a stereotype doesn’t mean it can’t ever be true, right? And many of us Southerners, black and white, love fried chicken!) The movie made me laugh several times, and actually made me cry once. And I would tell anyone, no matter how problematic/racist/silly you might think it is, the film is worth it for Viola Davis’s performance. It’s absolutely incredible. She’s a fabulous actress (stole the film Doubt while having only seven or so minutes onscreen) and she deserves praise for her performance. She completely inhabits all the contradiction of her character: loving the children she raises, hating the women who hire her, enjoying making fun of the white women when with other black women, feeling constant pain and bitterness since her son’s death, and many more. So, I think it’s entirely possible to enjoy this film while staying aware of the issues (though I do kind of wish I had waited for DVD instead of adding to the box office results).
Now, the problems. I admit, I did not notice all of these originally; some I didn’t think about until reading other reviews. First, while everyone has been praising the film for portraying well-rounded, three-dimensional female charaters (white and black) this isn’t really the case. The (black) maids all tend to be slightly plump or overweight while the white women are all thin and attractive. Yes, the white women are taking the time to do their hair and make-up while the black women may not be, but that doesn’t exactly size and shape, does it? The black women do seem to be physically filling the “Mammy” stereotype, even if their personalities aren’t. And, come on, I’ve grown up around Southern women and Southern food; all those white women wouldn’t be that thin, even if they are in bridge club and Junior League. No way.
Also, the male characters are a problem. Both the film and the novel focus mainly on the female characters, with all the men relegated to side roles (Stuart’s role may be a little bigger than that, as he is a love interest). In the film, the black men are completely absent; we only hear about Leroy, Minny’s husband, and in one weird scene he comes in yelling and clearly about to beat her but he is never actually seen by the camera (a scene that seemed so strange when I was watching the film; why didn’t they just show him?). But in both the film and the novel, the black men fit into the stereotypes of absent fathers, abusive husbands and lazy good-for-nothings. And the white men? College educated, polite, supportive. Now, of course, white and black men at this time had very different opportunities for money and education, and this made a difference for them in lots of ways. But it didn’t make all black men abusive and all white men upstanding citizens. Why do none of the maids have a husband who helps support the family and struggles through the civil rights movement with his wife? Why don’t the white women have any husband troubles, be it over money, children, mistresses, abuse, alcohol, or anything? (You might say that Celia Foote has husband trouble, but that’s not really true because she just thinks she does; once he knows everything, he is completely supportive.)
I especially have a problem with Stuart and Skeeter’s relationship. Stuart is nice enough, and Skeeter really seems to fall for him, but, as expected, their relationship falls apart when she has reveals that she wrote the book on black women and their jobs as maids (in the novel, the relationship is already falling apart by this point, but this moment is still the most crucial). As a reader, I was expecting this scene, and in fact anticipating it; I was ready for Skeeter to face someone (white) head-on with her views and stand strong. But she doesn’t!!! In both the book and the film, she’s just crying, sad that he’s ending their relationship. To me, this seems completely out of character. She’s just spent so much time on this book, working in secret, risking some danger for herself and much more for the black women, it’s finally been published, and people are reading it. She’s done what she wanted to do, and I expected her to dismiss anyone unwilling to support her. Instead, she just pouts over Stuart’s exit (again, it especially bothered me in the novel, because with their relationship headed downhill, I wanted her to end it sooner). It seemed out of character, it seemed out of place, and I just didn’t understand it. She went through all this to get published and isn’t willing to speak out for it?
Then there’s the implication in the film that all women’s issues are similar and comparable. They’re not. Everyone has problems, yes, and everyone has a right to feel however they need to feel about their problems. Just because I know there are children living in countries where wars are being fought who witness death everyday doesn’t mean I’ll be any less sad when my grandmother dies. And I shouldn’t have to be; I have a right to grieve. However, when it comes to a film/novel about white women and black women in 1960s America, the problems are not equal. I don’t feel as bad for Celia as I do for Minny. They do have different problems: Celia is dealing with several lost pregnancies, a lack of friends and social standing, and a fear of her husband; Minny is dealing with finding and keeping employment, supporting her family, and keeping herself and her children protected. But ultimately, Celia has money when Minny doesn’t, and her fear of her husband is totally unfounded; he’s a really nice guy. Now, if we saw a white woman and a black woman both dealing with similar issues (death of a loved one, abusive husband, etc.) it might become more about women dealing with their problems together, race aside. But that scenario is not presented. Instead, the white women’s problems are mainly (not completely) much smaller than the black women’s.
Are you tired yet? Well, now, for the things I liked. I did like that it’s a film about women, and about women accomplishing something. Emma Stone said, “It’s not really a story about racism. It’s a story about three women coming together to make an extraordinary positive change.” We certainly need movies like that, movies that put women at the forefront, working together and making a difference, without men playing a central role.
I also personally liked the portrayal of the contradictory relationships between black maid/white child/white mother. Aibileen loves the little girl she’s caring for, Mae Mobley, and she does her best to teach her to see people as people without color. She also does her best to support this little girl whose mother gives her no encouragement, and seems to be embarrassed by her child’s chubbiness and lack of cuteness. Aibileen, on the other hand, constantly reminds the child, “You are smart. You are kind. You are important.” I grew up in the South in the 1990s, and this stuff rings true with me. Not the absent mother part, just the relationship with a black caretaker. The woman who watched me and my sisters after school every day still knows which foods I like and don’t like; my paternal grandmother does not (and never has). These relationships exist. The problem comes when the portrayal of these relationships makes them out to be the only relationships of the black women. The movie seems to try to show an outside life for the black women: we know about Aibileen’s dead son and how that loss changed her, and we see Minny’s home life and children. But the movie still puts these white relationships at the center of their lives.
This post is incredibly long. But there’s been so much talk about the film, and I’ve read so many conflicting opinions, that I had to get all my contradictory opinions about it out in the open. At the end of the day, I think the film is worth seeing for two reasons: 1) for Viola Davis’ performance and 2) in order to critically analyze a hugely popular film that may not be presenting its “issues” in the best way. After all, as one of the many reviews/blogs/comments I’ve read online recently said, the problem is not really that the movie exists; the problem is that this movie is the one that gets mainstream attention and funding, instead of those written by/made by black women that portray a black woman’s perspective.
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