The Help - American Drama Film by Tate Taylor

Zedekiah Diaz

Dr. Vanessa Corredera

English Composition II

Race and Stereotypes

The Help

The Help is an American drama film directed and written by Tate Taylor. The film is telling a story of a young white woman, Skeeter Phelan, and her interesting relationship with two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, during the Civil Rights era in 1963. Skeeter is expected by her mother to have kids and start a family, but her dreams has always been to be a journalist, and later on she decides to write a book from the point of view of the black maids, exposing the racism they are faced with daily basis while they are working for white families. This movie is popular to many viewers, not just because the acting talents performed, but the message this film brings about race and stereotypes. There are many films out there that have the potential to divide audiences and one of them is The Help. Some viewers like it, and some would hate it. The people who respond to the movie are likely to feel challenged or emotionally activated, like myself.

Many viewers were challenged emotionally by this film, because some say this film portrayed the stereotypes of black women, but my thoughts are not exactly the same, I’m sure there are complexity that are waiting to be opened from each characters, that will help us to understand that this movie does not focus on portraying the stereotypes of black women. When in fact, this film shows what women have to go through in the 70s.

In The Power of Black Magic by Cerise L. Glenn & Landra J. Cunningham, they said that “Although audience members watch movies for entertainment, the images and relationships between characters impact the manner in which they perceive themselves and others.” (Cunningham 136) In other words, the way we see this film can affect our judgement towards other people in our life. Which being said, it is important to us to open our mind and be more complex in reviewing this film. Let us not too quick to say that all black women characters in The Help portray black women stereotypes. Because Media images can shape our view of the world and our deepest values what we consider good or bad.

For instance, Critics reviewed Aibileen Clark as the Mammy, because she fits into the requirement as the mammy stereotype. Melissa Harris-Perry defines the mammy stereotype as “…docile and maternal…big, fat, soft, dark-skinned and unfeminine. Her love, doting advice, correction and supervision were reserved exclusively for white women and children.” (Perry) The Mammy role was domestic service, characterized by long hours of work with little or no compensation. Subordination, nurturance, and constant self-sacrifice were expected from them. But in the film, Tate Taylor the director of this film, portrayed Aibileen not entirely fit to the qualification of the mammy. The book she writes with Skeeter and the other maids is an example that she is not truly a mammy. A mammy is someone who give constant self-sacrifice, but in the film, the book she made with Skeeter is evidence that she stand up for injustices, she stand up for herself. She teaches the children she raises that the color of skin does not matter but love and kindness do. Even when she often feels that the message is countered by the racism in the area. Aibileen realizes she has more to offer in life than being a maid and finds the courage to be something else than just a maid. If the mammy is someone who devoted to their employers why Aibileen would denounces Hilly as a godless, vindictive woman? In the last part of the film we can see Hilly breaks down in tears, defeated and humiliated after what Aibileen said. With this case I believe Aibileen character does not fit the Mammy character.

In similar fashion, another stereotype that critics brought up to this movie is how Minny Jackson fits the stereotype of a Sapphire, “Sapphire named after a character in “Amos ‘n’ Andy”, always seems to have her hands on her hips while she is running her mouth – putting down her man, making everything into a fight, never taking anything lying down. She is an overbearing, hard and undesirable woman who drives men away” (Abagond). Minny is Abilene’s friend, in the first part of the film, Minny is portrayed as a woman who’s rebellious. She’s a bossy maid who’s unable to keep employment because of her attitude. People are quick to judge and put her in the Sapphire stereotype box, but let us not forget that she became friend with Celia in the film. There was a part in the movie when Celia insists on eating with Minny. The two become friends, Celia telling Minny to stand up to her abusive husband, and Minny encouraging Celia to stay and work things out with Johnny after embarrassing herself at the ball. The nature of the relationship with Celia and Minny is that they were friends, there was no racial discrimination between them, Celia treated Minny with respect although it was a during time period where society was strongly segregated between whites and blacks. Nobody between Celia and Minny held the power, it was an equal relationship. Celia is very different than the other white women, she does not care about the social expectations through the way she has to treat black people. We can see that throughout the story between Celia and Minny relationship where they form a close bond and become friends. This scene illustrates that Minny is not a sapphire woman after all, she has a heart for Celia, and she let herself to be vulnerable so they can exchange stories. In other words, if we see this film with more understanding and let our mind open, it will help us to see good things this movie tries to convey to the audience.

Furthermore, I fully agree with reviewers that say the film explores issues of race without itself being racist. I believe the director of this film did not have the intention to emphasize black women stereotype in the movie, in fact the director portrayed the stereotypes of women in general back in the 70’s. As an illustration, Minny Jackson is expected to stay in silence while regularly abused by her husband, as it was considered not only typical but accepted to behave in such a manner. This case not necessarily shows how men treated women back in the 70s, but simply to portray men are more superior to women. We can see to another case when Celia has to sneak behind her husband to brought Minny into their house to work, this scene depicts how her husband approval is important, but because Celia is expected to be able to cook good meals for her husband and give him child she really has no choice other than hiring a maid to help her. She couldn’t handle the thought if her husband say no to her request to bring a maid to help her, so she did it from his back, even though at the end her husband found out and not angry about it at all.