60's Southern Inspiration

The Help 2011

The Help, produced by Tate Taylor, is one of the most inspiring films based on 1960's Jackson, Mississippi. It will be a favorite to anyone, anywhere from its humor coming from the revenge of the housemaids and the secrets they knew and told about their employers, to its saddening and hurtful truths about how the blacks were treated in that time period. The main character "Skeeter" played by Emma Stone, was one of the biggest forms of inspiration for the majority of the film. Due to her rebellious acts from her interests in the "help" or housemaids, as well as her lack in interest in becoming the typical housewife of her time, she wrote the book "The Help" (also a tremendous shocker in the 60's because not many women at the time had nor strived for a career such as she did with becoming a writer for the Jackson Journal) which was about all the secrets of the housewives (also known as employers of the maids or "help") that only the "help" knew about. The stories in the book were about the "help's" side of each household's story that they worked for. It was the truth behind the deception of the prim and proper housewives and how they lived their everyday lives and treated everyone around them. It was also truly an act of courage coming from the maids or "help" because they were putting their jobs and possibly even life's at risk by being interviewed by Skeeter and by telling all the scandalous secrets of their employers. The Help is a phenomenal film because of the inspirational acts of justice coming from the main characters Skeeter Phelan as well as the maids Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson (played by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer). 

Rebellious yet Admirable

 

The Help - Skeeter

Skeeter played by Emma Stone, was one of my favorite characters in this film. She chose to leave her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi to go off to college and better herself with an education. Not may southerners from "ol' Miss" had the desire to leave. Let alone the women wanting to pursue their education. Though, after her education was complete, Skeeter came back to her hometown and received (though begged for) a job at the Jackson Journal. Her aspiring conscious and desire for change caused her to want to help the "help" by writing a scandalous book anonymously about their life's and how they were treated by their southern, uppity employers. Since this film was based in the 1960's, the civil rights movement was still taking place. So, the blacks still did not have any rights, especially rights equal to the whites. Also, women had very few rights to none compared to the men at the time. Therefore, Skeeter was taking several risks with writing her book. Not only was she writing about "the help", which at the time no one would have thought it to be interesting to read about especially because of their skin color. She was also taking the risk of knowing that not a lot of women had careers such as being a writer nor did they aspire to be anything other than what was expected of them by being the average "stay at home" housewife and caretaker. Although, they didn't seem to do much caretaking since they hired their "help".

The Help - Skeeter interviewing "the help"

Caretaker?

The Help - Abilene with Mae Mobley

It was truly saddening how the "help" took better care of their employers children and homes than the employers themselves. I find it ironic that they were branded as "housewives" or "caretakers" when they really didn't do anything other than looking pretty, having the babies (when it served to their benefit), and preparing for their "high society"

The Help - Bridge Club Party

Bridge Club parties with the other housewives in the neighborhood. Not only did they not project their duties as mothers or caretakers, but they treated the women and people they hired to do so in such a way worse than they would an animal! Even Skeeter and her mother Charlette (played by Allison Janney) had "help" named Constantine (played by Cicely Tyson) when Skeeter was young. Skeeter adored Constantine, as she treated her like a mother and showed her more attention than her own mother. Though, Charlette became somewhat jealous of Constantine and her relationship with her daughter. She had also become embarrassed when Constantine had made a mistake at one of her house parties because of her old age, ending up in Charlette firing Contantine. Another set of housewives that didn't take care of their "help" was Hilly Holbrook and Jolene French (played by Bryce Dallas Howard and Anna Camp). They had the gall to build separate bathrooms outside of their homes specifically for their "help". Hilly even drafted the "home house sanitation initiative" which was a bill that required every white home to have separate bathrooms for the "help". They truly believed that they had some sort of diseases that could be transferred through to them by sharing the same toilet. Hilly even marked and measured the toilet paper to make sure that Minny (her help) hadn't been in there using it. Well, Minny really had to "go". So, she tried to sneak and use the one in the house but Hilly heard her flush the toilet, leading to Minny's immediate termination.

The Help - Hilly marking the toilet paper

Fed Up!

The book Skeeter wrote about the "help" persuaded them to become more courageous and speak up, not only for the book but also towards their employers. Minny even made a chocolate pie for her current ex-employer Mrs. Hilly. Come to find out it was made out Minny's idea of "karma" for Hilly because of how she treated her during her employment and firing her. I find it to be my favorite scene as well as most other audiences that have seen this film. The fact that Minny made the "chocolate"

The Help - Minny's Pie

pie out of her excrement and gave it to Mrs. Hilly for revenge but she watched her eat it piece by piece. Hilly, of course had no clue what it was made of and thought it was an apology pie. An apology for Minny behaving in such a disobedient way in her eyes. She not only ate one piece of pie, she ate two! After Minny was terminated and felt that she had received justice from being terminated, she found a much better household to work for. She started working for Mrs. Celia Foote which was played by Jessica Chastain. She treated Minny much better than Mrs. Hilly did. She treated her like an actual human being and not just some disgusting thing that beckons to her every whim, no matter how humiliating or disrespectful. Aibilene as well as Minny, ended up moving on at the very end of the film. She also became terminated from her job because her employer found out that she was included in the makings of the book, "the help". Although, it was much harder for her to leave because she

practically raised her employers daughter Mae Mobley (played by Eleanor Henry and Emma Henry). Though, no matter the ups or downs, starting a new was what was best for each of these women. The bigger picture was that all of the women or "help" were making a difference. They were speaking up for themselves and releasing their own stories into the world. Although it was anonymous, it gave them the aspiration and confidence to acknowledge that they deserve better and have a voice. They deserve to be treated with more respect and to be treated as human beings. They sent the word out that not only were the so called "high class housewives" imperfect but they treated everyone as if they were beneath them. Well, karma hit those women hard. This book caused a change in the idea that the help were just house maids or that they had no real or interesting life's.

The Help - Perception of Maids

Women of Controversy

The Help - Main Characters

This film, The Help, showed the close-minded, high society group of people (particularly whites) of the sixties and how the book written in the film, also called "the Help", made them rethink their whole idea of ethnic separation. Not only were the controversial inspirations of this film and book in the film highly favorable but the humor and facts were also extremely on point and attention grabbing. I agree with the critiques of Nick Pinkerton when he said "The Help is concerned with self-esteem. It takes place in an imperiled social system where, by long term tradition, the upper caste of Southern whites reinforce their own insecure sense of worth through keeping Southern blacks in legalized second-class status." I never would've thought of it in this particular perspective but I fully agree in the fact that he's observed that the snooty "high class" white people of Jackson Mississippi want to make sure they keep their credentials by separating the blacks from the whites in any way possible. In my opinion, there wasn't really anything to complain about this film. It is truly made for anyone and everyone that understands what happened to each variety of skin color or ethnicity in the sixties and how most of what was in the film and the book were very controversial at the time. Whoever finds pleasure in seeing karma, justice, and even rebellion take place than I most definitely suggest watching The Help.

Works Cited

The Help. Dir. Tate Taylor. Perf. Emma Stone,

Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard. Dreamworks. 2011. Film.

Pinkerton, Nick. "The Help." Sight & Sound 21.11 (2011): 62. 

Associates Programs Source Plus. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.