The Help is a 2011 movie based on the book that was published in 2009. The entire movie is set in the early 1960s during the civil rights era. This movie looks into the lives of African American maids during this time period, seeing what they experienced and endured on a day to day basis. Due to the movie being set in the 1960s , The Help bares multiple social problems that can be found today. The most profound social problem depicted throughout the movie is racism. Female inequality is also a social problem that presents itself in the movie. Lastly, education was another social problem that I found very important, though the people of this time period didn’t see it as an issue. All of these social problems play a part in successfully portraying the …show more content…
At this time in society women are expected to find a man, get married and start a family early. Not get an education, find a good job and focus on a career. Skeeter is different from the other southern white girls. She has the dream of becoming a big journalist in New York, which wasn't normal for the time. Today people have different expectations for girls. Girls should go on to college, start a career, then once they've established themself get married and start a family. But honestly most girls get pregnant early and don't go on to college or get married until later in life. In the movie there is no escaping this constant ridicule for Skeeter. She was constantly set up on dates and put down regarding her appearance. People still have such high expectations for women now, just as much as they did then. However, Skeeter’s way of escaping was her book. By writing this book she was able to put her personal problems aside, and focus on something she’s passionate about.. After her book was published it was a hit and she got the job in New
The Help is a book about a white group of women and their black maids in Jackson, Mississippi. It takes place in 1962, a time where black people were poorly treated and used to work.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is set in the time period of the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. During this time, slavery has ended but segregation was still happening every day. African American women, at the time, worked and cleaned for a white family households. Minny Jackson and Aibileen Clark are both maids for white families. During Minny and Aibileen's lives, as black maids, they are treated with disrespect and injustice by Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt, and are only treated with kindness by Cecilia Foote.
She goes against her friends beliefs, and crosses even Miss Hilly who believes strongly in segregation. Normal white people in Jackson, Mississippi would never imagine doing the things Skeeter does. Skeeter doesn’t only go against racial norms, but she also goes against what is normal for women in the 1960s. Skeeter tries to be independent, she wants the same opportunities that men have and doesn’t believe she needs a man to be a good woman. However, her mother strongly believes she needs a husband, and all of her friends fit into the “perfect” woman role.
The legal system during the time of the help benefited the white and harmed the black because of the segregation laws that were passed. In the book, The Help, all the maids were afraid of telling their stories. If their white bosses were to find out they would be in bad trouble. The black maids just had to abide by the law and everything would be fine. The legal system in 1960 was different than it is today. Now a day’s people get in trouble for discriminating blacks. People like to see each other as an equal person, with equal rights. The white children were even taught that mistreating a black person was ok because that’s just how the law was. Back in the 1960s children were raised to treat blacks with little respect. They were taught that
Skeeter writing a book about white women from colored women’s perspective, Aibileen lying to a white woman to get Minny employed, Yule May stealing a ring to send her boys to college, and many others, although shown in the movie, were not emphasized as much as I thought they should have been. In chapter 19 Yule May stole a ring that was of no value to Miss Hilly, yet Hilly still sent her to jail for it because she is cruel, (Stockett, 296). In the movie, viewers have no idea how much time Yule May will spend in jail, they don’t know that the colored people in her town are helping to send her boys to college, they aren’t aware that the ring was of no value, and there isn’t an emphasis on the fact that because of Yule May, the other women agreed to help write Skeeter’s book, (Stockett, 297 and 307). In chapter 19 when that first maid says, “I’m on help you with the stories,” the story takes a turn (Stockett, 297). In the beginning of the book, all maids besides Aibileen and Minny were dead set against the idea of the book since they could lose more than just their job if they were caught. Since the movie didn’t show the maids unwillingness to help in the beginning, I believe the producers lost some of the portrayal of how important this risk they were taking actually was. The writing of Skeeter’s book also brings up a few more differences there are between the
The help is a drama film produced in 2011 that highlights the relationship between African American maids and their employers in the days civil rights. The film reveals the perception that the maids had concerning their bosses (Ebert, 2011). The help presents a story on how two African American maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, motivated a young white woman, "Skeeter", to publish a book on their story. The film reveals that the book that the young woman wrote became one of the best-selling books and transformed both her life and the life of her mother.
The title of the movie selected by the group was “The Help”. The Help” is a movie released in August 2011. The movie explores the unequal treatment suffered by the maids at the hands of their white, middle class oppressors. During this era in the south laws was in effect which constricted the ability of the maids and their sympathizers to raise awareness of the social inequalities which were, and still are in several areas, culturally acceptable. “The Help” depicts the issues of cultural inequalities more than a hundred years after slavery had been abolished.
Sometimes the actions of one individual can enormously impact on how society sees itself. 1960s based film, ‘The Help’ written by K. Stockett and directed by T. Taylor, told a story about the life and social context in Jackson, Mississippi throughout the early 20th century. Stockett wrote with a purpose of entertainment through an informing message of equality and self-awareness. The target audience was influenced to think that ‘a person is a person who deserves respect and equality no matter their race, gender and or beliefs’. This powerful message was communicated from the point of view of housemaid Aibileen Clark through intensive characterisation and a unique script. Stockett and Taylor successfully explored the theme of justice by taking
The movie “The Help” was based In the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. During this period of time it was very segregated, very much so that whites did not want African Americans to have contact with them, but were expected to fully take care of their children from birth to adulthood. Most of the African American maids later developed a strong bond with the children that they looked after. They tried teaching the kids to see no color, just to later witness them grow up to be brainwashed by the world to think of African Americans as less than. Except for one southern girl named Skeeter Phelan, who saw the equality in everyone. And one day she decided to interview the maids to get their perspectives on life and to get their story out to the world. At first the maids were hesitant because it would be serious consequences if anyone knew who exactly spoke up, but Skeeter did whatever she could to make sure all the maids were anonymous and no one knew. She risked many hardships like losing her relationship with her boyfriend and also building tension with the women of the Junior League. Successfully the maids stories got out and it opened eyes little by little.
The movie industry has developed tremendously with movies made that are not afraid to address the current social issues in the world. There is also a trend today where more books are made into movies with the list being endless such as the popular hunger games and Harry Potter books. This caters to those who prefer watching the aspects of the book rather than reading and those who have read the book and what their imagination of scenes in the book fulfilled. The Help (2011) is an adaptation from the book with the same title by Kathryn Stockett. The movie is about African American maids and the hardships they had to endure working for white families during the civil rights
The Help takes place during the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. This novel tells a story about the relationships between African-American maids and their white employers. During the 1960’s, not only in Mississippi but the greater part of the south, African-American women were the nannies and maids to white families for generations and dealt with racism in order to earn an income for their own families. The Help not only touches on a racist time era but a sexist one as well. In The 60’s women were to be mothers and housewives but some wanted
The movie, The Help, is based on the book written by Kathryn Stockett. It was released in 2011 and directed by Tate Taylor (Taylor, 2017). The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s, and it is about the experiences black women had as maids for white families. These women decided to risk it all and tell their stories in an effort to show what is was really like for them (Taylor, 2011). The Help illustrates how these women fought racism and prejudice by becoming unified with one another. This paper will address how prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, and inequality affect the characters and their relationships in the story.
Society has changed and evolved throughout time. Perhaps one of the most significant changed in contemporary American society is the treatment towards African Americans. “The Help” a feature film directed by Tate Taylor is based on the non-fictional novel “The Help” written by author Kathryn Sockett. The feature film explores the life of African American maids of Jackson Mississippi, in the early 1960’s. The 1960’s displayed all African Americans to being left out of the “American dream” through neglect and racism. African Americans faced prejudice and discrimination in almost every aspect of their life, from jobs to housing and even their education. They were denied the right to sit at the same lunch counter or use the same public rest
After seeing the movie “The Help” I feel that it is a well written and directed movie that teaches about racism. “The Help” is a movie about how black servants were treated in the early 1960’s down south. The settings and sceenery were acurate in potraying the time era. “The Help” was released on August 10, 2011. The movie was directed and written by Tatae Taylor. The movie “The Help” was based on the book “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett. `There were several awards rewarded to “The Help”. One award was for best performance by an actress ina supporting role, which was awarded to Octavia Spencer who played Minny Jackson in the movie. “The Help” was also awarded with the best motion picture of the year.
Although the maids were struggling and going through a difficult time in 1960’s, The Help portrays that their family members were too. Segregated society against the backdrop of the growing US civil rights movement in the 1960’s has an impacted. “Race also determines who has access to educational, occupational, and economic opportunity. Racial tensions are high as white community members employ violence and coercion to try to keep the Civil Rights Movement from sweeping into their Mississippi town” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The white community in the movie continue to keep the black women as their servants throughout their lives. As Skeeter the white lady, who writes a book about The Help and portrays through the book that the African American women go through. As the white women of Jackson, Mississippi read the book they began to act more violent to the black women. The book is away as the black women to make a statement about the civil rights they have.