The Help Film Analysis

The Help is about a young white woman, Skeeter Phelan, trying to bring attention to the reality that black women, aka “the help” face daily. The movie is set in Jackson, Mississippi at the height of legal segregation and racial tension. The movie takes a historical issue and applies humor in order to appeal to larger audiences. The Help accurately depicts the white supremacy of the segregated South, but is historically inaccurate in its portrayal of characters, mood, and overall unrealistic appeal of the 1960s United States.

African American’s role in this country has been long and has never been easy. During the early years of the United States, African Americans endure the hardship of slavery and had to deal with beatings, harsh working conditions and constant yelling from their racist white owners. Even after the abolishment of slavery, African Americans still endure another one hundred years of discrimination. A perfect way to examine a pivotal time in American History of African Americans and the racism they went through is seen in the movie “The Help”. The movie is set to take place “in Mississippi during the 1950s-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.” (The Help) The movie was originally based on a book written by

The book “The Help”, written by Kathryn Stockett, is a book that takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, around the 1960's, when the blacks were segregated from the whites. The story is mainly about a black woman Aibileen whose main job is to take care of children as well as to handle household duties. Along the way they meet a woman Skeeter's whose lifelong dream is to become a writer however the only job she can find, is with the Jackson Journal writing a housekeeping advice column which she knows very little about. To succeed in the job, Skeeter turns to her friend's maid, Aibileen, for answers and help to write the column.

The Help occurs during the segregation period during the year of 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. The main character is Aibileen Clark, a 50-year-old African American maid spending most of her life raising white children ever since her teenage years. She works for Elizabeth Leefolt, a wealthy housewife, who is the best friend of the antagonist, Hilly Holbrook. Elizabeth has a child named Mae Mobley whom Aibileen is very close to. Aibileen’s best friend is Minny Jackson; she is a maid who works for Hilly Holbrook and her mother Missy Walters for nearly a decade. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a young, white American woman, seeks a successful writing career after graduating from the University of Mississippi and returns to home, soon to find out her long-time maid, Constantine, supposedly quit working for her family; this was a great mystery for Skeeter because Constantine did not write to Skeeter explaining why she left. Skeeter found out Hilly Holbrook, Elizabeth Leefolt and their friends believe blacks “carry various diseases to the white people”. Hilly drafted a disease

The Help is written from the view of the three main characters Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter from a small town named Jackson, Mississippi. First Aibileen, she is one of the primary African-American maids in the novel that works for the Leefolt family. Secondly, Minny is the feisty, smart-mouthing African American maid that works for Mrs. Holbrook till she is fired and later begins working for Mrs. Foote. Lastly, Skeeter is a young Caucasian woman who has returned from graduating college and dreams to be a writer. Skeeter hopes to change the typical southern views Jackson has of blacks that is apparent on every page of this novel. This sparks an ambition to write a book about the “helps” point of view on working for white families that is so

The film “The Help” (2011), is a story based on the daily lives of prominent white women and the relationships with their African-American housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in America. A well-to-do white woman and central character in this film, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, aspires to be a journalist and decides to write and publish an exposé of the stories of the housemaids in Jackson to achieve this goal, however, only two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson are willing to discuss their experiences with her. The other maid’s in Jackson resist telling Skeeter their stories, fearing the punishments they would endure if the authorities were to find out. In spite of this, after the malicious arrest of one of their befriended maids, all of the maids begin to share their experiences, which consist of racial hostility and being treated as intrinsically subservient to white people. The story Skeeter publishes entitled The Help, creates a disturbance among the white families in Jackson, by exposing the racism the maids are faced with, forcing the white families to reflect upon how they have treated their maids. The storyline represented in The Help exhibits examples of the primordial approach to race and ethnicity, as well as numerous sociological concepts including segregation, internalized oppression, and white privilege, which will be exemplified in this paper in order to uncover the race relations evident within this film.

The Help chronicles a recent college graduate named Skeeter, who secretly writes a book exposing the treatment of black maids by white affluent women. The story takes place in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The death of Medgar Evers triggers racial tension and gives the maids of Jackson the courage to retell their personal stories of injustice endured over the years. The movie depicts the frustration of the maids with their female employers and what their lives were like cleaning, cooking, and raising their bosses’ children. The Help shines a light on the racial and social injustice of maids during the era of Jim Crow Laws, illustrating how white women of a privileged

Kathryn Scott’s The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. This movie emphasizes tense racial conflicts that dominated the South during this post-World War era.  Segregation of whites verse blacks was a prevailing and dominating theme of the decade. The Help attempts to depict this time period by focusing on a white woman, Skeeter Phelan, who aspires to become a journalist. Society considered Skeeter as an oddity for wanting to leave her family and pursue an education. She goes against all social norms and secretly asks her maid, Aibileen, to help her write a book about the lives of maids. Despite the overwhelming danger associated with their relationship Aibileen agrees and even encourages other maids to take part. The intention behind Skeeter Phelan’s book was to spark a movement and change the way white people view their help. The Help suggests that education is the only route to social change.

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 Help is a drama set in Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The film focuses on the development of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young, aspiring Anglo American author trying to find her way in the world of writing. After becoming closer acquainted with Aibileen, an African-American maid employed by her peer Elizabeth Leefolt, Skeeter becomes more aware of the racist attitudes that white Americans in her community have towards ‘black’ Americans. After successfully interviewing Minny, Aibileen 's best friend and fellow maid, Skeeter interviews the maids of multiple households and collects their stories and experiences of their lives. This leads Skeeter on a risky path towards bringing awareness to black

Based off of Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel, The Help is a movie told from an African American’s point of view during the early 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi. The three main characters include, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan. Skeeter is a young writer who has recently returned from the University of Mississippi. She has been advised by the Elaine Stein, who is the head editor at Harper & Row, to write about a topic she is passionate about, that way she can continue her dream of becoming a serious writer. In addition, Skeeter accepts a writing job down at the Jackson Journal where she writes a housekeeping column. Ironically, she has no housekeeping experience as she grew up with in house help. In order to keep her job she goes to Aibileen, her friend Elizabeth Leefolt’s housekeeper. At this point in her life, Aibileen is just trying to get by. She writes out her prayers on a daily basis as a way to clear her mind since she is fairly reserved on the outside. On the contrary, Aibileen’s friend Minny is also a housekeeper, but she has a rather sharp tongue which doesn’t usually work in her favor. Consequently, she is trying to find a new employer, but is having trouble since there is a bit of discord between her and the most influential socialite in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Help written by Kathryn Stockett is about a white woman, Skeeter with the help of the maids, writes a novel about what it is like to work for white families and raise their children. Telling the maids’ point of views

The qualities a movie of this nature should possess a surprise, eye-opener, and stagger the emotions. A plot with these standards prevents unpredictability and makes an exceptional film. In addition, a film may not exist without a story. In The Help the plot juggles the themes of society, class, racial discrimination, hope, and faith. The main turnover of the film was the scene in which Skeeter Phelan came to know after she began her undertaking expose that a dozen more maids would reach out by sharing their encounters working as a servant at the hands of their white employer’s needs. As the film reveals each maids narrative of their years of slaving for the white community and the backfires of the profession, the strength and power of these women gives a deeper meaning conveyed by the writer and director of the film. While the storyline extensively expresses despair, struggle, anguish, The Help establishes a message of hope, faith, and ambition to the African American society dealing with the civil rights

The name of the film is “The Help.” The leading actresses are Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O'Reilly and Allison Janney. Tate Taylor is the director of the film and it was released on August 10, 2011. This is a real story based on the novel “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. The main point of the movie is for African-American maids to tell their story of how it was working for Caucasian people.

CitationsThe text “The Help” is set in the 1960’s in Jackson Mississippi. Southern society girl Skeeter returns from collage with dreams of being a writer. She turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Aibileen, the housekeeper of Skeeters best friend, will talk at first but as the pair continue the collaboration more women decide to come forward, and as it turns out they have quite a lot to say. There are differences and similarities between the Movie and film they include the plot and the storyline, structure and form and characterisation.