HomeVideodrome: ‘The Help’ Strikes a Safe, Non-Preachy Balance on Race
by Hunter DuesingThis week on the HomeVideodrome podcast, Jim weighs in on the 3D in “Hugo,” Hunter reviews “Immortals” and we go on a few other tangents. The show is running late and will be up Wednesday, Dec. 7th over at The Film Thugs site.
“The Help” is a film that pulls off the impressive balancing act of depicting the explosive subject of race and class in the most crowd-pleasing manner possible. Naturally, this means that “The Help” is not a movie that will necessarily challenge you on its subject matter, but most movies that try to come off as crowd-pleasers while using race and class as themes often come off as condescending or sanctimonious. “The Help” manages to dodge these bullets, ultimately winning over the audience with its memorable characters.
Taking place in Jackson, Miss. in the early sixties, the film is about a gal named Skeeter (Emma Stone, going all frizzy blonde) straight out of Ole Miss, who returns to her home in Jackson seeking a job as a writer. Relegated to a simple household cleaning column at the local paper, Skeeter seeks cleaning tips from a maid named Aibileen (Viola Davis), who works for one of her childhood friends. Her experiences with Aibileen causes her to consider the manner in which “the help” are treated in white Mississippi homes, and she looks to pen a book that will show the world from their perspective, in order to kick-start her career as a serious writer.
However, the intricate tentacles of Jackson’s supposedly polite society make this effort difficult, if not flat-out dangerous. The malevolent head of the wicked gossip-kraken is Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard), a potent villainess who reaches Nurse Ratchet-levels of audience scorn.
The skeleton of the story in “The Help” seems like the obnoxious enlightened white person turning a backward society around in a manner they could never have done without them; however, Stone’s Skeeter is hardly the enlightened Jesus-like Jake Sully from “Avatar,” the Caucasian warrior who must save an oppressed ethnicity from whitey’s claws. Such characters exist only in the minds of garden-variety white liberal writers.
Skeeter’s initial objective isn’t to selflessly liberate the oppressed or show her friends and family how horrible they truly are. Her character has a bottom line she sets out to achieve; her method of doing so is a difficult but ultimately positive one that she quickly comes to believe in. In the end, though, the seed of awareness is planted, things are better for Skeeter, but the situation for “the help” is otherwise the same. The insensitivity of the liberal elite is shown through the New York publisher Skeeter is trying to sell her idea to, insisting that she needs to get the book done soon, before, as she puts it, the whole Civil Rights thing blows over.
The rest of the white characters surrounding Skeeter are mostly southern rich-bitch stereotypes, especially during the film’s first act, though a few do gain a bit of nuance by the end, particularly Skeeter’s mother (Allison Janney), who is the source of conflict at home.
The stand-out performances are given by Davis and Octavia Spencer. Spencer’s character is what Donald Bogle refers to as the stereotype of “the mammy,” the large, de-sexualized black woman who doesn’t take shit from anyone. However, she delivers the film’s most memorable (and hilarious) moments with superb skill. Her role is a highlight, alongside Howard’s truly vile gossip queen. Davis’s Aibileen also serves as the film’s narrator, and her quiet performance is ultimately the movie’s standout.
“The Help” isn’t as daring or as interesting an exploration of race in the south during the Civil Rights era as it thinks it is, but my hat is off to it for being a truly entertaining and enjoyable film that hits those topics. The movie gets truly cheap during its final act in how it shamelessly fishes for tears from the audience in a manner that reaches Paul Haggis levels of overt manipulation, but in the end I was moved and entertained, along with everyone else in the theater. As lame as this sounds, it really is the most successful “crowd-pleaser” I’ve seen all year. That’s not to say it’s “the best” of what I’ve seen in 2011 – far from it. However, I can’t imagine people coming out of this one with their arms crossed, granted they’ve checked their cynicism at the door.
Available on Amazon Instant, Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, Blu-ray/DVD combo and DVD
Other Noteworthy Releases
Cowboys & Aliens: Like so many of this summer’s blockbusters, this one was bland and unsatisfying in spite of the great talent in front of and behind the camera. Head on over to my blog for my full thoughts.
Available on Amazon Instant, Blu-ray, DVD, and a DVD gift set
The Hangover Part II: This sequel to Todd Phillips’s sleeper hit was more of the same in a different setting, though it does have its moments. Head on over to Parcbench for my full review.
Available on Amazon Instant, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, Blu-ray, and DVD
Mr. Popper’s Penguins: This’ll make a good stocking stuffer for the little ones, or so I’m told.
Available on Amazon Instant, Blu-ray and DVD
The Debt: I don’t know much about this one, apart from the fact that it stars Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, and the incredibly talented Jessica Chastain (who also appears in “The Help” this week). The premise involves Mossad agents, which makes me wary, as I still suffer from flashbacks to the soapboxy final act of “Munich”.
Dragon Tattoo Trilogy – Extended Edition: In anticipation of David Fincher’s remake of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, the acclaimed trilogy gets a dip in a box set.
Tora! Tora! Tora!: The anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor is this week, but why bother with the Michael Bay interpretation when you have this film? Akira Kurosawa was originally going to go Hollywood and direct the Japanese segments of this film, but his clashes with the studio caused him to drop out. He was replaced by Kinji Fukasaku (alongside Toshio Matsuda), who is known for directing films like “Battle Royale,” “Battles Without Honor & Humanity,” and the schlock classic “The Green Slime.” Richard Fleischer, the guy who gave us “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” directed the American scenes.
Available on Blu-ray
Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Vol. XXII: This box set includes the episodes that cover “Mighty Jack,” “Time of the Apes,” “The Violent Years,” and “The Brute Man.” Speaking of “The Green Slime,” Fukasaku’s B-movie was the very first movie the MST3K crew riffed on in their pilot episode that never aired.
Available on DVD
The Lady Vanishes: Criterion is updating their edition of this Hitchcock classic to Blu-ray. Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford would reprise their roles as Charters and Caldicott in Carol Reed’s “Night Train to Munich,” also available from Criterion.
Available on Blu-ray
Design for Living: This Ernest Lubitsch comedy starring Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins gets the Criterion treatment. These old Hollywood comedies have a level of craft and sexiness you don’t see in today’s slacker-dominated comedies.
Also, for those of you who like projectile vomiting while working out, this one’s for you. It may accelerate your weight-loss, albeit in an unhealthy manner.
This post originally appeared over at Parcbench.
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15 Comments
The theme of the book and movie is the plight of women. It wasn't about race or class. Surprise! Women weren't free of oppression whether they were rich or poor/ or black or white. Get it.
It has nothing to do with race. You have employers and you have employees. By the very nature of the relationship there is a difference in the way employers act toward other employer vs. the way they act toward employees. In the south if you were an employee you addressed employers as Mr. or Mrs. last name or if you knew them well you could address them as Mr. First name. Employees were always addressed by the first name. Race had nothing to do with it.
I liked the movie "The Help" probably because I grew up in the South in the 60s and related to the goings on in the movie. Excellent performances. "Tora, Tora, Tora". Excellent film depicting the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Definitely worth a look.
More MST3K is always a good thing. It's getting close to the time when I need to watch their riffing of the bizarre Finnish/Russian production Jack Frost, something that has become a Christmas tradition for me as much as viewing at least 2 of the airings of 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TNT.
Almost time to get unBEARable! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68lii7CUdFw
The TRULY enlightened recognize that this book was not about race. The generations of those indoctrinated in political correctness will see any and all interactions between blacks and whites in terms of race. Bless their hearts. They can't help it I suppose.
It is unfortunate that so many myths and misinformation abound with regard to the typical interracial relationships in the pre-1960s south. Even sadder, perhaps is the fact that for many of those who have perpetuated those myths, they have obviously never known the warmth and genuine human bond such as existed among so many southern black and white families for many, many generations, between employees, employers, coworkers and neighbors alike. But a greater tragedy still is that today, raising awareness of such congenial interactions that existed back then seems to inflame anger among those who prefer to cling to racial and class conflict and strife.
And To siredecoucy: Properly raised southerners still use Mr. , Ms, ma'am and sir in all business, professional and even casual interactions, including those with subordinates. This mode of addressing others with respect (outside the family) carries over into the military as well. The fact that there often existed a very uniquely close, familial like relationships with "the help" as depicted in the book/movie is more the basis upon which they were referenced by their first name….unless of course they were being addressed by a youngster.
It was quite common for children to be taught to always incorporate "Aunt" or "Uncle" So-n-so when referring to their parent's employee. As an aside, this created much confusion for me when I began researching my family history. There were several "aunts" and "uncles" who , according to family stories I recalled from my youth, possessed legendary characteristics of bravery, honor, wisdom and kindness. It was only recently while investigating and tracking down the details of these family stories that I discovered these individuals were actually……."the help".
"The Help" was a mess of a movie. No true protagonist. Episodic. And Emma Stone's accent was in and out. Plus, she seemed like she'd dropped out of a time machine from 2011, she acted so modern. And the racist woman played by Bryce Dallas Howard was a caricature. Some good acting but how did this screenplay get made without some streamlining?
"‘The Help’ Strikes a Safe, Non-Preachy Balance on Race"
Proving that it is indeed possible to do so…I might have to see this movie.
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Vol. XXII: This box set includes the episodes that cover “Mighty Jack,” “Time of the Apes,” “The Violent Years,” and “The Brute Man.” Speaking of “The Green Slime,” Fukasaku’s B-movie was the very first movie the MST3K crew riffed on in their pilot episode that never aired."
The reason it never aired was due to the fact that it was only a half hour segment of the movie with Joel and the 'bots riffing it. This was used as a showcase reel to pitch the idea for the program to KTMA in Minneapolis. Thus, even though it's labeled as the "pilot", it's not actually a full episode. I only say this because I'm a rabid fan, and I think it's the single greatest comedy show ever made for Television.
"“The Help” isn’t as daring…"
Where to start. Any starting point for a response will explode into an exercise in redundancy.
Of course, if it was about an old British white guy in the 1700's, graphic pencil sketches of rape, hangings and murder would be a bridge Hollywood would relish at crossing. You get my drift.
Faux guilt for the amount of "help" employed by the North Of The Tracks crowd must make for an entertaining film.
Hey, can anyone give me the straight dope on TORA! TORA! TORA! Is it worth buying as a 'blind buy'? I've never seen it, and I've only read a handful of reviews so I'm looking for whether or not it's worth the investment on Blu-ray. B/c it's an older film, I can't find it in supply at the video store, either, and they don't usually stop these new prints. Thanks.
It got made b/c it was "book-to-film" so there was, naturally, a built-in audience. My wife dragged me to it, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I'd agree that Emma Stone's accent could've used some work b/c it did come and go as you say. Also, I didn't like the fact that the 'racists' were played very broadly and there was very little middle-of-the-road; my grandmother — who grew up in the South — often waxed pretty poetically about how she saw most folks as middle-of-the-roaders, and she insisted that it was only the bitter partisans who acted out against the blacks in her neighborhood. I'd hate to think of what she'd think of these Occupiers of today, bless her soul.
I just wish somebody would do a real movie about growing up in the 1960s in the south without all that preachy brotherhood crap.Not every white person was racist.
I grew up in the South and agree wholeheartedly. I felt ultimately the whole endeavor was an Oprah-ized version of the events and not a realistic depiction at all.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" is absolutely worth buying. It's a facinating (and pretty accurate) dramatization of Pearl; Harbor with a quasi-documentary feel to it. For film buffs it's a lot of fun because of all the great character actors taking small roles such as James Whitmore as Bull Halsey, George Macready as Cordell Hull and Joseph Cotton as Henry L. Stimson. It may seem a little slow at first but picks up and really draws you in. The Japanese actors and scenes are excellent and convey the courage and daring that marked the Japanese Navy at the beginning of Wold War II.
OK, thanks. I may pick it up today. Gotta hit BestBuy b/c I got a new printer and I'm outta paper; got a gift card I gotta use so maybe I'll see if it's in stock. I love some great WWII pix, and I've never seen this one.
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