Review of The Help
Feb. 5th, 2012 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatched The Help finally, last night. Not what I expected. Haven't read the book, just seen the mixed reviews. And from the mixed reviews, I was under the impression that it would be more like the film The Blind Side, with the nice rich white people helping the poor disenfranchised black people, which I find incredibly disturbing and a bit of a lie. Or worse, the film "Gone with the Wind". It's a specific film trope in Hollywood cinema dating back to silent movies. The Help, suffice it to say is not that story at all. If anything it comments on that film trope. While tempting to state that it is ostensibly a story about people in power abusing their power at the sake of others, it's not really that tale at all. This is a story told from the perspective of black women about their lives as maids and nannies and cooks to rich white matrons in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The rich white women do not come out well at all. Those in power are shown to be abusing their power and clutching at it, for dear life.
The story is female focused. Amongst the few critically acclaimed films that is. Here the men are little more than window-dressing. They lurk in the background, like an unseen parent in a Peanuts cartoon. Although unlike the Peanuts cartoon, we do see them, but they barely register, outside of the fact that we are always aware that they hold the power. Like most stories, this one too is about power dynamics. Those who have it, those who don't and how it is used, and how those without power struggle to regain some of their own. Unlike The Blind Side, Gone with the Wind, and other films of that specific trope, the rich white matrons of The Help, lead by the obnoxious Hily, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard (who looks a lot like Kristin Bell - so much so, I thought it was Kristin Bell), come across as somewhat one-dimensional harpies from hell. But we are never in their point of view, nor should we be. And we do see, between the lines, why these women are they way they are - in part it is the men who hit them, abuse them, and browbeat them. In part it is how they have been raised. The rules of the society in which they live. I also realized while watching the film that all the white women looked alike. They did. Oh, the actress who plays Caitlin on The Good Wife and the Reverand's wife in True Blood, popped up here as well in a minor role. Usually in these films, it's all the persons of color who look alike, here it was the opposite, which I thought was a nice touch. It furthers the point of view that we are in. We are in the point of view of these black women, who struggle day in and day out to provide for their families and put up with a great deal to do so.
The only problem I had with the film was the casting of Emma Stone in the lead "white" role of the female journalist. She was miscast. I know why they cast her - popularity. But she does not fit the role. This is the sort of role that a young Mary Louise Parker would have portrayed effectively or a young Sissy Spacek or maybe a less attractive actress. Emma Stone feels too contemporary. Even her hair-style feels off somehow. It's supposed to be a frizzy mess, instead it's an enviable curly mop. It was difficult to buy her as either a wall-flower or a young woman with a negative self-image - Emma Stone conveys the exact opposite in all of her roles. Whenever she was on screen, I was taken out of the story.
The filmmakers wisely choose to make the lead one of the Help, specifically Abby, portrayed in a truly powerhouse performance by Viola Davis (who I hope beats out Glenn Close and Meryl Streep for the Oscar - even though I haven't seen their films and put little emphasis on the Oscars.) The film starts and ends with Abby - and it is through Abigail's eyes that we see the story. It's Abigail's voice that narrates it. Not Skeeter - the white wet-behind the ears wannabe junior editor. But Abigail. Who shows us her story through dialogue and images, as well as the stories of those around her. Skeeter's story in some respects is shown through Abby's eyes as much as Skeeter's.
The other wise choice is to make all the roles female. Men are barely there. Mary Steenbergen plays the NY York Sr. Editor from Harper Row, that Skeeter sends the book to. She's surrounded by men, but wields her own subtle and somewhat cynical power.
The Help is far from a perfect film, it falls into manipulative sentimentality at different points, and it does at times fall into preach mode - telling not showing. But these are rare occurrences and easily overlooked. It's also not a visual film so much as a dialogue centric one.
Well-shot, but I can see why they didn't nominate the director or cinematographer. At the center of this film are the performances...which are stellar, with the exception of Emma Stone (who is good in the role, but miscast). Not the writing, the performances. This is Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain's film. If it weren't for the acting...I'm not sure this film would have worked or resonated to the degree it does. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer deserve all the accolades they achieved.
As for how black woman have related to the film? I've gotten mixed reactions. Which underscores one of the messages of The Help - that there is no real difference between white or black women, outside of the one's we ourselves create. Both are disenfranchised in their own ways...by those in power above them. Octavia Spencer's Minnie fears her husband and fears her employer's husband (he's actually a nice guy, but we never really see him). Minnie's struggle is with two groups in power whites and men (in general). Both have beaten her down and bullied her.
Gender is an underlying theme here - and I think an important one, which we don't want to see. Right now, in the 21st Century gender inequalities remain a problem, in some respects a much larger one than racial inequalities. In The Help - it is underlined as well. What's interesting in The Help and in a way distinguishes it from other films that discuss racism, is that men aren't really discussed. When I say they are like the unseen and rarely discussed parents in Peanuts...that hits fairly close to the mark. We are aware of them. We do see them. They are definitely the one's in power. The women talk about them to the extent that they realize they can't get ahead without a man. Skeeter must get married, must land a rich husband, to go out on her own, become a writer - is going against the stream. When she gets a job at a local paper - she's asked to write the cleaning tips column, and in turn goes to her friend's to ask their permission to talk to their maids for cleaning tips. She's made to feel ugly because she can't attract a man, keep him. And her friend, Hily, is setting her up with a man. Who she hits it off with, but he condemns her for not supporting the status quo, for writing The Help.
The Help - while the story of black women in the South, gets published because a white woman wrote and edited it. Yet, Abby, our lead protagonist, is empowered by the fact that it is her voice and her writings in Skeeter's edited novel, and decides to become a writer. The story is Abby's in the end, Abby who depends on no man, and no white person, and pushes herself beyond both categorizations. She is the core of the film. And it is her journey that is inspiring.
I highly recommend the Help, while flawed, it does make one think and re-evaluate.
The story is female focused. Amongst the few critically acclaimed films that is. Here the men are little more than window-dressing. They lurk in the background, like an unseen parent in a Peanuts cartoon. Although unlike the Peanuts cartoon, we do see them, but they barely register, outside of the fact that we are always aware that they hold the power. Like most stories, this one too is about power dynamics. Those who have it, those who don't and how it is used, and how those without power struggle to regain some of their own. Unlike The Blind Side, Gone with the Wind, and other films of that specific trope, the rich white matrons of The Help, lead by the obnoxious Hily, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard (who looks a lot like Kristin Bell - so much so, I thought it was Kristin Bell), come across as somewhat one-dimensional harpies from hell. But we are never in their point of view, nor should we be. And we do see, between the lines, why these women are they way they are - in part it is the men who hit them, abuse them, and browbeat them. In part it is how they have been raised. The rules of the society in which they live. I also realized while watching the film that all the white women looked alike. They did. Oh, the actress who plays Caitlin on The Good Wife and the Reverand's wife in True Blood, popped up here as well in a minor role. Usually in these films, it's all the persons of color who look alike, here it was the opposite, which I thought was a nice touch. It furthers the point of view that we are in. We are in the point of view of these black women, who struggle day in and day out to provide for their families and put up with a great deal to do so.
The only problem I had with the film was the casting of Emma Stone in the lead "white" role of the female journalist. She was miscast. I know why they cast her - popularity. But she does not fit the role. This is the sort of role that a young Mary Louise Parker would have portrayed effectively or a young Sissy Spacek or maybe a less attractive actress. Emma Stone feels too contemporary. Even her hair-style feels off somehow. It's supposed to be a frizzy mess, instead it's an enviable curly mop. It was difficult to buy her as either a wall-flower or a young woman with a negative self-image - Emma Stone conveys the exact opposite in all of her roles. Whenever she was on screen, I was taken out of the story.
The filmmakers wisely choose to make the lead one of the Help, specifically Abby, portrayed in a truly powerhouse performance by Viola Davis (who I hope beats out Glenn Close and Meryl Streep for the Oscar - even though I haven't seen their films and put little emphasis on the Oscars.) The film starts and ends with Abby - and it is through Abigail's eyes that we see the story. It's Abigail's voice that narrates it. Not Skeeter - the white wet-behind the ears wannabe junior editor. But Abigail. Who shows us her story through dialogue and images, as well as the stories of those around her. Skeeter's story in some respects is shown through Abby's eyes as much as Skeeter's.
The other wise choice is to make all the roles female. Men are barely there. Mary Steenbergen plays the NY York Sr. Editor from Harper Row, that Skeeter sends the book to. She's surrounded by men, but wields her own subtle and somewhat cynical power.
The Help is far from a perfect film, it falls into manipulative sentimentality at different points, and it does at times fall into preach mode - telling not showing. But these are rare occurrences and easily overlooked. It's also not a visual film so much as a dialogue centric one.
Well-shot, but I can see why they didn't nominate the director or cinematographer. At the center of this film are the performances...which are stellar, with the exception of Emma Stone (who is good in the role, but miscast). Not the writing, the performances. This is Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain's film. If it weren't for the acting...I'm not sure this film would have worked or resonated to the degree it does. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer deserve all the accolades they achieved.
As for how black woman have related to the film? I've gotten mixed reactions. Which underscores one of the messages of The Help - that there is no real difference between white or black women, outside of the one's we ourselves create. Both are disenfranchised in their own ways...by those in power above them. Octavia Spencer's Minnie fears her husband and fears her employer's husband (he's actually a nice guy, but we never really see him). Minnie's struggle is with two groups in power whites and men (in general). Both have beaten her down and bullied her.
Gender is an underlying theme here - and I think an important one, which we don't want to see. Right now, in the 21st Century gender inequalities remain a problem, in some respects a much larger one than racial inequalities. In The Help - it is underlined as well. What's interesting in The Help and in a way distinguishes it from other films that discuss racism, is that men aren't really discussed. When I say they are like the unseen and rarely discussed parents in Peanuts...that hits fairly close to the mark. We are aware of them. We do see them. They are definitely the one's in power. The women talk about them to the extent that they realize they can't get ahead without a man. Skeeter must get married, must land a rich husband, to go out on her own, become a writer - is going against the stream. When she gets a job at a local paper - she's asked to write the cleaning tips column, and in turn goes to her friend's to ask their permission to talk to their maids for cleaning tips. She's made to feel ugly because she can't attract a man, keep him. And her friend, Hily, is setting her up with a man. Who she hits it off with, but he condemns her for not supporting the status quo, for writing The Help.
The Help - while the story of black women in the South, gets published because a white woman wrote and edited it. Yet, Abby, our lead protagonist, is empowered by the fact that it is her voice and her writings in Skeeter's edited novel, and decides to become a writer. The story is Abby's in the end, Abby who depends on no man, and no white person, and pushes herself beyond both categorizations. She is the core of the film. And it is her journey that is inspiring.
I highly recommend the Help, while flawed, it does make one think and re-evaluate.
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Date: 2012-02-05 06:57 pm (UTC)