“The Help” (2011) is a Hollywood film about a white woman who writes a book in which black maids (the help) tell their side of the story of the American South in Jim Crow times. It is set in 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi. It stars Emma Stone as Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, the white woman, and Viola Davis as Aibeleen Clark, the main black maid in the story.
It is based on the book of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, which came out in 2009 and quickly became one of the best-selling books in America.
It is one of those films where a Nice White Lady comes along to help Helpless Darkies, a White Saviour film. And of the worst sort too since it is set in a time and place where blacks were hardly helpless and when no white lady, not even the nicest, wrote such a book. It rewrites history the way white people like to imagine it.
The civil rights movement, which was at its height then, only appears on television, hardly affecting the day-to-day hopes and fears of ordinary people, black or white.
It is also easy to watch the film and believe that racism is only something from the bad old days in the South. Or that it was more about class than race since the racists are white and well-to-do and look down on and disrespect the poor regardless of race.
That said, it was a well-made film with barely a dull moment, despite its length of almost two and a half hours.
And it was very good at showing what I call the fourth wall of racism: the wall of white solidarity: how whites who seem well-meaning will go against their own beliefs and feelings to act in racist ways so as not to rock the boat.
Skeeter showed that in her courage in standing up to the racism of other whites. Skeeter’s mother showed it in lacking such courage, finding herself cold-heartedly kicking out Cicely Tyson’s character from her house, a woman who had faithfully served her for 27 years, the woman who was the only mother that Skeeter had ever truly known growing up. (Many well-to-do white women left their children to their black maids to bring up.)
It was also good at showing how most whites are completely unconcerned how racist their society is. As Skeeter’s boyfriend put it: why change anything, everything is fine the way it is! Completely leaving out the fact that it was hardly fine for black people.
Skeeter did not seem like a white Southerner. She thought and acted too much like an outsider. She seemed like those white New Yorkers who look down on the South, as if they are not racist themselves.
The film passes the Bechdel Test for sexism – all the main characters are women. It fails that for race: the main black characters have no life apart from that of serving white people.
See also:
- White Saviour trope
- darkies – people of colour as viewed through the lens of white paternalism
- The five walls of racism
- Jim Crow
- The Bechdel Test and Race
- The Blind Side
*Full disclosure: I didn’t see the movie and I WILL NOT see the movie!*
I encourage those who respect critical thinking and believe in honoring one’s ancestors to please view this statement from the Association of Black Women’s Historians on the release of “The Help”
Click to access TheHelp-Statement.pdf
I strongly believe in protecting freedom of speech and am leery of any call to censorship. That being said, I also believe that if you’re bold enough to put it out there be bold enough to take it when it comes back to you. This fallacy, this idea, that because there is a bi-racial President that blacks (and others) don’t have the moral authority to engage in critical analysis of continued systemic racism (and this is a blatant form of such) vexes my spirit.
I have elders in my family that have been murdered or raped by white men in the Deep South. One rap resulted in a bi-racial child who was adopted by white people who disparaged my female elder as being un-motherly in the process. Many black women have always had an antagonistic relationship with white women of class tiers and religions. This idea that the feminine can’t be violent is a patriarchal interpretation of the female’s humanity. The idea that white women were benevolent to blacks particularly black women is a myth. White women engaged in the same pathological distorted racist behavior as white men. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Finally, there appears to be NO END to the assault on black women’s consciousness. The assault is satanic to say the least…
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Ain’t I A Woman
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I just saw the trailer for this last night. ‘Mighty Whitey’ was the first thing that came to mind; ‘Chic Flick’ was the second. Two reasons I don’t want to see the film. BUT:
“That said, it was a well-made, powerful film with barely a dull moment”
Is that a recommendation?
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I think it is about the time when some black cast does the Black version of these “drivingmissdaisys”. Black writer, black producer, black director, black cast, white actors in supporting roles etc. Now that I would like to see. Not these Feel good movies about “black help” and the days gone by when everyone knew their places and the world was in order. Yaiks.
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@ wanpimao:
I took out “powerful” as too strong a word. In terms of plotting and acting it is a good film. It is certainly not boring. But in terms of being racist, it is a bad film, particularly since it positions its main white character as anti-racist.
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It’s sad to see a technically (and artistically?) godo mvoie to be racist. But it happens, a lot.
Sam,
I’d love to see that, but for “some reason” Americans don’t like those and it’s quite difficult, if not impossible, for sucha movie to gain popularity.
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Ignore typos, please.
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So glad you wrote about this, Abagond. I agree that this is another “white savior” film. The acting, though, was superb. I didn’t realize the actress who played “Hillie” is Ron Howard’s daughter. The acting was so real that it was painful to watch at times.
@Sister Miriam Refuge: I appreciate your posting of Sojourner Truth’s poem, “Aint I a woman?” Maya Angelou’s narration was exceptional. You can hear the emotion in her voice.
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Ripe catharsis for white, liberal guilt.
If it were one of many race-related movies out, I may not have to be so critical. But the truth is, this is probably one of the few movies of racial content that a lot of white folk will watch this year, or ever in their adult lives, which means the pressure is on to do the topic justice. And justice is seriously lacking.
Stockett wrote in what she supposed were the words of black women, but if you really want to hear a black voice, empower a black voice to be heard. (http://tiny.cc/wmuhg)
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“Ripe catharsis for white, liberal guilt.”
How is reminding WP of this stuff supposed to be cathartic for us? This film is not flattering for WP just because there is one decent WP in the film. This film would make most WP feel more guilty if anything.
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@Jas0nburns:
One example, the scapegoating of the evil-racist Hilly Holbrook. She is portrayed in an extremely unsympathetic light, and we are allowed to distance ourselves from her clearly-inappropriate views. Thus, we are free to identify with the white-savior heroine, congratulating ourselves that we would never be so blatantly racist.
These sentiments play into white folks’ tendencies to associate the word ‘racist’ with people that blatantly espouse hatred, rather than examine the nuances of systemic racial advantage and subconscious bias.
Similarly, setting the book in the 1960’s, invites a congratulatory look on how far we have come, rather examining the modern consequences of that era. As long as we’re not that bad, we must be alright. Macon D (SWPD) states it well: “While The Help is about people who risk their lives to challenge the status quo of their day, the book itself does very little to challenge the status quo of its own day.”
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Censorship would be the government stopping production, distribution, or sale. Individual consumer choices not to purchase a good or service are never censorship.
That being said, in my opinion, films that use Black actors, and that illuminate some aspects of historic discrimination do not rise to the level of a boycott, at least for me. I’m more inclined to vote (with my dollars) for more such films that may go even farther in bringing these themes to light.
Otherwise, the likely Hollywood reaction will likely be, that movies that deal with the history of discrimination are not worth making.
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@ Strange fruit.
“These sentiments play into white folks’ tendencies to associate the word ‘racist’ with people that blatantly espouse hatred, rather than examine the nuances of systemic racial advantage and subconscious bias. ”
Well put. I can see how this film allows WP to distance ourselves from racism by showing it as a problem of the past instead of the present. I have yet to see the film so take this with a grain of salt: Wouldn’t having a white character who stands up to blatant racism during a time when that was in reality impossible inspire whites to behave in a similar fashion now? The simple message seems to be “good WP fight racism at personal cost.” Does that come across in the film and if so isn’t that a good thing?”
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I’ll pass on a film like this. I’ve read and studied enough to get the picture and I need no reminders as to why this nation is what it is…:/
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@jas0nburns
That strategy would work, if most white folk actually believed that racism was a problem in todays world. Instead we see a lot of talk about being “post-racial” and “colorblind.”
These sentiments are perpetuated by films that only talk about racism in a historical Jim-crow context, rather than discussing modern institutionalized incarnations.
I think a lot of people believe they would act like Skeeter in her time, but complete fail to do so in our time by thinking “thank goodness it’s not like that anymore.”
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Um, I havent seen it either…and I did read the statement and other reviews about the help. But after all that, I still want to give it a try and go see it.
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Racism was a major issue in the old days and whether we like it or not it’s still existing at present! However at present, where more and more black of both sexes who are highly recognized in different fields, the issue of racism has boiled down. Hence, the creativity, productivity and contribution of an individual for the betterment of the society we live in are given more attention than the race of that individual belongs to. I’m not so much into that kind of movie but I have a lesson in my history class related to that topic so I might as well watch that with my students and I will require them a reaction paper after.
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@mylen aromin:
What planet do you live on?
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Spoiler alert!!! Spoiler alert!!
I haven’t seen the movie, and will not spend money to see it. But I have been reading reviews of it. And one review that stands out is done by Sister Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, of Phyllis, Remastered. Chocolate Breast Milk, a Review of The Help. Check it out-you won’t be disappointed
http://phillisremastered.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/chocolate-breast-milk-a-review-of-the-help/
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It’s disturbing that there are people who find this movie believable. Mighty-Whitey came to mind the first time I learnt of this movie.
It’s curious that a movie about the advancement of blacks has white people at its centre. I’m beginning to think that many whites are unable to watch a movie and relate to the main character if he/she is a POC.
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So I just watched the trailer. And it really does come off as a white savior fantasy unfortunately. Although you do get a sense that the black maids actually risked quite a bit and took on a greater burden and responsibility getting their stories out despite their much greater vulnerability. Still they don’t seem to get as much spotlight in the film as the WW. I think this story could have been tweaked in such a way as to satisfy a mainstream audience without making yet another white savior film.
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“I’m beginning to think that many whites are unable to watch a movie and relate to the main character if he/she is a POC.”
Yes!! This is the issue across the board-films, music, literature, etc. People prefer to vicariously identify with people that look like them. It’s only the most skilled or best marketed or lucky creatives who can consistently break through this pattern. It’s really very very rare.
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One thing though. From what i’ve read/heard, A large percentage of black Americans have no problem with this movie. Now, I’m absolutely not bringing that up to invalidate the opinions of those who do have a problem with it. I have problems with it myself. It makes me uncomfortable. But at the same time, If many black Americans don’t see any serious issues with the film, how could anyone reasonably expect many white Americans see those issues and take them seriously. How is a white person going to stand up and say, “hey, maybe we shouldn’t make this movie this way” when PB are coming out to defend it? I’m not suggesting that blacks should be monolithically opposed to it, i’m just saying that being a black American should offer a clear vantage point, so if many black Americans aren’t seeing a problem, the problem must either be either extremely well hidden or very, very small.
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ummm…why should 100% of any population agree on a given subject?
Life is complicated, so what?
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“I haven’t seen the movie, and will not spend money to see it.”
I’ll take that even further by saying that I won’t even watch for free when it comes to broadcast TV. I don’t watch White Savior movies of any type.
A decade ago, or so, the story of the WWII Native American Code-talkers was finally made into a film, and who was the star and main character of the film? Nicholas Cage as Mighty Whitey. I still haven’t bothered watching that mess.
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@ Jason
I think that has to do with the fact that here, we often look at movies from the anti-racist “activist” mindset. That means that we’re looking at how films conform to ideas like the “White Savior” or “Magic Negro.” We’re looking at it rather academically.
However, on another level, we could just as easily take off our activist hats and look at this particular movie for what it is — a “well-made film with barely a dull moment, despite its length” (according to Abagond) and, of course, that is what most people are doing.
Naturally, it’s important to analyze things in places like this site, but in the end, that doesn’t mean that we can’t also enjoy it as a good yarn well told, if it turns out to be that.
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@King, well said.
@Jason, My last comment came out more snippy than I meant or intended. I’m sorry.
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Hmmm…”Skeeter”? Really? LOL
Sorry, but it just doesn’t strike me as a nickname for a woman…of any kind. Skeeter sounds more like a beer-swilling, torn jeans wearing skinny dude who with a dirty blond mullet, and who likes to shoot at…”things”.
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@ Strangefruit,
No problem, I know i’m on shaky ground with that line of inquiry and that’s why I said “I’m not suggesting that blacks should be monolithically opposed to it” It’s just that from my perspective, it would seem that one thing black Americans would be able to find broad consensus on is whether or not something is racist.
@ King
I hadn’t thought of it like that and it makes perfect sense. Not everyone is going to look at everything from an activism standpoint at all times. And some people will take it more seriously than others or at different times in their lives.
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Hmm…interesting, these points keep running into each other and forcing me back to my primary thesis, black people need more power. They won’t acknowledge us and treat us like people until we make them. We’ll continue to be stock characters and peripheral human accessories until we’re the one telling the story. Maybe our perspective wil be just as bad-still not the whole truth, but it’ll at least be our side of the story. We’ll get to show the full range of emotion, and human complexity when we tell our own story, and we’ll be our own heroes, and our own saviours
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@king: absolutely right, a movie is after all a movie. I am not saying that this movie is bad or total waste. However, I really would like to see a piece done by american blacks about the sixties, fifties, what ever time. A movie that would be from their point of view, from the world they lived in, how they experienced the whole epoc. That would be hell of a lot interesting.
And I do not mean any black activist/awekning movie, or a movie with over driving political agenda or message from hindsight, but a good solid drama how people lived their lives back then. What was it really like to live and work as a “help” in those days and how they put up with it. How they saw their relationships with their white employers and whites in general etc. To put is shortly: what was life like for these normal black americans back in the day.
That is a movie I really would like to see.
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When it comes down to it, movies are not produced in order to chastise White people for their sins. Movies are created and produced in order to make a profit for those who create it. In order to make a profit, people have to buy tickets, and most of the people in this country who buy tickets are still White.
White people aren’t going to come out to see a civil rights era movie that makes them feel like crap, Therefore, the writers give them an out—instead of writing all the White characters as flawed, cruel, and clueless, they single out one or two main characters who symbolize the choices that the viewer hopes that they themselves would make. These characters give the audience a choice of association: they can choose to associate themselves with the one (or few) White characters who are fair, kind, and noble, rather than the ones who are prejudice and cruel. In so doing it allows them to see themselves in the movie rather than rejecting it outright, and defending themselves against its accusation.
People don’t go to the movies to be lectured to, embarrassed, or made to feel guilty. It’s a voluntary exercise that costs money to do. Therefore, you have to expect that higher budget movies are going to be made to appeal to the greatest number of customers. Now that’s not to say that cinema shouldn’t be analyzed, critiqued, and improved upon. But we just have to remember that activism and entertainment have different goals, and play by different rules.
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@king: true
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“We’ll get to show the full range of emotion, and human complexity when we tell our own story, and we’ll be our own heroes, and our own saviours”
Why the future tense? Pretty sure BP can make movies now.
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@ King
Makes perfect sense but there are lots of common tropes that I see in films all the time that just don’t need to be there. For example what is this thing now where the black character must sacrifice him/herself for the WP in the movie? Or black/Asian/Latino characters who conform to simple stereotypes while making the main white characters seem awesome and complex in comparison. It just isn’t necessary to entertain people that way. You don’t need to be coming from an activism standpoint to see that this is
1.just bad writing
2.immoral and irresponsible.
I’m a WP and I really don’t feel like WP need to be flattered in this way just to go see a movie. We usually don’t want to be made to feel like crap either but still, No need to infantilize and marginalize everyone but the WP. I’m not saying it’s always going to be perfect from an activism standpoint but it could be better.
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@ Sam
Well one film that springs to mind is Malcolm X which was directed by Spike Lee. You’ve probably already seen that though.
Black Americans do make movies. It’s just that a lot of the time they are just as full of stereotypes as the ones WP make and they are trying to entertain people too. They probably want to be successful filmmakers more than activist filmmakers.
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Some black-made films are full of stereotypes, like “Precious”:
But others are not, like “Love & Basketball”:
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@ A
Agreed. I should have been more clear “A lot of the time” should have read sometimes.
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@jason
Again there is the perpetual problem of power and money. It hard to just go off and make a film when prejudice is still rampant and a large chunk of the population wont go to see it. For example, Issa Rae is doing great things with ‘Awkward Black Girl’, but she has had to do it on her own and on the internet. I don’t think the series could have been made on national TV right now.
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@ Strangefruit
Yeah I think tv is a whole other animal because it’s so closely tied to ad revenue and people are competing for a limited amount of time/space.
But with film it’s more open, especially now compared to 20 years ago there has been a huge rise in indy film making.
Take for example the film “She’s gotta have it” by Spike Lee
“In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It. With a budget of $175,000, the film was shot in two weeks. When the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U.S. box office.”
Two weeks! Two weeks!!!!!
Lee started small and with success came bigger budgets and a larger audience. That’s the same route many white filmmakers take.
The fact is that a white audience isn’t even necessary for a film made by and for blacks to be a money maker. Tyler Perry has proven that time and again.
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I have to say, I know very little about the industry, but what from what I hear, movies are just as much of a bear. I hear all the time about good movies languishing in film festivals losing money and never gaining a lot of publicity.
I really don’t know much about it though, so maybe it is as easy as you make it sound.
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I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m just saying that it can be done based on examples of it being done in real life. if it was easy everyone would do it.
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Have there been any comments from women who did day’s work, instead of ones with PhD’s?
I think many people don’t understand the culture of the south, and the rhythm of speech that kept one’s job that of 4.00 dollars a day and car fare was desperately needed.
In the movie Driving Miss Daisy, Morgan Freeman’s character was acting in his best interest. I know it grates at 21 century Blacks. Speaking of southern culture when I saw the portrayal of Miss Daisy, I saw my grandmother. unfortunately my father didn’t have resources to hire a chauffeur:)
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Films by WP that are supposed to be ‘accurate representations’ of BP have always nauseated me. The only way to be accurate is to walk 50 miles in anothers’ shoes, and WP are pretty much incapable of doing this, especially when it comes to non-WP.
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Hey, new to this blog, and I know this is an old post, but I ran across it and wanted to add some comments.
So, I’m not interested in the movie, it just looks a bit cheesy and yes, the ‘white savior’ theme might just be too nauseating to take. and someone already mentioned it looks very much to be a chick flick which isn’t quite my thing. But, I wanted to explore some possible reasons the movie might be attractive to white people that aren’t just the ‘black people need a white savior because they’re helpless’ thing, or a ‘i need to identify w/ a heroically anti-racist white person to make me feel less racist’ thing (btw, I’m a white female).
Here’s the thing: it occurred to me, reading these comments that the ‘White Savior’ thing, while it undoubtedly has lots of very racist, very negative sources, might also have a neutral or even laudable source: white people want to let themselves enter a world where it’s easy, it’s obvious how to combat racism, unlike our actual world, where racism is still rampant but takes harder-to-identify forms than it did in the pre-civil rights south. I want to call this something like White Frustration, which is different from White Guilt. White guilt is guilt that one has received things just because one is white and so on. White Frustration is the feeling that racism is so deep and so widespread that one is helpless, as a white person, to do anything to do it.
As a white person who is very concerned about racism, I’ve dfn. experienced this feeling/frustration. I’m not saying, of course, that there really *is* nothing a white person can do about racism, but just that you can sometimes get that *feeling*. ‘White Savior’ movies let you forget about the real world full of pernicious and deep racism that is nevertheless sometimes very subtle and seemingly hard to treat. You can trade that world in for, say, a world where there’s Jim Crow and you’re in favor of desegregation–straightforward, concrete targets, just aim and shoot. Just march and hold hands. Or just write a book that exposes the dark racist secrets of the rich/white South, which you happen to be embedded in. In over-educated corners of urbania, where I live, racism is alive, but the targets are themselves harder to define and hence harder to aim at–or at least, even if it’s not *really* that way, it can *feel* that way, hence White Frustration. (there’s also a persistent fear, as a white person, that any overt attempts to combat racism I might make will be perceived as themselves attempts to *be* a white savior—but that’s a different topic).
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@ PlainJane
Hmm… Interesting point.
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So, thinking about this a bit more, I think that the kind of ‘white frustration’ I’m talking about (see my other post..), is due not just to the fact that racism nowadays frequently takes subtle and thus hard-to-target forms, but also that any white person who is at all concerned about racism is probably also thoughtful enough to realize that it’s not *ok* for white people to try to ‘save’ black people and hence, even where racism is easy-to-target, white people don’t feel comfortable taking a major role in combating that racism.
let me give an example: maybe 5 years ago, in NYC, a man was shot to death the night before his wedding and his best man paralyzed. The shooters were police and the victims were merely out having a bachelor’s party or something like that. I don’t remember the details, but it very much appeared to be a shot-because-black situation. (I’m sure a lot of you will remember the case I’m talking about, it dfn. made national news). There was an uproar of course and marches and protests followed. But even though I was utterly disgusted at the shooting, and even though I’ve dfn. been in more than a few political marches in my lifetime, it never even occurred tome to join the protest marches. I’m a super nerdy, midwest-raised white female: wouldn’t my participation be seen by the other marchers as just an attempt to relieve my own white guilt? And/or just another case of white people trying to save black people? A part of me knows that this is maybe misguided thinking–that maybe I should’ve joined the march anyway–after all, doesn’t the world need to see that all kinds of people are sickedned by this kind of racial profiling–not just black people? But right or wrong, that was my response. (interestingly, i would’ve felt ok going if Id been w/ a black friend)
So, this is a weird thing for white people who care about racism, how to show your opposition to racism in an appropriate way? I imageine this is also a problem for men who hate sexism–even ones who do will probably not be seen in feminist marches, lest they seem to be trying to lead even the *womens* movement, as they’ve tried to control anything.
However, so, back to the help (I swear this is related). In an era when blacks literally didn’t have the same political rights as whites, it mightve been appropriate and even necessary for white people to be vocal and very much seen in the anti-racism movement. Just like in the era before women could vote, women *needed* male supporters to help them forward their agendas. But now, maybe it’s *not* required or even *ok* for white people to be too visible in the anti-racism movement, so as a white person, you can feel pretty constrained in the impact you have on racism. Maybe voting for the right policies and working to correct your own biases is all that it’s ok to do..
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“The only way to be accurate is to walk 50 miles in anothers’ shoes, and WP are pretty much incapable of doing this, especially when it comes to non-WP.”
Here’s a rare white person who made himself capable of walking in a black person’s shoes. Joshua Solomon, a young white man residing Silver Springs, MD decided to find out for himself if his black friends were exaggerating about their “being black in America” experience. So he made himself black – for a few days. He had quite an awakening!
http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500BlkLikeMe.htm
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I made the mistake of watching the movie “The Help” & I was not prepared for this moving, emotional gut wrenching nonfictional account of “our” history. I haven’t gotten emotional @ a movie in a long time but this film definitely touched a nerve. This is by far the best film of the year!
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Saw this last week, and while yes, it is another White Saviour movie, that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a very good film. I say keep an open mind and don’t fixate entirely on that one problematic theme. Most mainstream films released today are dross anyway, so it seems a shame to ignore the good aspects of The Help when it’s still one of the better films to come out this year.
To me, its skill is in showing how white people who were basically decent in other aspects of their life had a blind spot where racial injustice was concerned. There’s only one character who is actually horrible (Hilly)… the other whites are complicit in the racist system because they are lacking in moral courage, are ignorant (and have an interest in remaining ignorant), or have a sheep mentality. Obviously viewers will interpret the movie in various ways, but to me, it’s valuable in showing how easily injustice can be perpetuated by ordinary people.
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I agree that it was a well-made film. In that respect it is probably one of the ten best of the year.
From what I know of that time, it was true-to-life in that the outright racists, like Hilly, were few, no more than 10%, yet few whites would stand up to them, either out of indifference, like Skeeter’s boyfriend, or out of fear, like Skeeter’s mother. I agree that it was good in showing that.
Where it lurches into an utter white liberal fantasy is the White Saviour trope. It allows most white viewers to believe that if they had lived back then they would be like Skeeter and fight the good fight when in fact few would. We know few would because in our own time so few do. It is not like racism disappeared or something – yet the film allows you to believe that it has!
So even though it is about racism and seems anti-racist, it supports white complacency.
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I’ve not seen the movie but I’m about 1/2 way through the book. It is indeed a “mighty whitey” story, though I suspect the book is less so than the movie. By the way, the one aspect that I’ve not see articulated by the critics is this: it’s fiction; Skeeter did not exist. In other words, the reality was worse than the fiction.
As Agabond notes, the book has one good aspect: it illustrates, pretty well, the “fourth wall of racism” that Agabond describes.
Aside from that aspect, the book so far is guilty of whitewashing the stain of racism, as most critics have pointed out, softening its edges for mass consumption.
Remove the racial element and this is simply a bildungsroman. As a lover of literature I find this aspect of it interesting because we don’t often see this genre written by a woman about a female protagonist. Her self discovery is more numinent than, say, Eugene Grant (“Look Homeward Angel”). The narrator’s tone is, as Agabond suggests, somewhat condescending toward the south. It’s the tone of a white southerner
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Had to cut yesterday’s post off short due to other responsibilities. Was going to say “tone of a white southerner who has settled in New York and views the south of her childhood with a mixture of gauzy notalgia and east coast condescention.”
Also meant to add that, for a comparison, there is a coming of age story — it’s memoir, not fiction — set in contemporaneous Mississippi that is a must read for anybody: Anne Moody’s powerful and piognant “Coming of Age In Mississippi”.
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From Matari’s post:
“Here’s a rare white person who made himself capable of walking in a black person’s shoes. Joshua Solomon, a young white man residing Silver Springs, MD decided to find out for himself if his black friends were exaggerating about their “being black in America” experience. So he made himself black – for a few days. He had quite an awakening!
http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500BlkLikeMe.htm
Just like Kathleen Stockett, the author of the “Help” and Joshua Solomon focus on the South to carry out their racial experiment. It is curious to me why Northern whites, Midwestern whites don’t do these kinds of racial experiments on their geographical peers? At least I don’t know of any. In my observation, Northern whites (and Hollywood) have invested considerable amounts of resources towards maintaining the stereotypical “Southern” image of racist behavior in the public eye. In comparison to the South, the Northern racist feel better about their refined forms, and therefore so should everyone else.
Funny, how quickly he wanted to be white again, and he didn’t even experience a threat of bodily harm.
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@ MinnieB / @ Matari:
I read a book called Black Like Me by John Griffin a couple of decades ago. It was released in the early 1960s, and is a real-life account of a white man who wanted to know what Black life was like in the south. He shaved his head and temporarily stained his skin dark brown. He was appalled by the indignities he and those around him were forced to experience. It was a real eye-opener. After this social experiment, I’ll bet he never uttered the words “Oh, get over it!” or “Stop whining and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps!”
It’s true that we never know how hard life can be for some unless we attempt to understand what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. Racism today is alive and well, although we may no longer see marked water fountains and separate entrances. Racism has definitely morphed into more subtle, less recognizable (to some) forms.
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@Anon-
“It’s true that we never know how hard life can be for some unless we attempt to understand what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.”
So Joshua Solomon(a white man) follows in the shoes of John Griffin (a white man) to learn what it is like to be a black man… in the South. I wonder if either of them would have considered the experiment if they didn’t have whiteness as a CONSTANT fallback position. Why do they have to “pretend” to be black, why not just believe what black people are saying about their experience with the white collective?
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@MinnieB:
“Why do they have to “pretend” to be black, why not just believe what black people are saying about their experience with the white collective?”
I guess they felt the only way to REALLY know what it was like was to go to that extreme, i.e., changing their physical appearance. Just having people “tell” them probably would not have worked – just like it doesn’t work now. I think I remember one of Abagond’s posts stating that it is hard for people to see racism when they don’t have to live with it. When I finished the book, I remember wondering what would happen if the author tried to remove the color from his skin without success. **Chuckling to myself.** Of course the color did come off and he was able to go back to his old life.
We can only hope for a desire for understanding, IMO. This would involve being around people unlike ourselves and developing meaningful relationships with them whenever possible. This can be difficult given the ugly history and mutual mistrust.
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@ MinnieB/Anon
“Why do they have to “pretend” to be black, why not just believe what black people are saying about their experience with the white collective?”
I don’t pretend to know the answer to that. My GUESS is that “whiteness” messes up their cognitive processes so badly that they are in effect rendered deluded, schizophrenic, insane, psychotic and grossly stupid where black people are concerned. (we see plenty of examples of that on this blog!) Some others might call what I just wrote: The “White Racial Frame.” However it’s labeled, it needs to go!
Joshua Solomon, in my opinion, at least had the guts to try to see first hand what was true. Was racism real, or was his “white training” correct regarding the idea that POC use race as a crutch and an excuse? Well, as you know, the psychic, emotional and mental shock/assault/bombardment on his (temporary black) person-hood was so intense (for him) that he could only be “black” for a matter of hours … 3-4 days. And like you stated, he wasn’t even threatened with bodily harm.
Neely Fuller, an eminent black counter-racist specialist, interviewed Solomon about his short-lived experience/experiment and his observations about “race.” ..quite the interesting interview.
“It is curious to me why Northern whites, Midwestern whites don’t do these kinds of racial experiments on their geographical peers? At least I don’t know of any. In my observation, Northern whites (and Hollywood) have invested considerable amounts of resources towards maintaining the stereotypical “Southern” image of racist behavior in the public eye. In comparison to the South, the Northern racist feel better about their refined forms..”
I recall reading somewhere – something along the line of, “in the south whites don’t mind living next to blacks as long as they don’t get too uppity or too successful. And in the north, whites don’t mind black success as long as they don’t live too close.” (There’s a video documentary along the theme of Sundown Towns called “Banished.” I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know if if focuses on a specific area, or the entire nation.)
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I don’t pretend to know the answer to that. My GUESS is that “whiteness” messes up their cognitive processes so badly that they are in effect rendered deluded, schizophrenic, insane, psychotic and grossly stupid where black people are concerned.
Give them some Haloperidol, Matari, followed by shock treatment for their chronic depression!
I recall reading somewhere – something along the line of, “in the south whites don’t mind living next to blacks as long as they don’t get too uppity or too successful. And in the north, whites don’t mind black success as long as they don’t live too close.
You can’t win for losing Matari! Play the lottery! After all it is a crap shoot!
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@Matari-
Your response is logical and reflects my experience in dealing with white people and their racism, especially the so-called “anti-racist”. White people engage in these experiments as a personal profit gain activity (Griffin sold books, Solomon needed a grade and Stokett, well she profited big time on the help). What if racism white supremacy didn’t exist? What ever would these white people do?
I have heard the saying: In the South, white people let you know where they stand, in your face. Up North, they (white people)smile in your face, and plot behind your back.
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@ MinnieB:
In the South, white people let you know where they stand, in your face. Up North, they (white people)smile in your face, and plot behind your back.
Very true – I can attest to the northern reality. I call it “the dance”…WP up here will smile to your face as you enter stage right; then stab you in the back whilst spinning you across the stage and saying “don’t call us, we’ll call you” and hurl you out the exit at stage left in an ingnominious fashion.
Only Alaska is much like the south as far as ‘race relations’ go – “set your watch back one hour, but set your calendar back 50 years!” – that’s the saying here on the west coast.
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I personally don’t watch movies of this nature.
I don’t understand the need for whites to see themselves being good in order to feel good about themselves.
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Thank you for this place, this blog. Abagond you have helped folks more than you know, I’ve grown (well still growing) and I learn something new always…
“AIN’t I a woman” was powerful
@Jas0n Burns enlightened comments all around, for some reason the two words that really stood out for me are “subconscious bias”. These words are few but It leads to incredible thought especially living and being in predominantly white circles.
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@Plain Jane
You have an interesting perspective being that you are a white person expressing your POV in a honest manner. It’s refreshing to feel your honesty. Its seems to be much easier to handle these topics if you’re white by being a troll. Although you said a few things that made me think I just want to keep it simple. You seem to suggest there is an awkwardness to trying to combat widespread racism, and the difficulties seems to lead to “white frustration”. I think if your heart is truly in it, and you have good intentions that’s all you need to combat racism on any level. Don’t think too hard about it because people can smell a phony a mile away. Follow your heart deep inside your spirit, the Spirit knows racism is wrong.
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@Abagond.What is wrong with The Help having one of their main white characters being anti-racist?Are you saying during that time there wasn’t any white people who wasn’t racist?
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Yes, I heard that about Northern white people, but I learned the truth when I went to Boston for university.
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Finally saw this movie in full.
Indeed, the story is completely full a white woman’s point of view, a white woman who had been raised by a black nanny, but had left the South (just like the protagonist).
And as mentioned in the post, 1963 was right in the heat of the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. Yet the entire cast in black roles were passive and helpless.
One of my aunts told me that she recognized some of the streets from Greenwood, MS where she spent a year as a child. I really need to visit.
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I saw the movie The Help, but did not read the book, so I cannot tell for sure whether the movie captured the depiction in the book. But I am sure it is still told from the White Saviour viewpoint and fails the Bechdel test for race just as the movie.
But a brand new novel has just come out and which might cause me to review about what’s possible.
“Southern Cross the Dog,” a new novel by Bill Cheng
The NY times article says the protagonist is a black man in the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s-40s, but written by a Chinese American man from Queens, NY who has never set foot in Mississippi. However, the novel has received accolades from black historians and even black Pulitzer Prize winners. Can a non-black person with Chinese immigrant parents write about the experience of Jim Crow Mississippi through the eyes of a black man? I really want to read this book to find out.
Seeing Mississippi Sight Unseen
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[…] The Help […]
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