The Help is a film released in 2011 and was written by Tate Taylor and is an adaptation from Kathryn Stockett’s novel of the same name. the film stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Emma Stone. It tells of an aspiring writer and journalist Eugenia Phelan and her relationship with two African American maids who aid her in writing her debut book about the racism faced by the African American maids serving the white families.
How can The Help be considered as a postcolonial work?
The film focuses on the African American maids during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 in the United States during when the African American community of the United States were fighting for equal right as the white citizens of the country. The location was set in Jackson, Mississippi where many of the black members of the community live of the outskirts of town and many of the women work as maids for white families.
Throughout the film, many instances can be seen where the maids were mistreated and ridiculed at every chance possible. Many of the wives of the white families treated the maids as if they were of low class and of lower brain capacity. For instance, Minny, played by Octavia Spencer was terminated by her employer for no apparent reason and Yule May was beaten very severely for taking a discarder item. If these were done to whites, would the reaction be the same?
Towards the end of the film, Hilly, the main antagonist of the film and the bully of Jackson, pressures Aibileen’s employer to fire Aibileen due to her own shame brought on by Eugenia Skeeter’s book which had an embarrassing chapter about Hilly. Aibileen, however, had had enough of Hilly’s manipulations and bullying that she decided to leave her place of employment of her own accord.
The only character sin the movie who had looked upon the maids as equals were Celia and her husband Johnny who were outcasts of Jackson. Celia was never accepted into the society as Hilly had a grudge on her and had manipulated the whole town against Celia. Minny befriended Celia and had become a confidant to her when Celia hired Minny as a part-time maid to help teach her to cook for her husband as she was in desperate need of cooking lessons These two characters were the only ones who broke free from the White or Other stigma that many of that time had and had mentalities further than their time.
The film as a whole as almost perfectly pictured the actual situation during the Civil Rights Movement of 1963 and had perfectly portrayed the turmoil experienced by the maids of Jackson, Mississippi. The unjust that ruled the supposedly pious people of Jackson and the pressure to conform the peer pressure and social norms had caused a lot of pain for those who were merely trying to earn a living for themselves and their families.