Following the movement Black Lives Matters, several movies and books are being suggested to gain acknowledge about the struggles and the history behind african americans. The academy award movie, The Help (2011) was not even recommended by its main characters, since it was written and directed by white people, allegedly poorly representing the real black community problems.
I have not the minimal intention to deep into this subject; a subject I not versed enough. Nevertheless, I want to appoint how me -a millennial caribbean mixed race woman- finds herself identified with this movie. Here is WHY THE HELP IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES MOVIES:
1. Self Esteem
2. The Marriage - Isn't the goal of every woman? There must be something wrong with you if at certain age you are not married. Being at home, house cleaned, babies bathed and dinner ready, is the pression for what a good woman should do.
3. Children - Now we see the real purpose of women. Regardless the pressure, the movie shows how not all babies are wanted and how not all parents are happy for having them. Regretting having kids is a taboo even nowadays; a buried secret if you don't want to break your son's heart or being seen as a bad parent.
4. Women's work- And not only the conditions of being a maid: lack of social security, extenuating hours, lack of proper transportation, low salaries... no no, we are talking about how Skeeter wanted a job as a writer and she was assigned to the home cleaning column. How her love interest worked in a rough job, how women must cook and men clean the gardens.
5. Social Classes - Although she is white and married to a rich man, Celia Foote cannot insert herself in the community, for being a foreigner and being pregnant before marriage.
6. Skin Color - The way is treated is the reason of rejection of the movie. But it's ok, race differences permeated during all the movie without being directly mentioned and composes its context. Examples are the way Aibileen's son died, the segregation in the bus and the cinema, or the news.
7. Education - Yes, Yule May stole a ring, but she and her husband were deciding which one of their kids was going to college, since they lacked of the $75 tuition. We also have Sugar, Minnie's daughter who left school at 14 -just like Aibileen-, for helping her family.
8. Domestic Violence - As all this wasn't enough, Minnie is beaten by her drunk husband.There is a scene when she is talking on the phone when her husband starts the fight. Notwithstanding Aibileen can hear what is going on, and living nearby, she does nothing about it. Being hit by the partner is a private thing that all mourn but no one involves.
9- Hair - An aspect of self esteem that has its own number.You see it on the wigs, the lack of hair in Skeeter's mother, the straightener machine they buy, and the hairstyles maids use when they are home at night. They all seem to follow any statement of how they should like, and how it is silently agreed, that their natural texture, even if you are black or white, is not accepted.
Would you ask me why I have such a negative approach for a movie I claim to like? Is because such issues, are the same for women, not matter the geography nor the year. The Help, is an subtle collage of the subjects we are still dealing with. The main work in here, is appreciate it enough as for seen yourself through the screen.