So is anybody going to go see "The Help"?
Friday, June 3, 2011 at 7:00AM The Blogmother Hat Tip to Shadow and Act.
"The Help" stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer.The movie is based on book of the same name.
So i've been following the development of the roll out of the movie, The Help. I also saw a trailer for the movie in theaters. So who is going to go see it? Why, why not?
I'm on the fence. I am not this movie's target audience. I suspect the target audience is similar to the audience for Eat, Pray, Love, and I didn't go to see that either.
Many of us have mothers, grandmothers and aunts who were maids to White families so it IS a legitimate part of our history... BUT I'm so sick and tired of movies with long suffering overcoming Black women with no makeup or movie-star glam. Where is our escapist crap?
I guess I'm in a rut right now and I want to see Black women flying around in capes in full makeup with glamour lighting. I think I wouldn't be irritated as much by the "long suffering Black women" roles if there was more variety.
I wouldn't even mind a Civil War/ Slavery movie it was an action adventure movie... and don't tell me Black folks running away to seek freedom in the North didn't have some adventures along the way that wouldn't make good movies...
So its poll time. How likely are you to go see "The Help" when arrives in theatres this August... I'm leaning towards NOT. But then again, I haven't seen Thor, Kungfu Panda, Fast and the Furious, The Green Hornet, Green Lantern et all, I did see both Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed and they were both on the opposite end of the spectrum of DREADFUL.
Counting down until someone leaves a cooment saying he HAAAAAAAVE to go see this movie or Hollywood will never make another movie featuring Black women ever ever ever eveeeer! Hogwash!
38 Comments | Share Article Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, The Help, Viola Davis
Reader Comments (38)
I worked with a Black female teacher at an at-risk school in Brooklyn and she told me that her kids were very tired of being thrown books such as "Down these Mean Streets" to read. The kids said they were tired of it and wanted stories of success. This reminds me a bit about what you wrote here!
Viola Davis is made of awesome, and yet........I have no intentions of seeing this movie. I'm not denying the historical basis for the film, but I have no interest in watching a Nice White Lady help the modest, humble, uneducated Negro women overcome.
Many of us have mothers, grandmothers and aunts who were maids to White families so it IS a legitimate part of our history... BUT I'm so sick and tired of movies with long suffering overcoming Black women with no makeup or movie-star glam. Where is our escapist crap?
Exactly. Where IS Black women's escapism? I think the closest we'll get to that will be Zoe Saldana in Columbiana and/or Angela Bassett as "Amanda Waller" in Green Lantern and Zoe Kravitz in XMen: The First Class (by way of mainstream releases).
What I don't like about what I've seen thus far from The Help (in the trailer) is how syrupy-sweet it seems it's going to be. It's a direct contrast to the book which I thought was very, very, very good and not-so-saccharine; so, I'm on the fence about seeing it (in theaters). Will definitely rent it.
Many of us have experienced this relationship of maid-to-servant via our grandmothers and mothers, as you've stated. The book does a great job of exploring (as much as the author could) the deeper-than-surface levels of these pairings. It's not just misery and woebegoneism for the Black characters. It's not typical and one-sided in painting these Black maids in the same ole light. It is but it isn't. Let me just say that I think the author did a great job in balancing the misery for both sides; the misery, the joy, the pains, all of it. And as is usually the case, especially given this trailer, the book is better than the movie---WILL always be better than the movie.
I kind of hate when Hollyweird adapts a novel and don't do it justice. But that's another discussion, entirely.
On the fence about seeing this. Leaning more towards 'won't'... But I will rent it. :)
I suspect this movie is not about us for us. It's for "liberal, progressive middle American" white women to feel satisfied about themselves at our expense. Gone With The Wind set the mold.
I've read complaints about how the maid was portrayed in the book, not sure what the movie does with her character.
I won't be seeing this movie because I'm tired of these old-timey themes about "po' black ignorant women." Seriously I am tired. But I am also not going to see this film because the maid who served this author's family was humiliated by the book and did not receive compensation according to her claims. You can read more here http://abcnews.go.com/Health/lawsuit-black-maid-ablene-cooper-sues-author-kathryn/story?id=12968562
I am tired of whites and others profiting off of Black women's pain.
I'm definitely tired of these types of movies too but then again, black writers need to get on the ball and put out better quality movies and reach out to all these other black people with money to support their own. Then we have Tyler Perry, who writes powerful movies for black people but he gets criticized by his own people. Seems nothing is ever good enough. : ( . We as a whole have to be more proactive in our communities. We don't have enough ambition. Just sit around and complain.
I am definitely not watching this one.
It is not even that it is the story of the poor black woman who needs help. The problem is it is not from a perspective that relates to me and I am sick of it. Now if Viola Davis had been the singular main character and heroine, then I would don my cape to and share my popcorn, but a feel good movie for white privilege... no thanks.
I wrote about this movie when I first heard it was coming out. - http://qalil-com.blogspot.com/2011/04/trailer-trash-movies-i-may-not-watch.html
Blogmother wrote:
I guess I'm in a rut right now and I want to see Black women flying around in capes in full makeup with glamour lighting. I think I wouldn't be irritated as much by the "long suffering Black women" roles if there was more variety.
Agreed.
There are books, comics, etc. starring Black heroines that would make great sci-fi/fantasy films. One example that quickly came to mind is "The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury," which combines the best elements of Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark:
http://bsuperhero.blogspot.com/2011/04/many-adventures-of-miranda-mercury-time.html
So, we should not settle for the (snore!) "Black woman as miserable victim" fare Hollywood produces.
Hell to the no.
I'm sick of po' black wimmin sufferin' movies.
It's like the world gets off at seeing BW in dire straights.
Definitely not going to fund this kind of thing-- it's aimed at doughy, tired-out soccer moms who want a night out with the "girlfriends" and overzealous liberal chicks who want to feel good and see themselves shown as a "good person" onscreen.
I'll admit the movie has a very interesting premise. It's approaching things from a different angle, I'll give the film's writers that much.
But it's definitely not something I'd throw my money at. I'm just not a sappy chick flick kind of gal, either. Weepy southern dramas make me jump out of my skin (with the exception of Southern Magnolias), and so do escapist "ladies night" flicks like Eat Pray Love and Mamma Mia. Can't sit still through it all, and I hate sobbing, sloppy, pass-the-kleenex-and-rocky-road type films.
Closest I get to chick flicks is the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games, and even then it's got to be balanced with gore and action. Especially the latter-- Katniss is the best female heroine to hit Hollywood in a while.
Anywho, agreed. I'm saving my money for Columbiana. I can take or leave the comic book flicks though-- I have a feeling Zoe and Angela are in each movie just to add a dash of color. Who knows, maybe they'll surprise me. I'll probably see it with my family over the summer or something.
brownbeautiful
Let's agree to disagree regarding Tyler Perry's "powerful" movies. Give me Spike Lee, Julie Dash or by golly Mario van Peebles Sr.!
On point - no I will not go see "The Help," in film version; more likely I'll read the book, or not.
"I think I wouldn't be irritated as much by the "long suffering Black women" roles if there was more variety. "
And there you have it.
While I read the novel and really enjoyed it (I couldn't put it down) I will not go see this movie. I feel that if an alien came down to learn about usa and its people the aliens would not know of the existence of brown to darkskinned black women. We are RARELY featured at all and when we are it is rarely in any positive fun light. In fact we are rarely featured at ALL. I do exist and wish to be represented. Now when they do FINALLY have dark skinned black women we are always in some kind of downtrodden role or helper no sex appeal role (sex and the city). I mean really. I cannot support this foolishness. When are all types of beautiful black women going to be showm on film or tv. I am not a writer and have no skills in that department so I cannot be the one to make a change in this area, however, I want to and would support projects that reflect the reality that black women come in all shades and have positive things to offer.
I'm so sad actually that I cannot support this film.I reeeeaaaallly like Viola Davis and I'm glad to see the lady who I believe was in the 1st Big Momma's House (seen it on bootleg dvd) getting work.
I feel almost the same way about this as I felt about Jumping The Broom.I really wanted to see Jumping The Broom because it has many actresses in it that I loved,I mean Angela Basset Paula Patton Loretta Devine *face palm*,but it just was too messed up.I think it is a mess that we cannot get anything but woe is me films.Jumping the Broom still irritates me because it could have easily been a fabulous and funny movie with the glamor but instead we got color struck black men,classism,and angry black women.I'm tired of it.
A little of topic,I hope you don't mind Gem.
In response to Melanie and not many dark women being on television
hey@ Melanie I actually have been seeing more dark skinned women on television shows.Cop drama's etc.There could be more on the big screen but I have been seeing more here and there.Tasha Smith seems like a go to girl for films but the stuff she plays in seems a mess.
Betty Chambers did a post on black actresses and there were black women of all hues featured on the post and I kinda contributed
here is the post http://bettychambers.com/?p=909
Nope, I won't be going to see this one. Nothing against Viola though, that woman is the truth! It's funny that you mentioned Eat, Pray, Love, because while I did read the book I had no desire whatsoever to see the movie. Now with Precious, I read the book and supported it in the theater however, I was far from inclined to purchase the DVD, it was a feature I needed to only see once (if you get my drift). I don't like too many depressing flicks in my DVD library. I own enough already, Hotel Rwanda being one of them and I've watched it all of three times always ending up in tears. When I try to figure out why I bought the DVD my rationale is that I just had to support Don Cheadle...Lol! I suppose that I'm in a "rut" as well...right now I need more laughter in my life. So I'll be on the lookout for some good summer comedies only, no exceptions. :)
Yes, my mom was a maid for many years in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s in the south (and she and my aunts and grandmothers all shared their horror and not-so-horror stories) and yes I truly admire Viola Davis - great actress and she's dark skinned and gets respect from her colleagues, but I think I'll pass. Black maids? In 2011? With domestic workers, office cleaners and women farm workers all organizing for better wages, working conditions, etc?
No! I think I'll pass. But I'd love for Julie Dash to do an action flick on Ida B. Well, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, etc., a drama on Anna J. Cooper, Yaa Asantewaa of Ghana, Fumilayo Ransome Kuti of Nigeria, Granny Nanny of the Maroons of Jamaica, etc. I think you all get my drift! :)
I can totally understand the sentiment of being tired of hearing about the down-trodden black woman. I agree a bit of fantasy, fun, and escapism might be ideal. Perhaps Hollywood is missing a niche. Give black women and girls something worth going to see for a change. Something that speaks to a great story.
I am actually interested in seeing Columbiana.
In response to your comment, "I wouldn't even mind a Civil War/ Slavery movie it was an action adventure movie... and don't tell me Black folks running away to seek freedom in the North didn't have some adventures along the way that wouldn't make good movies..."
Check out this link:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/05/tarantinos-django-unchained-is-unchained.html
I'd see it if someone I respected saw it first and told me it wasn't that liberal white people mess that Hollywood usually puts out. If your looking for a good movie to watch now I'd suggest Black Orpheus or Quilombo (sp?), both are relatively old and have subtitles, but are an escape from Hollywood.
As for brownnbeautiful....we have different tastes (side eye to the TP comment), but I think we who are not in the business cannot see black writers who may be on their grind with different stories, but get shutdown. And even if we use books that could make great movies, Octavia Butler Lillith Series!!!!!, what major HWood company will put forth the money for something with a dark skinned Black female LEAD....I mean in a business where sex sells, didn't we just learn that Black women aren't as sexy as other women....(s/o to Psychology Today).
Colombiana...(just saw the trailer) if someone told me that it was somehow different then Kill Bill I'd see it...
With so many hundreds if not thousands of books that come out every year, can somone tell me who and what criteria determines which book gets made into a movie? Seriously, I would like to know, if someone here follows the Hollywood/film making scene. Thanks! :)
I am going against the grain and I am definitely going to see it. Why because I loved the book. Just like I loved the book The Secret Lives of Bees and Water for Elephants. The book is great. The black women in the book are powerful, in fact it's the white women who are made to look as shallow, selfish, and needy. I wasn't going to read it, but one of my white friends pushed me to it. I wasn't disappointed. Sure, we need more stories of black women being beautiful and sexy, but we all also need more stories of black women being more than one-dimensional.
This really a call to black author on stepping up their game and stop writing the same on stories. Can't wait to see it!
I mean in a business where sex sells, didn't we just learn that Black women aren't as sexy as other women....(s/o to Psychology Today)
I sure hope was sarcasm.
Many Hollywood companies focus on giving people what they want.Average and way below average white women wanted to see themselves on the big screen which is how you got the cast of Sex and the City,the movie Hairspray and many other shows and movie.As we know most white women on television are not gorgeous just glammed up.
If black women support the showing of their own image and demand better they'll get better.
I won't be seeing "The Help". That is not the type of film I like.
In the Fall, Grey's Anatomy's creator Shonda Rhimes has a new show called "Scandal" starring Kerry Washington in the lead role as a Washington professional fixer of political scandals on ABC. Look for it on Facebook called Scandal show. I hope it's going to be good.
"Many of us have mothers, grandmothers and aunts who were maids to White families so it IS a legitimate part of our history... BUT I'm so sick and tired of movies with long suffering overcoming Black women with no makeup or movie-star glam. Where is our escapist crap?
I guess I'm in a rut right now and I want to see Black women flying around in capes in full makeup with glamour lighting. I think I wouldn't be irritated as much by the "long suffering Black women" roles if there was more variety. "
sums up my thoughts perfectly
I must say that I'm on the fence as well, however, I had the trailer on my blog for a few weeks.
Yep...I'm struggling with it. There was a brief comment in the blogosphere about why WE (black women) are having ambivalent feelings about viewing this movie. This sister indicated that she had heard good things about the movie and that it wasn't as stereotypical as most of us suspected.
Diversity of roles for black women in adequate or more realistic versions of our lives would probably diminish the rawness we feel when one of these films about the "good old days" [when blacks knew their place or were grateful to get any job] becomes cinematic. The latter is what I hear from older whites in a smokescreen fashion--you know...they have to tell you about the sweet lady who took care of them. The name is always a dead giveaway. They speak of her as if they are reminiscing about a favorite teddy bear. Hmm......
Thanks for this article because it got me thinking about why this film was made in the first place. What I really wanted to know is how much was spent on production and what the gross domestic profits where projected to be but I can't find that info. Anyway, apparently this is a Disney/ Dreamworks production and they acquired the rights a year ago and it was New York Times bestseller for 47 weeks. So this was basically made to get some money off of a built in audience of women (more than likely white) between the ages of 20-55 . that's A LOT of money to be made off of one little film. And the marketing/ book tie-in/ dvd/ tv rights will be even sweeter.
Here's the thing. We can't really stop these films from being made because they turn a quick profit and are easily marketable. And it's even more of a double edged sword because it allows black actresses like Viola Davis some steady income as sucky as that sounds. So to change the dynamic we have to stop going to see them but the black female audience not seeing this won't matter because it wasn't marketed to us anyway and it will still make a profit. Disney then sees this and the cycle continues.
I really think that a black female superhero or action adventure movie could be really profitable. I mean look at the 70's and films like Coffy and Sheba. Although they were riddled with racism and sexism they still turned a major profit. It can be done again but maybe a bit better this time around.
@Truth P....deep sigh/hand on forehead... yes that was sarcasm....was it not obvious?<--NOT sarcasm (seriously I thought it was EXTREMELY tongue in cheek)
Demanding will get you tired and worn out unless you can impact "their" wallets. What it boils down is something like the Talented Tenth (whether you believe in Booker T or not)...there are enough Black entertainers with money who if united could have their own major record labels, production studios, for profit colleges, black beauty stores, etc. These could be avenues that could thrust non-typical images of Black people....along with some 21st century Blaxplotation films. OR all these people complaining could use their energy to NOT wait for someone else to do it and DO IT YOURSELF. The Blogmother wrote her own script, is a full time (?) lawyer, blogs, and has a life....what she did surely impacted the people she came into contact with...
Instead of talking about it BE about it! Write the screen plays and even if it goes nowhere share the experience with others...maybe take it to a community theater.
And if you just have little to no ability (I can't sing and I own it) invest time in finding the obscure artists and indie/foreign films. Nollywood and Bollywood can surprise you and be your LAUGH!
I don't plan on seeing it.
I read the book last year for my book club. It was a good book, but I had some problems with it. My grandmother worked for white people when she was a teenager, and several of her friends did "day work' as adults. One of my first babysitters was an older black woman who was a nanny for a rich white family and raised their children from infants to adulthood. With those frames of reference, I found some of what happened in the book as not feasible in real life during that time.
I also have a problem with movies that show poor down-trodden black folks who are so pitiful and desolate that they need a white person to swoop in and save the day. That just really, REALLY irritates me.
And, as Beverly mentioned, I can't in good concious support the movie because of the lawsuit from Stockett's family maid. Honestly, if I had known earlier about the shoddy treatment she received I would not have purchased the book.
However, I'm glad to see Viola getting some shine. I wish her well. I hope this will lead to more work for her.
The fact that this film is based on a book written by a White woman reminds me of the film, The Secret Life of Bees. If the story or a story about African American maids is to be told, how about we tell it.
I am definitely not going to see something like this. Hollywood just cant let go of the mammy image. Whats worse, in 2011 there are still mammies looking after these white babies. I think its shameful. And while I am in no position to knock anyone's paycheck, I would think that history would serve as a deterrent to Black women taking these types of positions.
I agree that these "crappers", ball players and the like should join together and create some sort of Black based entertainment company. I can almost state with certainty that its never going to happen. These cats dont have a conscious revolutionary mind. In the same way that rap labels were started out of the backs of trunks, I believe the same can be done for movies. Instead of Jay Z, the Williams sisters and others becoming minority owners in ball teams, they could have joined forces and created a distribution company.
I wish I were intelligent enough to know how to fix this. There are so many positive Black women stories. Shoshana Johnson and Vernice Armour are 2 great military stories, especially since this country likes shoot em up movies.
I'll pass on this one as well. It has no interest to me at all. I'm more of an action junkie, so I've already seen Thor, Fast Five, and X-Men First Class. I had a good laugh at The Hangover 2, and other films like Green Lantern, Transformers, and Captain America are high on my list.
I will see it. i have not read the book. i have the sense that it is a spielbergization of a true story. But sometimes we gotta take what we can get. my grandmother was a domestic and I remember standing in white people's homes and realizing at a very young age that indeed we lived in a different world. but sometimes a movie like this can illustrate a period of history from a different perspective. i am impressed that in the trailer there is a visual of "coloreds" climbing the exterior stairs to the theatre. there have been many movies that were lousy but had important individual scenes that protray a period of history. "heart of Dixie had a incredibly accurate and moving scene of a domestics home and her altar dedicated to the "missing" men in her family. The Honeydrippers accurate and moving depiction of the vagrancy laws. Two unimportant films that left there mark on me. So I will watch this with the knowledge that they wont get it all "right" but will hope for a scene with some historical significance. and I will continue to bitch and complain for hollywood to do better.
I wouldn't even mind a Civil War/ Slavery movie it was an action adventure movie... and don't tell me Black folks running away to seek freedom in the North didn't have some adventures along the way that wouldn't make good movies...
MOST excellent suggestion! Seriously, awesome, just the thought excites me! Hollywood, are you listening? And hope they all avoid this:
I also have a problem with movies that show poor down-trodden black folks who are so pitiful and desolate that they need a white person to swoop in and save the day. That just really, REALLY irritates me.
I can't wait for Pumzi to be released. It's a long time since I've been this excited about a movie.
http://bitchmagazine.org/article/the-africa-that-i-know
We don't see black women in diverse roles because people in the U.S. see black individual people, communities, entertainers, and organizations as either 100% or almost 100% good or 100% or almost 100% bad.
There is very little room for nuance or complexity with the way we see black people and black women. And you see examples of this all over the place. Whole genre's of music are labeled 100% bad, whole organizations are labelled as 100% bad or nearly so. Individual people who have broken no laws are seen as 100% bad based on their "entertainment" or a single position they have taken on a few issues.
What's worse is that the worst of the actions of individual black people are applied as a blanket to the rest of us. So one person or groups of people supports R. Kelly, then the whole black community or nearly all us supports him. There is no nuance. One person or a group of people does or says something evil or wrong or immoral, and the whole black community is judged as an accomplice. We just don't allow black people that luxury of being individuals whose actions won't be applied to all black people, and we won't allow any complexity in the way we see them. We are either 100% bad or 100% good.
It is that limited thinking that prevents black women from being cast in diverse roles.
In creating great characters if they are black they are not allowed to have normal human major flaws because people will have the tendency to ignore the complexity of the character and just focus on their weakness and bring to bear hundreds of years of racial thinking to that character.
This creates a near perfect storm of both having to both "represent" black women, yet not being allowed to actually show complicated interesting black women characters because their flaws and mistakes will be seen as some fatal black women flaw that will be picked at endlessly.
Then you add in the extremely limited idea that we have of the people who are powerful, capable, strong, smart, sophisticated, interesting, funny, sad, happy, loving, etc and because of how we in this country understand race, we just can't see black women in those roles.
People would reject them because of that limited view of black womanhood. Sadly, most of us are guilty of both of those limited and erroneous ways of thinking about black women..
I won't go see it. I haven't read the book either because I resent how the author, Kathryn Sockett, exploited the actual black who worked for her real-life family. That maid, Ablene Cooper, ended up suing her. See "Black Maid Sues, Says 'The Help' Is Humiliating" at ABC News. I had reservations about the book before this news came out, and so, I didn't buy a copy, but when the story about the lawsuit broke, I felt my instincts were valid. I don't know what Sockett was thinking, but her attitude reminds me of a white liberal assuming she understands black people while her very actions show she actually identifies with the plantation "good master" position. (Rant over.) O.K. Yes, we do need some glamorous, escapist movies with black heroines. I think we'll have to make them ourselves, or should I say that your generation, Gena, will have to make them.
I read the book and I plan to see the movie, so I can make up my own mind. If you read the book, you'd see that the Black women in this story are not the only ones that suffer. The white women do too, just differently. In any event, I am interested in talking to some more suffering Black women; the daughters of Black women who worked as maids and Nannies for white families, and who were left to fend for themselves, if not downright abandoned, so that they could make money and send it back home.
An EXCELLENT depiction of a southern Black maid's interactions with the families she works for is Blanche on the Lam. It is a book by Barbara Neeley that is humorous, intelligent, and most of all, told from the perspective of the maid. The maid is the clear lead, hero, protagonist of those stories. I'd love to see them made into movies. I did hear that Queen Latifah had interest, but I'm not clear on the status of the project. I did read The Help and there is a hilarious comeuppance scene involving chocolate pie that I truly hope makes it into the movie. In regards the The Help, the book, the writer did acknowledge that she was inspired to write the book based on her memories of the Black maid who "raised" her. However, the real-life maid has filed a lawsuit against the writer's publisher. I saw that story in either Ebony or Essence. Can't remember which. I wonder if the The Help's author arranged compensation or a comission for her maid the same way she depicted the character of the writer "Skeeter" compensating the maids who willingly share their stories in the book?