Did anyone not like the movie "The Help"? (scene, adventure)

[montanamom]

I rented it after hearing everyone talk about how great it was. I turned it off after about 10 minutes, which is not unusual, I find myself doing that with a lot of movies these days.

To answer bradyischamp, yes, all southern white people (with phony overdone southern accents) were evil incarnate to those poor, sweet, black people. While there is some element of truth to the story, and the times during which it takes place, this is so stereotypical. We've seen it, we get it, it's all been done before.

[Chowhound]

I thought it was a good movie. The scene where the story lead, I forget the characters name, she basically gets fired and is walking away and the little girl is in the window...

Man, that was rough stuff right there... It breaks your heart to see that the little girl isn't gonna have that good loving acceptance that the maid was giving her... The mom was a social ladder climbing creep of a person.

There is a whole lot more to the movie, obviously.....

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Currency Pair Crocodile

I was also ticked when the lady won her oscar and went on stage and acted as though she attained emancipation. Self-respect, woman.

Someday we're going to have a talk about the American film industry and how hard it is for a dark-skinned, overweight Black woman to get cast, much less CARRY a film.

There's a reason the first Black female star of a TV series was Diahann Carroll. ("Julia". Before your time.)

[bradyischamp]

OH WOW. admin deleted my posts and banned me for a couple of days.

sorry i do not subscribe to your worship non-whites and damn the evil white folk bit. what world do you live in admin?

dont bother answering, i already know you are just another stupid white hippie. loser

[Currency Pair Crocodile]

Originally Posted by bradyischamp

OH WOW. admin deleted my posts and banned me for a couple of days.

sorry i do not subscribe to your worship non-whites and damn the evil white folk bit. what world do you live in admin?

dont bother answering, i already know you are just another stupid white hippie. loser

Definitely not in the swamps, coz I will eat them for breakfast. Nom, nom, nom!

[SKP440]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first African American to win an Oscar (Hattie McDaniel, 1940, supporting actress, Gone with the Wind.) given the Oscar for playing...... oh yes a maid. My how far we have come with roles in film for African American women. That said I was at a dinner party when this movie came up for discussion. The group discussing the movie was pretty diverse, and all offered various generic points about the film when one older woman (who happened to be white) stated "That was an innocent time in America when people knew their place." The room became dead silent, and then I asked (without missing a beat) "Did anyone see Cars 2?" At which time the conversation continued with a group of adults talking about a CG cartoon.

[hatgirl007]

When this movie came out,I didn't want to see it. My family and friends told me that it was good so reluctantly I went to the movie. I laughed and I cried. I thought the cast was great in terms of portraying the following
(1) the hypocrisy of s.tradition. Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. This was demonstrated by the lack of humanity due to racism, displayed for the very people who helped raise your children with love.
I saw a lot of activities still present today. The same woman who organized charity events treated that woman like such an outsider with such contempt and the woman didn't do anything but try to become part of the married group. She treated her like "an outsider" - that special treatment that is still evident in the south today when it somes to interacting socially or in business with people that aren't part of your established/regional group.
(2) The effects of the assassination of Medgar Evans and the fear it striked within the community. It took a moment out of history to share the fear of african american's at this time of possibly being killed in front of their children. Assassination is a technique used to keep the opposition in their place and prevent others from standing up for their rights.
(3) Another message - the children raised by these "maids" were extremely loved and cared for in ways that were never acknowledged. There was a bond that occured while their mothers were socializing - they were being loved and raised by african american woman. Funny that the same people who wanted to crush civil rights trusted the same people they oppressed with their most precious - their children. Interesting.
(4) Delima. It's wrong to steal. How crazy would it be for you to have hope for education for your two sons and see it happen just to be forced to take the opportunity away from one and let the other go? How could a mother live with having one son live his dreams while the other stay behind because she and her husband couldn't afford both? To ask her employer for an advance was already humiliating enough but when the lady sent her husband away - I knew she wasn't going to help her to allow opportunity for anything more than a servant role for her children. Worse even was the fact of giving her a lecture on being responsible and the difference between a loan as if she was stupid. She was wrong to steal that ring and I knew she was going to get caught. Why there was a need to billy club her in the head after she repeatedly asked for her purse reminded me of how inhumane some view other people of color.
(5) The beauty of humanity was expressed in tender scenes. One that really touched me was when Minnie was abused by her husband and she took time to dress her wounds. For that moment there was no black and white there were just two women caring for each other - a friendship.
Another moment that made me laugh was when there were only two women in the house -Minnie and Celia and Mississippi law stated they could not eat together. Ridiculous. Another beautiful moment is when Celia cooked a great meal, she and her husband invited Minnie for dinner at the table.
We learn from each other and that's not a black or white thing - it's a human being thing.

[SKP440]

Originally Posted by hatgirl007

When this movie came out,I didn't want to see it. My family and friends told me that it was good so reluctantly I went to the movie. I laughed and I cried. I thought the cast was great in terms of portraying the following
(1) the hypocrisy of s.tradition. Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. This was demonstrated by the lack of humanity due to racism, displayed for the very people who helped raise your children with love.
I saw a lot of activities still present today. The same woman who organized charity events treated that woman like such an outsider with such contempt and the woman didn't do anything but try to become part of the married group. She treated her like "an outsider" - that special treatment that is still evident in the south today when it somes to interacting socially or in business with people that aren't part of your established/regional group.
(2) The effects of the assassination of Medgar Evans and the fear it striked within the community. It took a moment out of history to share the fear of african american's at this time of possibly being killed in front of their children. Assassination is a technique used to keep the opposition in their place and prevent others from standing up for their rights.
(3) Another message - the children raised by these "maids" were extremely loved and cared for in ways that were never acknowledged. There was a bond that occured while their mothers were socializing - they were being loved and raised by african american woman. Funny that the same people who wanted to crush civil rights trusted the same people they oppressed with their most precious - their children. Interesting.
(4) Delima. It's wrong to steal. How crazy would it be for you to have hope for education for your two sons and see it happen just to be forced to take the opportunity away from one and let the other go? How could a mother live with having one son live his dreams while the other stay behind because she and her husband couldn't afford both? To ask her employer for an advance was already humiliating enough but when the lady sent her husband away - I knew she wasn't going to help her to allow opportunity for anything more than a servant role for her children. Worse even was the fact of giving her a lecture on being responsible and the difference between a loan as if she was stupid. She was wrong to steal that ring and I knew she was going to get caught. Why there was a need to billy club her in the head after she repeatedly asked for her purse reminded me of how inhumane some view other people of color.
(5) The beauty of humanity was expressed in tender scenes. One that really touched me was when Minnie was abused by her husband and she took time to dress her wounds. For that moment there was no black and white there were just two women caring for each other - a friendship.
Another moment that made me laugh was when there were only two women in the house -Minnie and Celia and Mississippi law stated they could not eat together. Ridiculous. Another beautiful moment is when Celia cooked a great meal, she and her husband invited Minnie for dinner at the table.
We learn from each other and that's not a black or white thing - it's a human being thing.

Excellent post. While I didn't like the movie (I do have to admit my dislike for this movie comes from a few people who have expressed they wish we could still live under Jim Crow laws so as not to have to interact with "certain" groups of people, or have the freedom to speak either about or directly to people in any way (negatively) without consequence.) The examples you mentioned in your post show the hypocrisy of the South in the 50's and 60's, and today This type of subtle rhetoric would seem to fuel our present climate. Nuff said.

[Currency Pair Crocodile]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

Someday we're going to have a talk about the American film industry and how hard it is for a dark-skinned, overweight Black woman to get cast, much less CARRY a film.

There's a reason the first Black female star of a TV series was Diahann Carroll. ("Julia". Before your time.)

I thought it was more difficult for overweight white women too to get cast in American movies, Dew

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Currency Pair Crocodile

They think it's subtly annoying and demeaning.

But of course, it's a major success with white folks, becoz of the sanctimony they have assumed on to themselves about their so-called new-found love for tolerance and equality. It may have been appreciable in the earlier decades in the view of the civil rights movement. Right now, it's just annoying and ethnically damaging.

This was, to some degree, how I felt about the book, the characters were like cardboard, another white savior helping embattled poor blacks, it all felt a bit cloying.

OTOH, hatgirl007's post is compelling.

I never saw the movie in the theater because of my distaste for the book, but maybe I will rent it.