Before You Go See The Help…
Due to a death in the family, I wasn’t able to go to the DC sneak preview of the highly controversial movie “The Help.” Without that free pass, the odds aren’t good that I’ll ever go see that movie. I’ve read the lawsuit and disturbing allegations that the maid filed against the author, Kathryn Stockett, as well as the criticisms on the one hand and blind praise on the other of the book and movie. Let’s just say I’m good on this one. But I came across this open letter from the Association of Black Women Historians which explains very well why everyone — particularly Black women — should boycott the film. They go even further and offer suggestions on what books we should be reading instead. Consider this:
On behalf of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), this statement provides
historical context to address widespread stereotyping presented in both the film and novel
version of The Help. The book has sold over three million copies, and heavy promotion of the
movie will ensure its success at the box office. Despite efforts to market the book and the film as
a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the
experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations
of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism.
During the 1960s, the era covered in The Help, legal segregation and economic inequalities
limited black women’s employment opportunities. Up to 90 per cent of working black women
in the South labored as domestic servants in white homes. The Help’s representation of these
women is a disappointing resurrection of Mammy—a mythical stereotype of black women who
were compelled, either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families. Portrayed as asexual,
loyal, and contented caretakers of whites, the caricature of Mammy allowed mainstream America
to ignore the systemic racism that bound black women to back-breaking, low paying jobs where
employers routinely exploited them. The popularity of this most recent iteration is troubling
because it reveals a contemporary nostalgia for the days when a black woman could only hope to
clean the White House rather than reside in it.
Both versions of The Help also misrepresent African American speech and culture. Set in the
South, the appropriate regional accent gives way to a child-like, over-exaggerated “black” dialect.
In the film, for example, the primary character, Aibileen, reassures a young white child that,
“You is smat, you is kind, you is important.” In the book, black women refer to the Lord as the
“Law,” an irreverent depiction of black vernacular. For centuries, black women and men have
drawn strength from their community institutions. The black family, in particular provided
support and the validation of personhood necessary to stand against adversity. We do not
recognize the black community described in The Help where most of the black male characters
are depicted as drunkards, abusive, or absent. Such distorted images are misleading and do not
represent the historical realities of black masculinity and manhood.
Furthermore, African American domestic workers often suffered sexual harassment as well as
physical and verbal abuse in the homes of white employers. For example, a recently discovered
letter written by Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks indicates that she, like many black domestic
workers, lived under the threat and sometimes reality of sexual assault. The film, on the other
hand, makes light of black women’s fears and vulnerabilities turning them into moments of
comic relief.
Similarly, the film is woefully silent on the rich and vibrant history of black Civil Rights activists
in Mississippi. Granted, the assassination of Medgar Evers, the first Mississippi based field
secretary of the NAACP, gets some attention. However, Evers’ assassination sends Jackson’s
black community frantically scurrying into the streets in utter chaos and disorganized
confusion—a far cry from the courage demonstrated by the black men and women who
continued his fight. Portraying the most dangerous racists in 1960s Mississippi as a group of
attractive, well dressed, society women, while ignoring the reign of terror perpetuated by the Ku
Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council, limits racial injustice to individual acts of meanness.
We respect the stellar performances of the African American actresses in this film. Indeed, this
statement is in no way a criticism of their talent. It is, however, an attempt to provide context for
this popular rendition of black life in the Jim Crow South. In the end, The Help is not a story
about the millions of hardworking and dignified black women who labored in white homes to
support their families and communities. Rather, it is the coming-of-age story of a white
protagonist, who uses myths about the lives of black women to make sense of her own. The
Association of Black Women Historians finds it unacceptable for either this book or this film to
strip black women’s lives of historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment.
Ida E. Jones is National Director of ABWH and Assistant Curator at Howard University. Daina Ramey
Berry, Tiffany M. Gill, and Kali Nicole Gross are Lifetime Members of ABWH and Associate Professors at
the University of Texas at Austin. Janice Sumler-Edmond is a Lifetime Member of ABWH and is a Professor
at Huston-Tillotson University.
Suggested Reading:
Fiction:
Like one of the Family: Conversations from A Domestic’s Life, Alice Childress
The Book of the Night Women by Marlon James
Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neeley
The Street by Ann Petry
A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight
Non-Fiction:
Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph
To Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors by Tera Hunter
Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present by
Jacqueline Jones
Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Any questions, comments, or interview requests can be sent to:
ABWHTheHelp@gmail.com
Will YOU go see The Help this weekend??
I think I’ll get around to seeing this film…eventually. Even if only to show my support of Viola Daniels – a Black woman wholly and shamelessly unappreciated by Hollywood.
But no doubt, I’ll be digging my fingernails into the theater armchair as the great white hope steals the film.
As far as I’m concerned, The Help is an extremely eye opening experience. It delves far beyond racial issues. It deals with the dichotomy between love and disdain of the rich Southern women and their African-American helpers. If you read the book it mentions the helpers being fearful of their lives when it comes to the husbands of many women. If you read the book it goes into grave detail in one of Minny’s situations at Ms. Celia’s home. Remember, the book is FICTION. A book, such as this, cannot magnify every issue that has plagued the African-American community from 1950 and onward. Keep an open mind to it.
I’m very happy that Viola Davis used her Help money to launch a production studio. If she uses her studio to create more maid movies, I’ll be done with her, professionally, as Christian Slater would say. Hopefully she will make quality films with three-dimensional dynamic black characters that we can all be proud of!
When I first saw the previews for The Help, I immediately was suspicious. I’m always suspicious of other people telling “our”: stories. Not so much because I doubt the good will attached to it, but I often wonder how accurate that portrayal is. Furthemore, as Terry McMillan says, it bothers me that “when we write books about us, nothing happens; but when they do, they turn into bestsellers.”
Nevertheless, I didn’t want to criticize the book without having first read it. Typically, books take a higher road than films do when it comes to race relations so I decided why not give it a chance. And, I was given a copy by my mother.
The book was amazing. My grandmother worked as a domestic worker and I could almost hear her voice as I read Abileen and Minny. It wasn’t over done. That’s really how she talks. The book portrayed Black women as people who worked hard and suffered immeasurable trials, but were also very human. You laughed with them, you cried with them, but most of all you empathized with them.
If any part of a Mammy stereotype was affirmed, it was based in the reality of what Black domestic workers were expected to do. Oftentimes, the characters would tell you what the maids REALLY wanted to say, but remind us of what they HAD to say and do to feed their children. We can be upset about the situations they were placed in, but to be upset about an accurate portrayal because it represents a very real truth is simply unfair.
I read the book, WANTING to not like it. But I found myself unable to stop reading until it was done. The storyline was brilliant, realistic and heart-warming. My praise for the book isn’t blind as suggested above; it’s based in my successful completion of the book.
Have you read the book or seen the film?
No and no. If a group of Black Women Historians cite specific examples of historical inaccuracies, if the maid it was written about is suing for defamation, that’s really all I need to know I don’t need Kathryn Stockett’s Help. Top it off with this awesome critique– so awesome and thought-provoking it was cited in a CNN article on the book/film — and I’m really good on this one: http://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/why-the-help-gets-on-my-last-nerve/part-two-of-why-the-help-gets-on-my-last-nerve/. Glad you were entertained, though, and thanks for reading and commenting!
It was a work of fiction. It wasn’t based on any individual person. Also, forgive my ignorance, but Ive never heard of the Black Women Historians before today.
No shade to what you have to say, but it’s difficult to accept criticism as worthy when you haven’t read or viewed!
And it’s not about our discomfort with the reality of Black history — its moreso about WHITE discomfort with the reality of Black History. So much so that we are CONTINUOUSLY bombarded with revisionist images of all the White people who came to save Black people in their time of need. That’s a tiny portion of what happened during that time period, yet for some reason — like Black downtrodden women on welfare having a million babies by their father a la Precious — that’s the story that Hollywood likes to tell over and over again, as if that is the dominant reality. It isn’t, it wasn’t, and neither is Kathryn Stockett’s version of 1960s America.
Ok, as you can see above, since I didn’t read this work of crap, and was unable to see the free preview, I didn’t write a review of either. What I did was cite to an open letter by an organization that has read the book and seen the movie and found it lacking for people’s consideration. If you find more credibility in a white woman who had a black maid and knows some black folk than this organization of Black women who study history, it’s a free country. Thanks again for reading!
lol. Well if you had read the book of “crap” then you’d know that the white women were not saviors to the Black women. The Black women “saved” themselves. The story was about Black women working together with a White woman. They risked their safety and lives to tell their story (in the fictional account).The Black women in the story were writers, readers, and took their own destiny into their hands.
I will be sure to look into the lawsuit as I am a fan of researching such matters. Provided this maid’s story was stolen, then I believe the author is completely wrong for that. THat doesn’t change the validity of the story though. I think what’s blind here isn’t the praise, it’s the criticism on your part. At least read the plot/storyline before you throw up an open letter. I think that’s a fair request from a reader of yours.
I would LOVE for it to have been a Black person that told this story. I read books by a variety of authors of both genders, and various ethnicities. But it wasn’t. And yet, I’m sure that Black women who worked as domestic workers, particularly those not in the hoity toity Black Women Historians… can understand the value of the story, much more than us educated folks who never had to work like that.
By the way, I just reread the Open Letter…
And they left out a few key details. The book addresses more than just Medgar Evers. It talked about the desegregation of Ole Miss, the KKK, and Brown vs. Board of Education. Wonder if they read the book…
I guess Ableen Cooper who is suing Kathryn Stockett for DEFAMATION is hoity toity. One of the parts of the book that she cites in her lawsuit is where Kathryn Stockett describes Aibleen as comparing the color of a cockroach to her own skin color. Apparently, Ableen Cooper doesn’t think Stockett told her story correctly. That’s actually enough for me to not waste money or time on the book.
My bookclub passed on the book back in February and I never thought of it again until I read about the lawsuit. It was in reading the lawsuit that I decided I won’t be putting money into Stockett’s hands. So, sorry, dear readers! I won’t be reading or watching the film. As with all things, I encourage everybody to take all available evidence, pray about it, and make your own choices.
I read the link you sent me:
“This was no doubt a demeaning experience for Demetrie, but it was far from unusual in the South of the 1960s, and it reflects negatively on Stockett’s family, rather than on Demetrie herself. If Cooper wasn’t subjected to such treatment, that’s because she wasn’t working as a maid for a white family in 1961, when “The Help” is set; Cooper, who is 60, would have been only 10 at the time.”
and also….
As flimsy as the case against Stockett may appear to be on closer consideration, for many it still arouses an instinctive outrage — if we don’t own our own life stories, what do we own? Stockett is white and privileged, and Cooper is poor and black. The racial politics of “The Help” were pretty squicky to begin with, and the idea that Stockett “stole” the biography of her family’s maid just makes the whole thing seem outright exploitative. But even if you’re uneasy with the notion of a white woman writing a novel purporting to portray how African-Americans viewed families like hers, there’s little evidence that Stockett appropriated Cooper’s story, as opposed to a couple of her traits and an approximation of her first name.
“Those of use who have read “The Help” may also wonder why anyone would be “severely” distressed or outraged to be likened to the noble Aibileen. Although poor and uneducated through no fault of her own, Aibileen is intelligent, brave and kind, apparently without significant flaws.”
The lawsuit…. epic fail.
Annnnd here’s a Black feminist author’s response to that Salon article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/duchess-harris/kathryn-stockett-needs-he_b_918384.html?ir=Entertainment.
I mean, really, we can do this all day if you want. I think you’re missing the point of defamation. Defamation doesnt’ mean Stockett “stole” her story like you keep saying. She’s saying it is AN INACCURATE AND HURTFUL AND FALSE portrayal of who she is and what she went through. That’s the point, Crystal. Many Black women, including the one the story is written about, do not believe this to be an accurate portrayal of Black life, black thought, or black struggle during that time period. Knowing someone who finds this story to be accurate is like knowing someone who went through what Precious went through. That doesn’t mean it’s a story that needs to consistently be told. Everybody knows a loud ignorant person like the character Tasha Smith plays in Why Did I get Married. Does that mean we need to keep seeing that image as a dominant and accurate portrayal of who Black women are?! I’d argue NO.
Cooper is asking for $75,000 of the millions of millions of millions of dollars Stockett has made off of this book and movie. Clearly it’s not about the money or even about WINNING. It’s about letting people know that this story is inaccurate, hurtful, and a poor representation of her life, and the life of black maids. period.
Here, Kathryn explains her inspiration for the book. It wasn’t something that came out of her head. It wasn’t something that she inaccurately pulled together based on experiences with Cooper.
It’s based on what she knows to be true and personally witnessed:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1199603/This-Life-Kathryn-Stockett-childhood-Deep-South.html
Oh, so now it’s NOT a work of fiction? The point that many are trying to get Kathryn Stockett to see is that when you are a privileged person looking into the lives of the not-so-privileged, maybe you might want to consider the fact that your lens is SKEWED and so might be your ideas of what you think you saw. If that moment of consideration is too much to ask, then so be it. Again, glad you were entertained and that Stockett has a hardcore fan in you. I’m sure you’re not alone.
lol! I’m not a hardcore fan of Stockett! She’s only written one book! I’m more of a Glee fan than a Help fan.
Nevertheless, i never said it was science fiction. lol. As all good fiction, it draws on human experiences. Throughout our conversation, I’ve done the research, read the articles you provided, looked up other articles and thumbed through the book. I don’t want to support a book that cheapens or misrepresents black women. I promise I don’t! So I’m taking all the steps to research correctly and ensure that I’m not supporting a “work of crap” or unfair, inaccurate book. You still have failed to address what I said in my original comment.
Like I told you, I didn’t want to like this book. I prefer for us to tell our stories. But I’m reminded of a quote from the book by the fictional white character:
“Everyone knows how we white people feel, the glorified Mammy figure who dedicates her whole life to a white family. Margaret Mitchell covered that. But no one ever asked Mammy how she felt about it.”
And that’s what the author set out to do. Even she realizes how problematic it is. In the article here: http://clatl.com/gyrobase/kathryn-stockett-life-in-the-belle-jar/Content?oid=3795185&showFullText=true she says:
“I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand.”
But does that mean she’s not allowed to try? How else can we move forward if we’re not attempting to walk in one another’s shoes and tell the world how it felt?
Your initial comment was that my criticism of the book/film was blind because I’d never read or seen it. I addressed that earlier by saying I REPOSTED the criticism of an organization that had read/seen and didn’t like it, and I asked people to consider their points before supporting this work of fiction. I never wrote a review and have no intentions of being in a position to do so, though I would’ve had I been available to accept my invitation to the DC screening.
As far as whether she’s allowed to try, this is America. Try to stop her. The sources I cite to discuss their view of the wisdom and success of her efforts to tell this story. I happen to find their criticisms compelling enough to keep my money in my pocket or to invest it in others who are trying to tell their own stories instead of allowing them to be outsourced.
Do your thing girl. Say your piece. It’s America! I discuss Tyler Perry all the time, particularly after I’ve seen the movies.
I’m not hear to advocate necessarily for The Help or to advocate for you reading what you have decided to dislike (without a primary source, but that’s neither here nor there.)
I’m simply hear to address the concerns that you’ve voiced and that The Black Womens Historians have voiced. Although.. it does seem a bit ironic that you’re relying on a small group of women to tell you what every Black women should be thinking re the movie/film. Hmmm. A little pot/kettle if you ask me. Well… at least they read the book first.
We won’t agree on this topic and that’s fine. I noticed a little snark in your “we can do this all day if you want”… and that’s fine. You seem to have more emotions attached to it than I do. Because at the end of the day, I support truth. And as a reader and researcher, that’s what I provided for this comment section.
By the way, has anyone considered the positive impact this has had on white women who were ignorant of Black women’s daily lives in the 60’s? I talked to an elderly white woman on the train the other day who was reading The Help, and she told me, she felt like she had a lot of “thinking to do.” That… my friend is why the book was written. To provoke thought and maybe even debates like these.
omg! I’ve already spent way more energy on The Help than I had ever intended to. I started a blog to share my thoughts and thoughts that I find relevant. If I was relying on a small group of women to tell me what every Black woman should be thinking on this film, I’d say so. I don’t know how many ways I can say this post was “for your consideration.” If you considered it and rejected it, what can I do about that? Why would I WANT to do anything about that?
And if you’re content to rely on the “personal experiences” of Kathryn Stockett, that’s your prerogative. just as it is mine to share concerns of abwh that I found interesting on my own site, and to not waste another minute on this topic.
And my point in “we can do this all day” is that for every White woman who has praised this as groundbreaking, there are tons of scholarly black women who disagree. It wasn’t snark, it was reality. And yeah, I defer to black women scholars on issues of black history on a regular basis. Particularly when there are so many in agreement on a topic.
Just read the new article you posted re the lawsuit. What’s interesting is that her father isn’t speaking to her. Furthermore, her brother, who is a proud Southerner is upset about “Ableen”‘s portrayal. Or is he upset about the very honest but negative depiction of Southerners, particularly those from Jackson, Mississippi. We should really think critically when reading articles.
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While you’re out there thinking critically, consider that perhaps this isn’t about Kathryn Stockett and the personal woes she’s faced as a result of her blockbuster book/movie AT ALL. Consider that maybe this is about Black women maids who still don’t feel their stories have been told with care and accuracy, including, most importantly, the woman who this tale is supposed to be about. The woman who Stockett came to 10 years ago and asked for permission to write her story to which Ableen Cooper said quite clearly NO. Yet somehow masses of people who don’t know either of these women from Adam are discussing this story, anyway. Analyze That. the end.
Debating with someone who read everything but the actual topic of debate is going to get this conversation nowhere soon. I read the articles presented by you as well as the actual work. I wouldn’t debate the Bible witn someone who’d only heard what a naysayer had to say about it. I’d use my time more wisely with someone who’s actually cracked it open. I apologize for the waste of time invested in a serious mismatch of knowledge.
Ships that pass in the night! Enjoy your day, sweetie 🙂
Despite my earlier rash comments, I am thankful for this debate; it really made me think! I come off a little more articulate here —–> http://www.awordorthree.com/2011/08/dont-be-rude-to-help.html
Great! Thanks for sharing. I’ve also updated my thoughts in this post: “Jesus Doesn’t Need Help, Either”: http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/?p=1992
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