the help film essay

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, the help keep right on helping.

Now streaming on:

"The Help" is a safe film about a volatile subject. Presenting itself as the story of how African-American maids in the South viewed their employers during Jim Crow days, it is equally the story of how they empowered a young white woman to write a best-seller about them, and how that book transformed the author's mother. We are happy for the two white women, and a third, but as the film ends it is still Jackson, Mississippi and Ross Barnett is still governor.

Still, this is a good film, involving and wonderfully acted. I was drawn into the characters and quite moved, even though all the while I was aware it was a feel-good fable, a story that deals with pain but doesn't care to be that painful. We don't always go to the movies for searing truth, but more often for reassurance: Yes, racism is vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people are bad.

The story, based on Kathryn Stockett's best-seller, focuses on Skeeter Phelan ( Emma Stone ), a recent college graduate who comes home and finds she doesn't fit in so easily. Stone has top billing, but her character seems a familiar type, and the movie is stolen, one scene at a time, by two other characters: Aibileen Clark ( Viola Davis ) and Minny Jackson ( Octavia Spencer ).

Both are maids. Aibileen has spent her life as a nanny, raising little white girls. She is very good at it, and genuinely gives them her love, although when they grow up they have an inexorable tendency to turn into their mothers. Minny is a maid who is fired by a local social leader, then hired by a white-trash blonde. Davis and Spencer have such luminous qualities that this becomes their stories, perhaps not entirely by design.

The society lady, Hilly Holbrook ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), is a relentless social climber who fires Minny after long years of service. The blonde is Celia Foote ( Jessica Chastain , from " The Tree of Life "), who is married to a well-off businessman, is desperate to please him, and knows never learned anything about being a housewife.

Minny needs a job, and is happy to work for her. Celia wants her only during the days, when her husband is away, so that he'll think he's eating her cooking and enjoying her housekeeping. Minny helps her with these tasks and many more, some heart-breaking, and fills her with realistic advice. Chastain is unaffected and infectious in her performance.

Celia doesn't listen to Minny's counsel, however, when she attends a big local charity event (for, yes, Hungry African Children), and the event provides the movie's comic centerpiece. Celia's comeuppance doesn't have much to do with the main story, but it gets a lot of big laughs. Some details about a pie seem to belong in a different kind of movie.

Skeeter convinces Aibileen and then Minny to speak frankly with her, sharing their stories, and as the book develops so does her insight and anger. A somber subplot involves the mystery of why Skeeter's beloved nanny, who worked for the family for 29 years, disappeared while Skeeter was away at school. Her mother ( Alison Janney ) harbors the secret of the nanny's disappearance, and after revealing it she undergoes a change of heart in a big late scene of redemption.

Two observations, for what they're worth. All the white people in the movie smoke. None of the black people do. There are several white men with important speaking roles, but only two black men, including a preacher, who have much to say.

There was a 1991 movie named " The Long Walk Home " that starred Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek as a maid and her employer at the time of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It had sharper edges than "The Help." But I suppose the Stockett novel has many loyal readers, and that this is the movie they imagined while reading it. It's very entertaining. Viola Davis is a force of nature and Octavia Spencer has a wonderfully expressive face and flawless comic timing. Praise, too for Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard and Alison Janney. They would have benefitted from a more fearless screenplay.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Glenn Kenny

National Anthem

Sheila o'malley.

Alien: Romulus

Brian tallerico.

Skywalkers: A Love Story

Film credits.

The Help (2011)

Rated PG-13

146 minutes

Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt

Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote

Mike Vogel as Johnny Foote

Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth

Anna Camp as Jolene French

Sissy Spacek as Missus Walters

Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark

Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson

Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook

Cicely Tyson as Constantine Jefferson

Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan

Mary Steenburgen as Elaine Stein

Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan

Written and directed by

• Tate Taylor

Based on the novel by

• Kathryn Stockett

Latest blog posts

A Woman Without Peers: Gena Rowlands (1930-2024)

The Needle Drop Sessions: Pump Up the Volume & Untamed Heart

Locarno Film Festival 2024: Youth (Hard Times), Transamazonia, Moon

Thumbnails 8/15/24: Six Must-Reads You Don’t Want To Miss This Week

52 The Help (2011)

Obstacles of difference, power, and discrimination in the help.

By Sierra Borst

The Help is a film by Dreamworks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment and was released by Touchstone Pictures on August 09, 2011. The film takes place during the segregation and Jim Crow eras in the deep south of Jackson, Mississippi. The story goes through the life of Ms. Eugenia Skeeter, who returns from college to find that her beloved maid was not in her family’s home anymore. Not knowing where the woman who basically raised her was, the maid, and seeing how all of her high school “friends” treat theirs, she makes the decision to go against the law of Mississippi to tell the stories of the lives of maids in the homes of their employers. At the start of this journey she was only able to gain one maid’s approval, but after an incident that involved a fellow maid being beaten by police, more followed to have their voices heard. When you take a deeper look into the film you’ll find that, yes, the film displays all difference, power, and discrimination of African Americans, but, when you take a step back you can see this display in the real world, in both the film and the book that sparked the film. I believe that the film is an okay attempt at telling the story of the lives of maids in the 1960s, although it is not the best at being credible or accurate because the writer of the book as well as the producers of the film are all Caucasians.

To make this connection in the film to support my belief for how the film is not an accurate picture of the lives of these African American maids, I will be using not only characters within the film but also individuals who worked on the production of the film and the writer of the book who paved the way for it. The producers of the film and writer of the novel being Caucasians are excellent examples of how the “times”  have changed, yes, but how much, how little? I will run through how the film uses a “white savior”, in the form of Eugenia Skeeter, to show how crucial it was to be Caucasian in the South, especially in Jackson, Mississippi. I will discuss the roles of the main two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minnie Jackson; Aibileen being the good, heartbroken individual with some bitterness from her time raising Caucasian children, at the expense of her own, while Minnie is a fired up and vengeful woman, who doesn’t want to show she is being beat down by her husband. The main villain, Hilly Holbrook, takes the form of a spoiled, manipulative, and conniving woman who not only runs her home with an iron fist, but also the town of Jackson.

Difference in the film can best be shown at an event to help “poor starving African American children in Africa”. You would think for a town that has so many laws and regulations against the rights of African Americans, wouldn’t want to help other or any African Americans at all, but no, in this they have a big party event, held by the malicious Hilly Holbrook herself. The event holds no remorse for its African American servants, the maids of every household, other than a “thank you to the help” remark by Hilly in the introduction of the event. The most prominent technique used in this scene is the use of lighting. The lighting differs from high-key to low-key lighting in between characters of Caucasians and African Americans, making it seem like the Caucasian individuals are better than the African Americans. In an event earlier on in the film, Hilly’s maid asked her to borrow $100 to finish off one of her two sons’ college costs, stating how she would work off the debt. Hilly remarked that it would be a loan and how she is simply not a bank. She tells the maid that it would not work out and how she was doing her a favor by not lending her the money because it wouldn’t be Christian-like to hand out money to people who could work for it. The way the producers portrayed these two scenes showed how they wanted the maids to be seen as charity cases. In the book, New Brutality Film: Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema , Paul Gormley states how Hollywood films portrayed African Americans for the sole purpose of “reanimating the affective impact of white Hollywood cinema by miming the power of African Americans.” This source shows how Hollywood has countlessly done this to impose a difference, even in the present, between Caucasians and African Americans.

Power, both in the film’s world and the real world while creating the film is relevant. The most obvious source of offscreen power goes to all three of the Caucasian male producers. Analyzing how our textbook, America On Film: Representing Race, Class Gender and Sexuality At The Movies , shows us how the Hollywood film Industry is “dominated” by Causcasian males, further shows how this film is also made by the majority about a specific “minority”. On-screen power can be shown not only by the main character, Skeeter by her being the only Caucasian woman who wants to speak up for the African American maids (along with African Americans all together), but also by Hilly. In the film, she holds a lot of power in the Jackson community, even in matters such as separate bathrooms in the Caucasian community specifically for their African American maids so they don’t catch any of their “diseases” (because we all know that diseases are only caught depending on the color of your skin). The best way the film shows the expression of power is in Hilly’s attire or “costumes”. Hilly is always dressed to impress throughout the film, besides one of the end scenes when the book by Skeeter, Ailbileen, and Minny was released. This shows that the producers wanted to show how crucial she was to the town of Jackson, how she was the role model for all Jackson women, of course, Caucasian Jackson women, and how she was the woman to be. In the movie review, “ The Help : Film Review,” Kirk Honeycutt analyzes the power Hilly has on Jackson women, including her friends like Elizabeth Leefolt, Aibileen’s employer.  He states that Aibileen is the example of “deferential politeness with a “ma’m” at the end of every utterance” but with a closer look or analysis you’ll find an individual “who suffers abuse at the hand of white employers” such as Elizabeth and Hilly themselves.

Over the course of the film, discrimination is both direct and indirect toward African American. The film is based in the 1960s which was consistently revolving around Jim Crow laws; the most famous one in the film being how Caucasian and African Americans can be “separate but equal” when this clearly was not close to the truth. This is a great example of how discrimination was indirect throughout the film because African Americans were still considered “equal” when separated, even though that wasn’t the reality. A way the film expresses direct discrimination toward African Americans is a scene with Aibileen when she is on her way home from work and is on the bus when something happens with the police involving an African American who had been shot. The bus is stopped and the driver demands that every colored person get off the bus, while the Caucasians are allowed to stay safe on the bus. Between these scenes the film technique used is mostly the sound, specifically of sirens, while you see Aibileen fearfully running toward her home, so afraid of what may happen she trips over herself in the process.

During casting, it is a possibility that there was discrimination. Considering that Hollywood has a background in this department I would not be surprised if there was, whether it be wanting a “specific type of African American” or considering blackface in the film (which has happened in movies as late as 2005). Although the film does try to portray the view “Yes, racism is vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people are bad” states Roger Ebert in his film review, The Help keep right on helping. In an encyclopedia article on segregation expert in Social Welfare History and Civil Rights David H. Jackson states how in Mississippi there were “a few blacks who participated in the political system during early Jim Crow years” but “they were still segregated within the party” and regularly “clashed with its lily-white counterpart(s)” showing how the phrase “separate but equal” was a virtue to the south instead of what it truly was, discrimination.

The book, Narratives of Women Who Worked as Maids During the Civil Rights Era (2012), by Katherine van Wormer, an expert in Social Welfare History and Civil Rights, provides a more accurate source based on true events and stories from women who were working as maids in the same time period as the film, The Help . The narrative, including gathering extensive information and having African American maids from the region of Mississippi get interviewed, took around a couple of years to complete. They collected about 40-50 interviews of women who were maids in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. She explains how segregation was a continuance of a form of slavery; sharecropping replaced slavery in the fields while maids replaced servants in the home. Although they were allowed to quit, move away, or find nicer Caucasian employers. She states that their goal in writing this book was to “preserve the unique history of southern oppression and of how a race of people survived so that future generations will know and understand” which is exactly what the narrative achieves.

There are many reasons behind why I chose the film, The Help . For starters, I believed the film was notorious for all of the actors’ and actresses’ performances. They made you either root for or despise that specific character, and some prompted you to encourage them to change for the sake of themselves and their family. These can be seen through Skeeter’s mother especially, at first you think she is a bad person for firing her lovely maid of over 17 years only to impress the presence of “important” Caucasians, but, after reading Skeeters, Aibileen’s and Minny’s book she changes, and even stands up to Hilly’s racism and discrimination. I also thought that this film would be a perfect choice to analyze and discuss because I believe that similar things are happening in the present. These things that are happening can include many things, but at the very core, it’s still wrong and will be seen as wrong years or decades from now.  But at the moment it is “socially acceptable”. There were a few films I was contemplating about doing but in the end, I believed that this was the right choice to bring attention to and analyze.

Though an inaccurate depiction of African American maids in the 1960s, on Hollywood’s part, they did provide tremendous acting performances. Even though the producers tried to portray the lives of these women and their emotions, they did not succeed. The viewpoint was in the perspective of Caucasian men, not African American maids (or even relatives of maids) in the Segregation and Jim Crow era. Overall, I think it proves that African American history, as well as culture, is being “white-washed” in our society today, causing their past to be practically erased from history. Although, this is happening to almost every culture, ethnicity, and race being either “white-washed”, used for media/promotion purposes and being exploited all while individuals still show hate about the same things they’re experiencing from other cultures.

Ebert, Roger. “The Help Movie Review & Film Summary (2011): Roger Ebert.” The Help Movie Review & Film Summary (2011) | Roger Ebert, 9 Aug. 2011, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-help-2011

Gormley, Paul. The New-Brutality Film: Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Intellect, 2005. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/linnbenton-ebooks/reader.action?docID=282974

Honeycutt, Kirk. “’The Help’: Film Review.” The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Aug. 2018, www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/help-film-review-219915/

H. Jackson, David. “Segregation.” Mississippi Encyclopedia, Center for Study of Southern Culture, 15 Apr. 2018, https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/segregation/

Wormer, Katherine Van, and July. “Maid Narratives.” Social Welfare History Project, 14 Mar. 2018, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/maids-narratives/

Difference, Power, and Discrimination in Film and Media: Student Essays Copyright © by Students at Linn-Benton Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

by Kathryn Stockett

The help themes, race and racism.

Racism manifests in the lives of the black maids in a number of ways: they are denied opportunities for educational or professional advancement, they perform repetitive work for white families, they must curtail their speech to prevent violence, and they must use separate facilities. Perhaps most damaging of all, black people are constantly exposed to social messages telling them that they are dirty, lazy, and in all respects less than white people.

Even the way the book is written hearkens back to this central theme. When writing from the perspective of the black maids Aibileen and Minny, Stockett uses an antiquated form of speech. While this is meant to lend authenticity to their voices, it also makes them sound uneducated and makes it somewhat difficult to relate to them.

The Help also suggests that it is possible to cross this racial divide. In addition to anecdotes about rude or abusive employers, we hear stories of maids who have very close relationships with the white families for whom they work. Through her efforts to be a mouthpiece for the black maids of Jackson, Skeeter develops a close friendship with Aibileen and Minny. It's possible, through effort and understanding, to begin to heal the wounds of racism.

Mothers and Daughters

Mothers and daughters have difficult but deeply loving relationships. The Help examines several different types of mother-daughter relationships.

Elizabeth Leefolt has a strained relationship with her mother, who is aloof and demanding; she continues this unhealthy dynamic by being neglectful and critical of her own daughter, Mae Mobley . There's also an indication that mother-daughter relationships are not necessarily dependent on blood ties. For example, Aibileen acts as a mother to Mae Mobley, not only taking care of her day-to-day needs but also teaching her to be kind to others and to always have respect for herself.

Skeeter has a difficult but loving relationship with her mother, who is constantly pressuring her daughter to dress better and catch a man. Skeeter later discovers that this critical edge is tempered by love; her mother has cancer, and she wants to make sure her daughter has a good life after she is gone. Though Skeeter's mother often bosses her daughter, she also stands up for her at critical moments, such as during her conflicts with Hilly and Stuart.

Love and Friendship

The Help takes a close look at many types of love, some of them unlikely and fraught with difficulties. The close bond between black caretakers and white children (Aibileen and Mae Mobley, as well as Skeeter and Constantine) show that nurturing love is not limited to blood relationships. As we see later in the book, this bond is often unfairly complicated by the strictures of a racist society.

Because of her new consciousness regarding race, Skeeter causes a rupture in her friendships with Hilly and Elizabeth Leefolt. Through a series of events (the discovery of the Jim Crow materials, the toilet prank, Hilly's comment about Stuart), these lifelong friendships are torn apart. But we also see how new friendships can emerge out of the ashes of old ones: it is Aibileen and Minny with whom Skeeter celebrates her new job in New York City.

The novel also focuses on different types of romantic love. Despite his affection for Skeeter, Stuart cannot get over the betrayal of his fiancée, Patricia van Devender, and his attempts to build a new relationship with Skeeter continuously fail. On the other hand, Celia and Johnny have a deeply loving relationship, triumphing over class differences, infertility, and social disapproval.

A Writer's Life

What does it mean to be a writer? The journey to publish the book is not an easy one. After an initial stroke of luck in catching Elaine Stein 's attention, Skeeter struggles to develop her ideas, conduct interviews, write the book, and find a publisher. Each step is fraught with difficulties; for example, she must complete the book in only a few weeks in order to send it in for the annual editor's meeting. Skeeter spends many long nights typing until her hands are covered with ink and paper cuts, but she ultimately prevails.

Skeeter is not the only prospective writer in the book. Despite her academic excellence, Aibileen was forced to drop out of school to support her family. However, she writes down her prayers every day, continuing to build her skills in writing. Assisting Skeeter with the book about the maids gives her the chance to showcase her writing skills, and she eventually becomes the first black author of the Miss Myrna column. At the end of the novel, she thinks about developing her writing career even more.

Being a Woman

The varying difficulties faced by women constitute another major theme in the book. In the workplace, Minny struggles with the possibility of being fired due to her outspoken personality; at home, she is violently abused by her husband. Aibileen must cope with the sorrow of her son's untimely death at the same time that she tries to support the neglected Mae Mobley. Skeeter is struggling with a world that does not value her professional ambitions and tries to force her into the narrow roles of wife and mother. Celia Foote deals with a series of miscarriages and her social isolation, which is worsened by her desire to be a capable wife to her beloved husband. Each of these women struggle to overcome these difficulties, but they also forge close bonds with other women over shared problems.

Doing the Right Thing

Even when everything in the world is trying to tell you what to do and what to believe, you need to make your own path. The central protagonists recognize that the current state of race relations is wrong, and work to correct it. Aibileen strives to teach racial equality and acceptance to Mae Mobley. Minny persists in working on the book about the maids despite the danger it puts her in with her own husband and Hilly. Skeeter continues working towards racial justice despite the rift it causes between her and her two best friends.

Southern Values

The Help is a window onto the mid-century south, giving the reader vivid impressions of the beautiful landscapes and warm culture. This includes positive qualities such as friendliness and generosity; we see these close social ties in the ways that family members treat one another. Yet it also includes racism, segregation, and misogyny, which are evident in the violent enforcement of the separation between races, and the lack of professional options for white women.

The Help Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Help is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What Page number is this quote on?

Page numbers differ depending on the copy you have.

Back Home by Emma Stewart 

B-establish the setting of the story

What is the conclution of the drama?

In the final chapter, all three of the main characters (Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen) are poised on the edge of a great change in their lives. Skeeter's new beginning is a bit more promising than that of the others; though she cannot publicly...

Study Guide for The Help

The Help study guide contains a biography of Kathryn Stockett, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Help
• The Help Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Help

The Help essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

• Devastation Through Segregation
• Internalized language stereotypes within The Help
• The Problem of Female Identity: Restrictive Gender Constructs in 'The Help' and in Plath's Poetry
• Trauma and Racism: 'The Help' as Understood in Print, in Film, and in Scholarly Sources
• Challenging Behaviors and the Audience

Lesson Plan for The Help

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Help
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Help Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Help

• Introduction

Segregation in “The Help” Film by Tate Taylor Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

The film The Help (2011) was a story about the problem of segregation in American society of the 1950s and 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement of Blacks had just begun to appear. This period was a turning point for the US citizens faced with the past echoes when racial discrimination was prevailing in the society. Now it is hard to imagine that in modern society, there are slaveholding relations between citizens; however, echoes of the past racial discrimination sometimes still appear. For people not to forget a story that was filled with human suffering, there are reminders of that terrible events, and one of such racial reminders is the movie The Help .

The film was created on the basis of the novel written by the American writer Catherine Stockett. Before the book was published, many publishers refused to cooperate with its writer. However, when the novel was published, it immediately became popular among the population and was translated into three languages. At the time of the film’s release, about 5 million copies had already been sold. The film was directed by a longtime friend of Catherine, Tate Taylor. As soon as he learned about writing a book with such a story, he immediately expressed his interest in obtaining rights for the film adaptation of this novel. Catherine, of course, could not refuse her friend and immediately gave her consent. However, she insisted that secured and apparently prosperous white ladies should be depicted in the movie as hypocritical, mediocre, and inhuman creatures. In contrast to them, black maids are shown as honest, skillful, and kind-hearted people. Accordingly, the film changes black and white in places, making it clear who is positive and who is the negative hero in the picture.

In essence, I chose this specific movie because it is tightly connected with the issue of racial discrimination against females in the United States. In the 1960s in America, the issue of desegregation among the population was very acute. Measures were taken to eradicate racial discrimination and equalize rights between all citizens of the country, regardless of skin color. However, the movie touches not only the problems of racial discrimination but also the role of women in society and the attitudes towards children. The film takes place in the small town of Jackson, Mississippi. The main female heroine, journalist Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, arrives at her home after graduating from the university. She finds out that the maid Konstantin, who worked all her life in their house, is gone. Skeeter was very attached to her since it was Konstantin who was engaged in her upbringing throughout the entire period of growing up. The girl’s mother explains that the maid quit of her own free will, but Skeeter does not believe her. Having tripled to work in a local newspaper and talking with the residents of the city, the girl becomes more and more aware of the problem of segregation, which affects Black society. Wanting to influence this situation somehow and restore justice, Skeeter decides to write a book where the maids could tell about everything they have to deal with in their work.

Later on, the idea of the main female heroine, Skeeter, is supported by Aibileen, a black woman who has worked all her life for white people, raising their children. Her friend Minnie is at first skeptical of this venture, knowing the consequences of such revelations. However, after a conflict with the mistress, Minnie also decides to tell her story for the book. Subsequently, they are joined by other black maids who uncover the stories of racial and social discrimination. This film is a feminine look at the 60s, where there are almost no men, and if they appear, then only to drink whiskey, say rudeness, and then go back to work. Of course, other classic themes emerge in the film: the relationship between parents and children, the problem of education, the emptiness of high life. All these topics, thanks to the skill of the director, turn into an incredible and touching movie that cannot be missed. It might seem to many individuals that the central theme of social inequality is not relevant today. However, if they look closely, they can see that we live in a world of inequality. This means that the problems raised in the film are close and understandable to anyone who has ever faced injustice.

All in all, the film The Help is another attempt by the cinema to show how much cruelty survived black people and to uncover the problems of racial discrimination and the humiliation of human rights. The theme of racial discrimination raised by the main female heroine, Skeeter, shown in the movie can hardly leave the viewers indifferent. The disclosure of the main characters helps sympathize with the heroes, imbue their problems, and share their emotions. The combination of comedy and drama in the film is so successful that the review of the movie becomes a total joy, letting the viewers plunge into the atmosphere of those times. Thus, The Help is an amazingly warm, humane, and dramatic novel, which has become one of the leading literary events of 2011 year, not only in the US but also in the whole world.

• Disney’s Remaking of Classics into Live-Action Films
• "Saving Private Ryan" Film Overview
• Lionel Tate vs. The King’s Brothers: Criminal Cases
• Empathy and Racism in Stockett's The Help and Li's To Kill a Mockingbird
• Architecture: Tate Modern
• "Greta" (2018): A Thriller by Neil Jordan
• "In This Corner of the World" Film by Katabuchi
• Aladdin Movie Critique by National Public Radio
• Hunting, Death, and Free Will: "No Country for Old Men" by the Coen Brothers
• Contemporary American Cinema: Dominant Theme and Philosophy
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, June 6). Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor. https://ivypanda.com/essays/segregation-in-the-help-film-by-tate-taylor/

"Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor." IvyPanda , 6 June 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/segregation-in-the-help-film-by-tate-taylor/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor'. 6 June.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor." June 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/segregation-in-the-help-film-by-tate-taylor/.

1. IvyPanda . "Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor." June 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/segregation-in-the-help-film-by-tate-taylor/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Segregation in "The Help" Film by Tate Taylor." June 6, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/segregation-in-the-help-film-by-tate-taylor/.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

• An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
• Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times. — Walt Disney Pictures
• Jackson, Mississippi, 1963. With the Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation, budding journalist Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan returns to her hometown after graduation. But the vibrant, good-hearted white woman doesn't come home empty-handed: Skeeter has come up with the radical idea to interview local black maids and tell their side of the story in her book, a collection of their distressing, moving stories. As Skeeter gradually wins the cooperation of the fearful African-American housekeepers to dish the dirt on the upper-crust southern families, she inevitably locks horns with bigoted community leaders, arrogant childhood friends, and her family. However, nothing can stop the winds of change--not even the assassination of American civil rights activist Medgar Evers . — Nick Riganas
• Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) is a middle-aged African American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son. Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) is another African American maid and Aibileen's best friend whose outspokenness has gotten her fired a number of times; she has built up a reputation for being a difficult employee, but she makes up for this with her phenomenal cooking skills. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is a young white woman who has recently moved back home to her family's plantation after graduating from the University of Mississippi to find that her beloved childhood maid, Constantine (Cicely Tyson), has quit while she was away. Skeeter is skeptical, because she believes Constantine would not have left without writing to her. Unlike her friends, who attended university to find husbands (and are now all married and having children), Skeeter is single, has a degree, and wants to begin a career as a writer. Her first job is as a "homemaker hints" columnist in the local paper. With Constantine gone, Skeeter asks Aibileen, the maid to her good friend Elizabeth (Ahna O'Reilly), for her help in answering domestic questions. Skeeter becomes uncomfortable with the attitude her friends have towards their "help," especially Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her "Home Help Sanitation Initiative", a proposed bill to provide for separate toilets for African American help because she believes (as she puts it) that " African Americans carry different diseases to white people." Amidst the era of discrimination based on color, Skeeter is one of the few who believe otherwise, and she decides to write a book based on the lives of the maids who have spent their entire lives taking care of white children. The maids are at first reluctant to talk to Skeeter, because they are afraid that they will lose their jobs or worse. Aibileen is the first to share her stories, after she overhears Hilly's initiative, and realizes that the children whom she has been raising are growing up to be just like their parents. Her friend Minny has just been fired as Hilly's maid as a punishment for Minny using the bathroom during a thunderstorm (revealed by Aibileen to have spawned a tornado and killed eighteen people: ten white, eight African American), instead of going to use the separate outdoor toilet. Hilly poisons all the other families against Minny, making it impossible for her to find other work, and her daughter is forced to drop out of school to find a job as a maid. Minny initially declines to participate in Skeeter's book research, but later agrees to share her stories. Aibileen helps her find work with Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), who is married to a rich socialite (Mike Vogel) but is an outcast from the other society ladies (as influenced by Hilly), because she was born into a working-class family and her husband is Hilly's ex-boyfriend. Also, unlike Hilly, Celia treats Minny with respect. Skeeter writes a draft of the book, with Minny and Aibileen's stories in it, and sends it to Miss Stein (Mary Steenburgen), an editor for Harper & Row in New York City, New York. Miss Stein thinks there may be some interest in it but requires at least a dozen more maids' contributions before it can become a viable book. Believing that the book will only be publishable during the Civil Rights movement, which she believes is a passing fad, Stein advises Skeeter to finish the book soon. No one comes forward, until Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi, and Hilly's latest maid is brutally arrested (for attempting to pawn one of Hilly's rings, to pay for her twins' college tuition, after Hilly had refused to give her a loan). With racial tensions running high, the maids realize that Skeeter's book will give them an opportunity for their voices to be heard, and Skeeter suddenly has numerous stories to include. Minny shares one last story with Skeeter and Aibileen, which she calls the "Terrible Awful," to ensure that no one will reveal that the book was written about Jackson, Mississippi. As revenge for being fired and accused of stealing, Minny bakes a chocolate pie and delivers it to Hilly. After Hilly has finished two slices, Minny informs her that she has baked her own feces into the pie. Minny tells Aibileen and Skeeter that if they add that part into the book, Hilly will try to prevent anyone from figuring out that she made her eat human feces and will convince the town that the book is not about Jackson. The book is almost finished, except for Skeeter's own story of being brought up by Constantine. Skeeter manages to find out what had happened to Constantine, when her mother, Charlotte (Allison Janney), finally explains that she reluctantly fired her in order to save face during a reception. Soon afterwards, feeling guilty about the incident since the Phelans are quite close to their help, Charlotte had sent Skeeter's brother to bring Constantine home from Chicago, Illinois, where she was living with her daughter Rachel, but he discovered that she had died, not long after leaving Jackson. However, Constantine's daughter forgives them knowing that the family they served genuinely love them. The book is accepted for publication and is a success, much to the delight of Skeeter and the maids. She shares her royalties with each of the maids who contributed and is offered a job with a publishing company in New York City. She tells her boyfriend about the job and the book. Revolted by her ideas of racial equality, he immediately breaks up with her. Later in the afternoon, Hilly hatches a plan to get rid of Aibileen as Elizabeth's help, by falsely accusing her of stealing silver. Elizabeth tries to defend Aibileen, but to no avail. Aibileen denounces Hilly as a godless woman and tells her that she will never have peace if she continues her vindictive ways, leaving her in limbo. As Aibileen tries to convince Hilly and Elizabeth of her innocence, Elizabeth's daughter, Mae Mobley, arrives and pleads with her not to go. Elizabeth is forced to accept the firing of Aibileen, and Mae Mobley cries by the window, shouting for Aibileen as she leaves to start a new life.

Contribute to this page

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

The Help Film Analysis

The Help film is a period drama directed by Tate Taylor. The film presents Emma Stone as a young white woman who becomes inspired to write a book about the experiences of African-American maids who work for white families in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963 (Taylor, 2011). The film is a homage to the maids who persevered despite facing prejudice, discrimination, and terrible treatment at the hands of their employers. The video draws attention to the injustice of segregation in society and the emotional relationships between the maids and the children they raise. Adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s bestseller, the film stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone in standout performances. The film portrays the hardships and victories of these housekeepers in a compelling and involved way, despite being a feel-good fable that deals with grief without being too unpleasant. In this paper, I present how I first reacted to the film, The Help, which ended prematurely. Secondly, I discuss Taylor’s images throughout the film: cigarettes, food, and clothing and their symbolism. This paper then explores the three-act structure of The Help Film and the chronological order in which Taylor developed The Help film. I analyze in this paper the social and political issues when the film was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. This paper brings to light how the biographical understanding of Taylor, the film’s creator, affects how I view the film. I used the Queer, Structuralist, and Marxist Film Theories to analyze The Help film. The paper also presents how the film scene represents the movie’s theme, The Help. Finally, I discuss my takeaways, conclusions, and recommendations from The Help film.

My First Reaction

While watching The Help film, I was deeply touched by the plight of the Help’s characters, notably Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, two housekeepers whose shining talents steal the show in every scene they appear in. Skeeter Phelan, a recent college grad who finds she doesn’t fit in so easily back at home, is a character I felt some kinship with. I was thrilled for Skeeter and her mother and for Celia Foote, the white woman who gave Minny a job after she was let go by the town matron. When viewing the film, I thought it was a relatively safe depiction of a potentially tricky topic. It touches on racism without delving into the harsh realities of the issue. The film presents a soothing message, showing that not all white people are evil. For example, a sequence featuring a pie seems out of place and more suited to a different kind of film. The acting is superb, and the picture is entertaining throughout. It’s an uplifting tale of strength under fire that pays tribute to the humanity and worth of African-American housekeepers in the South. But I came away from it feeling like the story was unfinished, that the fight against racism continues, and that the resolution was partial.

There are a variety of images that appear several times in the film,  The Help . The images include cigarettes, food, and clothing. Among the characters in the movie, none of the black community characters smokes, yet every white person in the film smokes. Meanwhile, Minny, one of the maids, uses a pie as a metaphor for defiance and power. Tate Taylor, who directed  The Help , gives each of the characters little signifiers like favourite colours, foods, and phrases they frequently use to describe themselves.

In contrast to Minny, who wears bright colours and is a skilled cook, Aibileen, one of the maids, is typically seen in muted hues and is connected with cooking and rearing children. Furthermore, Skeeter’s penchant for donning white represents her innocence, whereas Celia Foote’s penchant for donning pink represents her femininity. Throughout  The Help , the characters’ ties are illustrated through the interconnectedness of various symbols and items. One example is that Minny’s pie is a sign of defiance, strength, and courage when she feeds it to her old employer. A subsequent exposure reveals that Minny’s poo was baked into the pie as an act of defiance against her prejudiced boss (Taylor, 2011). Celia Foote, a white woman who treats Minny with care and respect, hires Minny when she is fired because of the pie. Throughout, the film uses various symbols and items to show the characters’ relationships to issues of race, class, and gender in the South during the Jim Crow era.

The film’s plot,  The Help , is organized into three acts in terms of structure. The first act presents the setup, where the protagonists, antagonists, and significant plot points are established. Fresh out of university, Skeeter Phelan moves back in with her parents to pursue a career in writing. Amid the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, Mississippi, she was inspired to pen a book about the experiences of African-American housemaids. Skeeter persuades two housekeepers, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson, to tell her their tales in Act Two’s Confrontation. The book’s storytelling adds suspense and drama as the maids risk their jobs and lives by speaking up. In Act Three, “Resolution,” the book is finally published, and the public learns about the maids’ experiences. Skeeter also has an epiphany when she discovers the truth about her nanny’s absence (Taylor, 2011). The film celebrates the bravery and grace of African-American maids in the South and the transformational power of storytelling. Still, it does not reveal much progress in the city’s racist social system.

The events in  The Help  film take place in a reasonable progression, and the story is narrated in chronological order. However, some of the characters’ histories are revealed through flashbacks. The film uses flashbacks to display essential plot points, such as Skeeter’s background and her relationship with her maid Constantine Bates. The flashbacks enrich the characters and their connections by providing background information. The video also uses juxtaposition to emphasize the disparities in treatment between whites and blacks in the United States. An event benefiting “poor and starving African American children in Africa” is shown in the video, sponsored by a white woman (Hilary Holbrook) (Taylor, 2011). Black women work and wait for staff, and the event is depicted in muted tones to emphasize the inequality of treatment the workers face. The film’s overall story presentation employs several stylistic devices that highlight the disparity in power and discrimination experienced by African Americans and Caucasian Southerners during the segregation and Jim Crow eras.

There are several protagonists and antagonists in  The Help film . Eugenia Skeeter, the protagonist, returns home from college to discover that her family’s longtime maid has left. Skeeter decides to break Mississippi law and reveal the experiences of maids in their employers’ homes since she cannot find the woman who essentially reared her. Only one of the maids initially agreed with her, but after witnessing a coworker brutally assaulted by cops, many more joined her cause. There are two more essential maids in the film besides Skeeter: Aibileen Clark and Minnie Jackson. Minnie is a heated and spiteful woman who does not want to show that her husband is beating her down. At the same time, Aibileen is portrayed as a kind, sorrowful individual with some bitterness from her time rearing Caucasian children at her own expense. The film’s antagonist, Hilly Holbrook, is portrayed as a spoiled, manipulative, and cunning woman who rules her household and the city of Jackson with an iron grip. The video follows these individuals as they grow and change in the face of prejudice, inequality, and other forms of oppression. Skeeter learns about the abuses endured by maids and risks her life to expose the problem. Through her personal growth, Aibileen encourages other housekeepers to share their stories. Minnie gains the courage to leave her violent husband after learning to stand up for herself. While the maids may have made some progress, Hilly has kept her mind and continues to be a source of tyranny for them.

The Help film presents themes of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation as social and political problems. The film follows Ms. Eugenia Skeeter as she returns from college to find her beloved maid who has gone missing in Jackson, Mississippi, during the segregation and Jim Crow eras. She then breaks Mississippi law by publishing accounts of maids’ experiences in their employers’ houses. Skeeter is shown as a white savior who saves the day for white people in the South, specifically in Jackson, Mississippi.

Secondly, The Help film depicts racism, prejudice, and a power dynamic between whites and African Americans. The villain, Hilly Holbrook, hosts a charity event for poor, starving African American children in Africa (Taylor, 2011). Hilly, however, does not give the maids in any of the participating households a second thought beyond a token “thank you for the help” in his opening remarks. Characters of Caucasian and African American descent are lit differently, creating the impression that the former is superior. The film’s creator portrayed the maids as charity cases, furthering the stereotype that white people are better off than black people.

Thirdly, power is significant both in the film’s fictional universe and in the real world where the film was made. When you consider that Caucasian guys make up the majority in Hollywood, you can see that this film is likewise produced by the majority about a specific “minority.” The film’s two significant housekeepers, Aibileen Clark, and Minnie Jackson, demonstrate their authority alongside its protagonist, Skeeter (Taylor, 2011). Aibileen is shown as a decent, sorrowful person who harbors some animosity about the years she spent caring for Caucasian children at her own expense. At the same time, Minnie is portrayed as a fired-up, resentful lady who hides the fact that her husband is abusing her. The antagonist, Hilly Holbrook, is a spoiled, manipulative, and cunning woman who exerts total control over her household and the entire city of Jackson. The movie paints an inaccurate and stereotypical view of the lives of African Americans in the service industry. It makes one wonder how much “times” have changed when the book’s author and film’s producers are Caucasians. The film tries to depict the lives of maids in the 1960s, but it fails miserably at being believable or authentic. Although it makes social and political commentary by questioning African Americans’ experiences of difference, power, and discrimination, the film also reinforces stereotypes and the perception that African Americans and Caucasians are fundamentally different.

How we perceive a film can change depending on our knowledge of its biographical creators and the historical context in which it was made. The movie “The Help” tells the true story of a young white woman whom African-American maids inspired in the South during the Jim Crow era to write a bestseller about them. The video effectively illustrates the horror and cruelty of racism, but it fails to convey the genuine anguish endured by the maids it portrays. Familiarizing with the film’s makers facilitates understanding its perspective and the historical context in which it was made. The fact that the film’s director, Tate Taylor, is a native of Mississippi, where it is set, sheds light on his investment in the story and how that may have informed his treatment of the characters and their circumstances. The story’s significance and effect on society can be better understood by considering the historical context of the civil rights struggle and literature’s role in raising consciousness about social injustices. Overall, we can better appreciate the film and its depiction of race and prejudice in America if we have a biographical understanding of the film’s authors and their historical time.

I examined The film  The Help  through the lenses of Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, and Marxist Film Theory. Structuralist Theory attempts to deconstruct a movie into its parts, while Queer Theory focuses on exploring themes of sexuality, power, and identity. On the other hand, Marxist Film Theory analyzes how movies both reflect and strengthen existing power structures. When discussing  The Help  film, each theory provides its distinctive take on its core ideas and themes. The film’s depiction of the interaction between African-American maids and their white employers can be better comprehended with the aid of Queer Theory. The video exemplifies how the maids are shown in Queer Theory’s fundamental issue of power dynamics: the struggle for control (Acadia, 2021, n.p). It also shows how racism in the United States shapes the identities and sexual orientations of African-Americans. Hilly Holbrook’s character and her homophobic actions in the film are symbolic of the prejudice and oppression that gay and lesbian persons in the South endured in the 1960s.

Examining the film through the lens of structuralist theory can shed light on how its various parts come together to form a cohesive whole. The story unfolds in a non-traditional order, with events from the individuals’ pasts revealed through flashbacks. This format effectively builds tension and mystery and highlights character connections (Chatman, 2022, p.13). Intense close-ups and other close-ups assist in expressing the characters’ feelings and add to the film’s intimate atmosphere. These methods provide a fascinating story that holds the audience’s attention.

The Marxist film theory sheds light on how motion pictures mirror and support existing power structures (Fedorov & Levitskaya, 2022, p.78). The video depicts the hardships faced by African-American maids who serve white families with high incomes, drawing attention to the chasm in socioeconomic level between the two groups. The film also demonstrates how African-Americans were relegated to domestic labor due to the lack of employment prospects brought on by the era’s social and economic climate. The film also shows how problems of economic and social exploitation are linked to the servants’ fights.

In this case, Hilly Holbrook is the one who has organized a fundraiser to help the “poor starving African American children in Africa.” The picture depicts the segregation and Jim Crow era in Jackson, Mississippi, and the disparities, power relations, and prejudice between whites and blacks at the time (Taylor, 2011). This scene illustrates the white characters’ duplicity and lack of depth toward African Americans. This incident exemplifies how the town’s Caucasian residents care more about their reputation than the safety of the African Americans who serve as their maids, making it possible for them to live comfortably. The scene’s lighting contrasts the Caucasians and the African Americans so starkly that it is easy to conclude that the former is superior. The sequence symbolizes the film’s overarching theme, African Americans’ struggle against the barriers of diversity, power, and prejudice during the Jim Crow era. This sequence is used to make a more significant statement on the necessity of standing up to discrimination and achieving equality for all people in the film, with a particular focus on the experiences of African Americans. Specifically, the scene emphasizes how significant being Caucasian was in the South, particularly in Jackson, Mississippi, during this period.

I analyzed  The Help film  and developed the following takeaways, conclusions, and recommendations. First,  The Help film  exemplifies the transformative power of narrative in altering one’s outlook on life. Skeeter’s novel gave a voice to the previously unheard maids and exposed many minds to the injustices experienced by African-Americans. Secondly , The Help film  also shows the tenacity and determination of African-Americans through one of the most challenging periods in American history. They could stay together and help one another through the hardships they endured. Thirdly,  The Help  film is a sobering reminder of how far we have come and still have to go in America regarding race relations. We must keep up the fight against racism because it persists in modern society. Fourthly, the value of compassion and comprehension is also emphasized throughout the film. Skeeter was able to write her book because she empathized with the maids and took the time to learn about their lives. She was able to unite the two groups and effect change via her efforts. Ultimately, The Help shows how much friendship and human connection can accomplish. Despite their differences, Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny formed a strong company via their shared experiences and transformative experiences. Finally, The Help is a fantastic film that makes crucial points about racism, friendship, and the value of tales. It’s a sobering reminder of how far we’ve come and how much further there has to go. This film is essential viewing for anybody seeking a deeper understanding of the nuances of race in contemporary America.

Acadia, L. (2021). Queer theory. In  Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature .

Chatman, S. (2022). On the formalist-structuralist theory of character.  Journal of literary semantics ,  51 (s1), 1-23.

Fedorov, A., & Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical Concepts of Film Studies in Cinema Art Journal: 1945–1955.  International Journal of Media and Information Literacy ,  7 (1), 71-109.

Taylor, T. (2011).  The Help . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Related Essays

Music composers and promoters, the effects of islamic revolution, coward and the war novel: the wars comparison, the life of martin luther king jr., exploring the complex character of doctor faustus, analysis of charles colson speech, popular essay topics.

• American Dream
• Artificial Intelligence
• Black Lives Matter
• Bullying Essay
• Career Goals Essay
• Causes of the Civil War
• Child Abusing
• Civil Rights Movement
• Community Service
• Cultural Identity
• Cyber Bullying
• Death Penalty
• Depression Essay
• Domestic Violence
• Freedom of Speech
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Human Trafficking
• I Believe Essay
• Immigration
• Importance of Education
• Israel and Palestine Conflict
• Leadership Essay
• Legalizing Marijuanas
• Mental Health
• National Honor Society
• Police Brutality
• Pollution Essay
• Racism Essay
• Romeo and Juliet
• Same Sex Marriages
• Social Media
• The Great Gatsby
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Time Management
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Violent Video Games
• What Makes You Unique
• Why I Want to Be a Nurse
• Send us an e-mail

71 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Before You Read

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-13

Chapters 14-18

Chapters 19-22

Chapters 23-26

Chapters 27-29

Chapters 30-34

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

The Help is a 2009 novel by American novelist Kathryn Stockett. Set during the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, it focuses on the lives of Black maids working in white households during the civil rights movement. Praised for its unflinching depiction of the lives of these women combined with a pointed sense of humor, The Help went on to be a massive bestseller, selling over five million copies and spending more than a hundred weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. A film adaptation, directed by Stockett’s childhood friend Tate Taylor and starring Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, and Octavia Spencer, was nominated for all three performances as well as Best Picture. Exploring themes of racism and the tight bonds that form among oppressed people under those conditions, The Help has become one of the most popular modern novels dealing with the experiences of Black Americans in the South.

Plot Summary

The Help is told from a first-person perspective split among three women. Aibileen Clark is an older maid who is returning to work since her 24-year-old son Treelore died in a work accident, and she works for the Leefolt household caring for their toddler, Mae Mobley. Minny Jackson , Aibileen’s friend, is an outspoken woman who has been fired 19 times, and currently works for Mrs. Walters, the mother of the book’s villain Hilly Holbrook . However, Minny is soon let go from her job at Mrs. Walters’s and starts working for a woman named Celia Foote. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a young woman from a wealthy family that employs several African American workers on their cotton farm. She recently graduated from the University of Mississippi, and she wants to become a writer. However, her mother would prefer she settle down and get married. Skeeter is curious about the disappearance of the maid who essentially raised her, Constantine . Constantine wrote to her in college telling her she has a surprise for her, but Skeeter’s mother now says Constantine quit and won’t give her any additional information.

While trying to unravel Constantine’s disappearance, Skeeter starts to realize that the Black maids in Jackson are treated poorly. When Hilly asks Skeeter to place an advertisement in the Junior League’s newsletter advocating for people to install a separate toilet for Black workers, Skeeter doesn’t respond. Instead, she secretly approaches Aibileen and asks if she would like to help her change things in Jackson. Skeeter has the idea to write a book of interviews to capture the perspective of Jackson’s maids. Although she gets a publisher on board quickly, the maids—including Aibileen and Minny—are hesitant to speak to her, because a Black woman speaking out in the South in the early 1960s comes with life-threatening danger.

Aibileen and Minny eventually agree to help Skeeter, but the other maids in the town are unwilling to help, fearing reprisals. Skeeter starts to become increasingly outspoken about her distaste for the racial order in the town, which leads many of her friends to treat her as an outcast. Tension in the town begins to rise when one of Hilly’s maids, Yule May, is caught stealing a ring from Hilly to pay for her sons’ college tuitions. She’s arrested, and the anger over this leads many of the other maids to decide it’s worth taking the risk to tell their stories if it could create change.

Together, Skeeter and the maids collaborate on a collection of true stories about how the help in Jackson actually lives. Some stories in the book show beautiful, generous employers, but others show cruel, brutal, and racist people acting not much differently from the slave owners of old. In the course of the project, Skeeter, who grew up in privilege, begins to better understand the lives of the women who surrounded her all her life. Before the book can be completed, Skeeter must find out about Constantine’s disappearance so she can include her own story of growing up with Constantine in the book. Skeeter learns that her mother cruelly fired Constantine to save face after an incident involving Constantine’s daughter. The book is released, and the exposure of the town’s dirty laundry has a major impact on the way the people of the town are seen and the way they interact with their maids.

Featured Collections

American Literature

View Collection

Books Made into Movies

Books on Justice & Injustice

Books on U.S. History

Civil Rights & Jim Crow

Forgiveness

Sexual Harassment & Violence

Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — The Help — Review Of The Movie The Help

Review of The Movie The Help

• Categories: Movie Review The Help

About this sample

Words: 605 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 605 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Heisenberg

Verified writer

• Expert in: Entertainment

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1230 words

4 pages / 1794 words

2 pages / 982 words

3.5 pages / 1685 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on The Help

In a world where racial tensions run high and social norms dictate the boundaries between classes, Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help" introduces readers to the complex dynamics of race, class, and gender in 1960s Mississippi. [...]

In 2011, director Tate Taylor brought Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel, The Help, to the big screen. The film, set in 1960s Mississippi, follows the lives of African-American maids and their relationships with the white [...]

In the movie, The Help, the plot takes place during the 1960s in which a colored maid and a college educated white women work together to expose the poor treatment colored maids faced. This film is centered around the modern [...]

The character of Aibileen Clark in Kathryn Stockett’s novel “The Help” embodies the power of overcoming adversity and finding strength through community. As an African American maid in 1960s Mississippi, Aibileen experiences [...]

According to Robert Blauner, racism is a tendency to categorize who are culturally different in terms of their physical traits, such as skin color, hair color, texture, and eye shape (source). There are a range of films [...]

There hasn’t been a time in our society where people haven't been treated differently because of the color of their skin or because of where they stand in society. In The Help, an effort is made to separate whites and blacks in [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Kathryn Stockett

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Kathryn Stockett's The Help . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Help: Introduction

The help: plot summary, the help: detailed summary & analysis, the help: themes, the help: quotes, the help: characters, the help: symbols, the help: theme wheel, brief biography of kathryn stockett.

Historical Context of The Help

Other books related to the help.

• Full Title: The Help
• When Written: 2004-2009
• Where Written: New York City
• When Published: 2009
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Historical fiction
• Setting: Jackson, Mississippi; 1962 through 1964
• Climax: The white community’s reaction to the publication of the book.
• Antagonist: Miss Hilly Holbrook
• Point of View: First-person from the perspectives of Aibileen, Minny, and Miss Skeeter, with the exception of chapter Twenty-Five which has a third-person omniscient point of view.

Extra Credit for The Help

Legal Trouble : Ablene Cooper, a maid who worked for Stockett's brother, sued Kathyrn Stockett, claiming she used her life story without her permission and based the character of Aibileen Clark on her likeness. Stockett denies the claim and says she only spoke to Cooper on a few occasions.

And the Oscar Goes to…: Made into the 2011 blockbuster hit, the film-adaptation of The Help was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Octavia Spenser, who played the character of Minny Jackson, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.