A Tough Job for an Actor: The Controversy over “The Help”
A Tough Job for an Actor: The Controversy over “The Help”
By Hannah Gottlieb-Graham
Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel, The Help, has touched the hearts of readers everywhere. In fact, Stockett’s fans have fallen in love with the book so deeply that many were afraid of how the movie—released on August 10, 2011—would compare. Whether readers and movie critics think the film has proven that this amazing book has been turned into an equally wonderful movie, or that the film falls short and deals with racism in the South in a much too simple manner, this is certainly one of the more controversial films of the summer.
The story is a complicated one, taking place in Jackson, Mississippi, during the height of the struggle against racism in the ‘60s. It is told from the point of view of Eugenia (“Skeeter”) Phelan (played by Emma Stone), a young aspiring writer who is disgusted by her friends’ racist remarks and behavior towards their African-American house maids who spend hours of each day taking care of the Southern belles’ white babies more than the mothers themselves do. At first, Skeeter’s distaste is masked by a desire to be accepted by her high-society friends, but she inadvertently begins her journey towards changing the community when Hilly Holbrook, the stuck-up town busybody, strengthens her wrath against the house maids by drafting an initiative that requires White home owners to build a separate bathroom outside for the “help.”
Skeeter uses her job writing as a home advice columnist for the Jackson Journal as a way to speak with Aibileen Clark (played by Viola Davis), her friend Elizabeth’s maid. But secretly, Skeeter wants to write a book from the perspective of the help that shows how oppressive the laws in Jackson are, separating the Whites from the Blacks. After many attempts to convince Aibileen to speak about the extreme racism in Jackson, she finally interviews her and her sassy best friend, Minny Jackson (played by Octavia Spencer), along with many other maids down the road. Skeeter listens carefully and records every story told to her, horrified by the amount of hatred going around in her hometown. When Skeeter writes her book, she and the maids are faced with having to deal with the consequences of her scandalous tale—one that displeases almost every White family in Jackson.
And the White characters in the film are not the only ones displeased. Film critics from The Arizona Public and Movieline (to name a few) have described the film to be “distasteful.” Bill Goodykoontz from The Arizona Public writes, “What the film lacks is a strong point of view. The story is all over the place on that front, bouncing from one perspective to another.” Stephanie Zacharek from Movieline agrees with Goodykoontz in that the film is weak in its perspective on racism, adding, “The Help only skates along the surface of one of the most painful and violent periods in our country’s history.” However, it’s understandable that the actors may have had some trouble portraying racism to the full extent in its violence, since it was directed by Tate Taylor to be a family film.
Emma Stone said in an interview with her co-star Viola Davis, “With this [film], you want to be as responsible and respectful to the time period, to the history, and to the dialect.” Carelessness on these fronts could have led to a very strong misrepresentation of the time, or lessened the impact of the book and the message of the movie. As a young actress, Stone had her work cut out for her in playing such a serious role, having to withstand the consequences if she upset the media.
In the same interview (with Bonnie Laufer from the California Tribute), Viola Davis joked that the movie should have been titled “responsibility,” because the avid fans of the book placed so much pressure on the actors to carry out their roles with such tact and passion, while staying true to the novel. Davis stated, “We knew that it was such a huge labor of love and responsibility, so we [the cast] felt like we went through the trenches with one another.”
Davis’ love for her cast members is not only apparent in her interview, but also in the film—with such a strong connection between Skeeter and the other maids portrayed to the utmost respect. So whether you have read the book and are eager to see if this incredibly talented cast has pulled off their original characters’ roles, or you just want to see what all the controversy is about, head on over to the nearest movie theater and buy yourself a ticket to The Help.
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