The Help Movie Vs Book Analysis

The novel “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett and film “The Help” directed by Tate Taylor had many differences some were noticeable while others were insignificant. I believe that in order for the director to achieve variation there were changes made to hold the audience’s attention. The director’s intention was to create a well-illustrated movie that was not identical to the novel, but also not completely separate from the novel. It was important that certain scenes be changed that he may have felt would go unnoticed such as location, a description or time. I loved the book written by Kathryn Stockett it was much better than the film directed by Tate Taylor, as it allowed me to visualize and imagine each portion of the story being told. …show more content…
The novel gives you a visualization of racial prejudice, slavery and provincialism. Since this was already something Kate Stockett touched on in novel, director Tate Taylor was able to focus on bringing the story to life. The relationship between Celia Foote and Minny is so much more complex in the book, and that dynamics rather glossed down in the movie. Minny just needs a job and Celia is desperate to learn to cook, their relationship includes many instances and many more subtle nuances which are nor reflected in the movie. The relationship between Constantine and her daughter Rachel, and Skeeters mother Charlotte Phelan. In the movie Mrs. Phelan sends Constantine away simply because she is too weak to stand up to her white friends as where in the book the act is much more cruel and unwarranted. The characters in the film did not quite fit their physical descriptions as described by author Kate Stockett. Rachel is black, not high yellow as she is described in the novel. Skeeter played by Emma Stone in the movie is 5’4” and slim unlike in the novel where Skeeter is big and tall. Hilly Holbrook is slender and her appearance does not skip into sloppiness except on the occasion that she tries to confront Charlotte over Skeeter’s actions. Hilly is described in the novel as dark-haired and2 somewhat plain and stocky, her weight increasing over the course of the …show more content…
Many changes were made to the characters in their appearances as well as omissions and additions to the movie, some were noticeable as where others were fine-tuned. The story line remained the same yet some of the chronology has been switched around, the essence of the book remains wholly intact. In an effort to bring the book to film the most important chapters were recreated for the audience to finally see what they had visualized while reading. The level of harshness was not depicted in the film as many of the audience had experienced in reading the novel. Tate Taylor’s decision to make changes to the film was to avoid too much harsh criticism from the public. Many people are okay with reading a novel and visualizing the authors tone, but with film they sometimes receive a lot of backlash