In addition, one finds that Skeeter experiences personal gain from supporting the rights of the help. In Jackson white high-society, the norm is for women to marry, and their marriage and subsequent place in society determines how successful they are. Rather than relying on marriage as a means of success, Skeeter chooses to work and is resistant to marriage, even telling her mother that she does not want to get married. Meanwhile her friends see Skeeter’s job as a “the last stop before marriage” and insinuate that marriage is the apex of success for women of their status in society (The Help). However, Skeeter deviates from the traditional definition of success by pursuing success in her career rather than in society or family life, and has
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In the The Last Samurai, Cruise’s character originally takes the job to train the Samurai because he is an alcoholic in need of money and only later on develops any sympathy for the Samurai. In A Time to Kill, McConaughey character is able to gain national exposure and money for defending a black man who committed assault after his daughter was raped. In The Blind Side, Bullock takes in a black homeless teenager and benefits from his athletic ability, helping him improve his football skills and even leading the boy to play for her alma mater. Thus, other white saviors have double motives and become the heroes of the stories concerning people of …show more content…
As Roger Ebert puts it simply, the film says “yes, racism is vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people are bad” (Ebert, 2011). As seen in the history of Oscar Best Actress winners and the white male director of The Help, gender and racial disparities still exist in American society. Another implicit motive of the movie can be seen in the results of its release on Greenwood, Mississippi, the site where the movie was filmed: tourists often bypass multiple famous historical sites in the Civil Rights Movement to take the “The Help” tour to see “Skeeter’s farm” “Hilly’s house,” the Junior League building, and “Aibileen’s place” (Graham, 64). The film not only seeks to redeem the racist actions of whites in yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but it also shifts more of the responsibility for the Civil Rights Movement on whites.
In basic summary, The Help is about a young white woman who decides to tell the stories of black housemaids. While the film actually serves to depict mobility of both women and blacks, in actuality it does this only superficially as neither of these parties see any true movement, staying within racial and gender confines without any real systemic change. From the reception and production of The Help as well as the through analysis of the movie,
In the The Last Samurai, Cruise’s character originally takes the job to train the Samurai because he is an alcoholic in need of money and only later on develops any sympathy for the Samurai. In A Time to Kill, McConaughey character is able to gain national exposure and money for defending a black man who committed assault after his daughter was raped. In The Blind Side, Bullock takes in a black homeless teenager and benefits from his athletic ability, helping him improve his football skills and even leading the boy to play for her alma mater. Thus, other white saviors have double motives and become the heroes of the stories concerning people of …show more content…
As Roger Ebert puts it simply, the film says “yes, racism is vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people are bad” (Ebert, 2011). As seen in the history of Oscar Best Actress winners and the white male director of The Help, gender and racial disparities still exist in American society. Another implicit motive of the movie can be seen in the results of its release on Greenwood, Mississippi, the site where the movie was filmed: tourists often bypass multiple famous historical sites in the Civil Rights Movement to take the “The Help” tour to see “Skeeter’s farm” “Hilly’s house,” the Junior League building, and “Aibileen’s place” (Graham, 64). The film not only seeks to redeem the racist actions of whites in yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but it also shifts more of the responsibility for the Civil Rights Movement on whites.
In basic summary, The Help is about a young white woman who decides to tell the stories of black housemaids. While the film actually serves to depict mobility of both women and blacks, in actuality it does this only superficially as neither of these parties see any true movement, staying within racial and gender confines without any real systemic change. From the reception and production of The Help as well as the through analysis of the movie,