A
week ago, we watched "The Help" in class. So here's an analyze of the
film :)
Basic facts
"The
Help" was produced in USA, 2011. The director is Tate Taylor. The genere
of the film is historical drama, the story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi
in the early 1960's. Here’s a list of the actors of the main characters involved:
Emma
Stone – Skeeter
Viola
Davis – Aibileen
Octavia
Spencer – Minnie
Bryce
Dallas Howard – Hilly
Jessica
Chastain – Celia
Allison
Janney – Charlotte
Brief summary – Plot and setting
In
“The Help”, we get to know Skeeter, a young woman with a great brain. She is a
very good writer, and is searching for a job as a journalist. She lives in Jackson
in Mississippi with Charlotte, her mother. Charlotte and Skeeters friends want
Skeeter to have a husband and children instead of getting the job Skeeter
always has wanted.
It’s
the early 1960’s and it is usual that the rich, light-skinned families have
helps, (colored) people working in their houses: cleaning, cooking and looking
after their children. But the helps’ employers (wealthy, “white” ladies), does
not treat them well. Skeeter finds this very unfair, and wants to tell the
truth about the helps. Although neither her mother nor her friends like it, and
that she might end up in jail, Skeeter interviews helpers who is treated badly,
and writes a book about it.
(Picture from
http://dalistorybehindthehelp.blogspot.no/2012/03/skeeter.html)
In
the beginning of the film, Skeeter is interviewing Aibileen, who works for one
of Skeeters friends. This scene is originally from the middle of the film.
Then, it kond of starts from the beginning, and the rest of the film is
chronological.
Suspense and conflicts
To
keep the suspense through the whole movie, there are some conflicts keeping
Skeeter of reaching her goal. As I have mentioned before, Skeeter’s mother and
her friends is obsessed with Skeeter finding a man and have her own family. But
Skeeter has some expectations of herself as well: she does rather want to write
and to help the helps with telling the story of how they are treated. Both
Skeeter and the helps she interviews know they might end up in jail, but this
is a risk they are willing to take (in the beginning, the helps are afraid
because writing a book about this is illegal in Jackson, but they change their
minds throughout the movie). The suspense builds up towards the climax, when
Skeeter is publishing her book through a publisher in New York (because it’s
illegal to publish in Jackson), called “The Help”.
Characters
Skeeter - main character. She is brave and independent, and wants a job
rather than a family of her own. She is not afraid of telling the truth,
although she might end up in jail.
Aibileen - Coloured help working for Elizabeth, Skeeters friend.
Hilly - One of Skeeters friends, and the girls "leader". She
is selfish, and doesn't really care about how the help are treated.
Minnie - Hilly's/Celia's help and Aibileen's best friend. Minnie is a
very good cook, but has a smart mouth, so she has been fired many times.
Celia - Minnie's employer after Hilly fired her. She's rather naive,
but with a big heart. She is kind to her help.
Charlotte - Skeeter's mother. She wants Skeeter to be good-looking and
dress nice so she will get a husband, but in the end, she sees what Skeeter
really wants (to write and to tell the truth about the helps), and is proud of
her anyways.
The story is told by the help Aibileen, and the narrator’s point of
view is first person.
Theme and moral
The film is about how coloured people were inferior in a society run by
the white ones, so the theme is racial segregation. Skeeter refused to give up
the book she wanted to write, although it was very tough. So the moral is that
nothing is impossible, something just takes some more time and is a bit more
difficult.
Sources:
