African-American Maids in the Movie The Help

The movie The Help is a story about the African-American maids’ interactions with their white employers taking place in Jacksonville, Mississippi around the time of the Civil Rights Movement. The movie provides insight on the daily life of the African American working woman--the Help--as they move through their days working for white upper class families. It reveals the trials and tribulations of the Help, thus exposing the culture of pre-civil rights movement and leading the audience to critically consider American history. Of course, the movie takes place in the South, which was more extremist in terms of treatment of other races and allowing violence. The movie introduces pertinent topics having to do with gender roles, preferential treatment based on gender/race, racism and racial arrogance, and the integration of culture and beliefs into society affecting the lives of many and of all classes or genders.

Race plays an important role in the film by showing how race is greatly valued in that culture, and that race is a crucial aspect of everyday life. The most obvious takeaway from the film is that race is unimportant and placing importance on race dehumanizes those with different racial characteristics. The characters in the film are socially conditioned to assume certain rights and beliefs about the races, in this case white and black. The white women are brainwashed and pressured to believe that their maids are lower life forms that do not have the same rights or characteristics as themselves. For example, Miss Hillie commented that Minnie needed to use the outside bathroom and the Help need to use their own bathrooms because they carry different diseases from them. More disturbing is that the other women partaking in the so...

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...ma and portrayed the maids as individuals who were more virtuous and God-like. it shows that in society, the middle and upper class may be ignorant and treat their lower-class employees as lower than humans. It shows that money and human characteristics do not determine whether someone is a wholesome or moral person. The movie also challenges the idea that opportunity is not equally available for all. There is also a common theme of loving your enemy leading to greatness. It shows that society is surrounded by competition, which often leads to attitudes of hate and greed. While the society in the 1900s has a different context, today’s society has not necessarily changed significantly. There is still a stigma of race, gender roles, and unequal opportunity. the movie challenges the audience to see the changes the need to be made in order to progress as a community.