Cinematography In The Help

986 Words2 Pages

In the film The Help, directed by Tate Taylor, an important scene is the scene when Eugenia whose nickname is Skeeter confronts Charlotte her mother about Constantine their old loyal, loving maid. Skeeter wishes to know the truth about how Constantine left their family. The main purpose of this scene is to show the difference of coloured and whites in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Also love between Skeeter and Constantine in particular when Skeeter finds out that her mother fired Constantine, only to die before telling her the truth. Four significant aspects the director used in this scene are cinematography, music, characterisation and dialogue.

One important aspect of this scene is the different types of cinematography. The panning …show more content…

Charlotte was trying to explain why she fired Constantine, “She had gotten so old and slow Skeeter”. This informs the audience that Charlotte may of been getting a little fed up about how slow and old Constantine was and revealing it to Skeeter, who may not truly understand why Constantine had to go. “Well, I went to her house the next day but she had already gone” Charlotte was explaining to Skeeter the effort she did after the dinner, while getting angrily frustrated with herself. Constantine had left as she got told to leave the house, she never came back. The quote Charlotte uses shows how the whites were as they never really cared about the coloured. It also reveals a theme; action and consequences, as she then Charlotte broke the news to Skeeter, “she had died” it reveals to the audience has happened months later. “You broke her heart” Skeeter tells her mother in despair as she walks out of the room. These two quotes interlink with each other showing how much Skeeter loves Constantine and what happened as a result of Charlotte’s actions. The purpose of these quotes it to show Charlotte perspective and to show how important Constantine is to …show more content…

In this part of the scene Charlotte is sitting at the dinner table with her formal dress on, while Constantine is wearing her maid outfit. The costume of the two characters present this feel of authority. Authority is shown by Charlotte's action when she tells Constantine and Rachel (Constantine's daughter) to, “get out of this house”. When Charlotte closed the door on Constantine, her reaction of backing away from the door shows that Constantine was scared, upset and sad. For a coloured woman to be scared in the 1960s is understandable as she in an usual case would need to find a job, in this case it is saying goodbye to the family she loved and as she may never see them again. Watching this part of the scene would most likely make the audience tearful and cry as it is sad and Charlotte is saying goodbye. The purpose of having a character like Charlotte is too show a motherly perspective of what they would of had to do in the 1960s. Similar with Constantine, having an maid perspective of them loving the children (Skeeter) and to show the heartbreak she

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