Color And Lighting In The Help

My film choice shows that color and lighting sets the mood for social status as well as segregation in its rarest form. The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60’s and shows us the reality of segregation from both sides and how persistence pays off. Skeeter’s persistence in becoming an accomplished writer and the courage of the housekeepers to overcome their fears of the white society, all come to the forefront in this film. The film has three narrators – Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter.

Aibileen is housekeeper who works for an elite white family with a toddler daughter named Mae who is neglected by her mother, Elizabeth. Aibileen warns Minny, who takes care of Miss Walters, Hilly’s mother, that rumors have it that Minny is

Before she goes, Skeeter arranges for Aibileen to take her old job writing the column for the newspaper (Taylor, 2011).

The technique that is most often used in The Help is color. The white, elite families have colorful clothing, shiny, colorful cars and the women have makeup, such as bright red lipstick. Their homes are well maintained with green lush landscaping. In contrast, the maids all have the same blue uniforms and live in older, dull looking homes with dim lights and bland colored furniture. They use the older grey colored bus for their transportation.

There is a great contrast of color and lighting in The Help. The wealth of the elite, white families shines through their beautiful well-kept homes and their vibrant shiny cars along with their colorful outfits. The maids are portrayed with dimmer lighting and a grayer tone overall in their colors. This sets the tone for portraying a lower class of individuals. The Help creates the separation of blacks and whites but develops a diversity through persistence. If the queen bee is taken out, then the rest will soon follow. Skeeter set the tone for future generations and opened the eyes of “some” of the