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Film Review: The Harm of "The Help"
ReligiousLiberty.TV ^ | February 22, 2012 | Jason Hines

Posted on 02/22/2012 9:11:39 PM PST by ReligiousLibertyTV

EXCERPT:

The movie explicitly establishes Skeeter as the protagonist, the person who we are supposed to be rooting for. However, she does things that I find to be unconscionable. First she gets a maid (Abilene) to write her column for her. First, she just asks for assistance, but we see later in the film that while Skeeter is working on the book, Abilene is writing her column. Am I supposed to be ok with that? Secondly, Skeeter is the only person who gets anything good out of her relationship with these maids. Skeeter gets what she wanted at the beginning of the film – a job with a New York publishing firm. Abilene ends up fired with no prospects on how she would support herself. But she feels good about herself so I guess it’s alright. This is dovetailed with the very odd resolution of Minnie’s story, where she finds the strength to leave her abusive husband because her white employer cooked a meal for her. I’m sorry but that doesn’t make sense to me.

(Excerpt) Read more at religiousliberty.tv ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: filmreview; oscars

1 posted on 02/22/2012 9:11:44 PM PST by ReligiousLibertyTV
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV
The movie explicitly establishes Skeeter as the protagonist, the person who we are supposed to be rooting for. However, she does things that I find to be unconscionable. First she gets a maid (Abilene) to write her column for her.

That's because Skeeter isn't really the protagonist. It's "the help" who are the protagonists.

At least that's my guess based on how Hollywood writes these sorts of things.

2 posted on 02/22/2012 9:24:12 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV; humblegunner
First she gets a maid (Abilene) to write her column for her...

So she is publishing content written by others as her own? She is a blogger?

3 posted on 02/22/2012 9:31:03 PM PST by mnehring
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV

Get a freakin life,it was a great book,great movie,and shows how life was back then.Weve come a long way since then and thats another thing it showed.What happened to make you write this drivel?Did you eat some of Minnies pie too?


4 posted on 02/22/2012 9:40:55 PM PST by Craftmore
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV

I appreciated the point of the article, which was, IMHO, broader than this particular film. Rather, the idea that Hollywood is reconstructing our history, and implanting that altered story in the minds of far too many people who won’t see it from any other perspective. That is a valid concern in general.

I did appreciate the movie, as well. But I recognize that it was a sanitized and fictionalized account - not a history of the civil rights era. Many others who saw the film may not.


5 posted on 02/22/2012 10:17:53 PM PST by LouD (I stand with Scott Walker)
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV; Twink; Pelham; Black Agnes; dixiechick2000

PC folks including many here lap it up like biscuits and molasses

and i know the real characters from the book...i grew up in the thick of it..folks here are tied of hearing that

yet another over educated brat Southern girl goes north and make hay over the awfulness of where she came from and is proclaimed a genius

hell with her and stupid naive people who believe anything they read or see in movies

nobody I know in Mississippi would piss on her if she were on fire and that includes her family

she had mommy issues...big time and daddy was gone a lot ..trying to build more family wealth

i swear...this forum..so many uninformed and whites and blacks and the relationship between..i’ve got 20 years left tops...simply not enough time

wanna feel all warm about the South...watch Gone with the Wind and then Driving Miss Daisy...both more accurate


6 posted on 02/22/2012 10:32:23 PM PST by wardaddy (I am a social conservative. My political party left me(again). They can go to hell in a bucket.)
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To: wardaddy

It is an enjoyable fiction. I know multiple Jackson Prep graduates who enjoyed the book and movie. They live in MS and were the ones who made me want to read the book. I admit that my enjoyment of the book probably stemmed from my homesickness due to living in the desert. I miss the trees in Jackson and friendly people, black and white. I do not miss the hoity-toity types who are depicted so accurately in The Help.


7 posted on 02/22/2012 10:44:08 PM PST by petitfour
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To: Craftmore

“...shows how life was back then.”

Erm....as one who was born, raised, and living in Mississippi at the time this novel was supposed to take place, not exactly.


8 posted on 02/23/2012 12:28:14 AM PST by dixiechick2000 (This hobbit is looking for her pitchfork...God help the GOP if I find it.)
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To: wardaddy

“wanna feel all warm about the South...watch Gone with the Wind and then Driving Miss Daisy...both more accurate”

Well, my stars and bars...bump that to the tippy top!

Both are more accurate than “The Help”, and weren’t written with an agenda.


9 posted on 02/23/2012 12:30:23 AM PST by dixiechick2000 (This hobbit is looking for her pitchfork...God help the GOP if I find it.)
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To: mnehring; ReligiousLibertyTV; humblegunner; 50mm; Larry Lucido; metmom
"So she is publishing content written by others as her own? She is a blogger?"

Plagiarism is only one of many scummy components of modern blogging.

In addition to not being too choosy about your "sources" the successful blogger needs to master the art of pimping his work. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, but the most common is to excerpt leaving only a teaser and posting on free forums - like FreeRepublic for instance - without being a supporting member.

The really scummy pimp will then, after posting the "bait" load up his website with a lot of flashy pop-ups, cookies and malicious software designed to track his visitors and sell their history to marketing companies.

While pimping for hits in this manner it's also common to remain "above the fray" seldom (if ever) answering posts or participating in the discussions.

Finally, it's a great idea to post fluff pieces about things like movies and television as if they were actual news items.

Yup - If there's a scummy practice to be found, more than likely blogging is where it's at.

(See tagline.)
10 posted on 02/23/2012 1:23:21 AM PST by shibumi (Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
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To: shibumi

11 posted on 02/23/2012 1:42:10 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit ;-{)
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV
First, she just asks for assistance, but we see later in the film that while Skeeter is working on the book, Abilene is writing her column. Am I supposed to be ok with that?

The movie did not hold true to the book. In the book, Skeeter offered to pay Abilene and Abilene refused, later in the book, Skeeter paid her anyway.

Skeeter is the only person who gets anything good out of her relationship with these maids.

In the book and in the movie, Skeeter shares the proceeds among all the maids that contributed.

This is dovetailed with the very odd resolution of Minnie’s story, where she finds the strength to leave her abusive husband because her white employer cooked a meal

Did we watch the same movie? Minnie got out of her abusive marriage because Abilene encouraged her to see it for what it was, that Leroy was an abusive bum and always would be.

I didn't bother to click on your blog link, as far as I'm concerned you can go pimp it and its inaccuracies somewhere else.

12 posted on 02/23/2012 3:17:38 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Eccl 10 v. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.)
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To: Yardstick
The most disgusting "chick flick" I've ever watched.
13 posted on 02/23/2012 3:25:03 AM PST by sonofagun (Some think my cynicism grows with age. I like to think of it as wisdom!)
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To: sonofagun

I feel bad because we just went to see “This Means War” and I really liked it, but I think I should have been offended. But it was so funny, and had great action scenes, and I really like Reese Witherspoon’s acting, for some unexplainable reason.

And I like happy movies.


14 posted on 02/23/2012 3:52:02 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: wardaddy
"wanna feel all warm about the South...watch Gone with the Wind and then Driving Miss Daisy...both more accurate"

Driving Miss Daisy is my favorite movie . . .

15 posted on 02/23/2012 6:08:18 AM PST by haywoodwebb (Keep your focus on the TRUTH and we will prevail . . . One Day at a Time, Mates!)
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To: ReligiousLibertyTV
Very cheesy movie.

These types of movie were a dime a dozen over the decades; this one is pitched to a new generation to "bring awareness".

Glaringly cheap piece of "art" with skin-deep stereotypes all over the place.

16 posted on 02/23/2012 10:14:40 AM PST by what's up
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To: sonofagun; what's up

Yeah, that sounds about right.


17 posted on 02/23/2012 12:31:52 PM PST by Yardstick
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