I wonder how many black folk went to the theaters to see Spike Lee’s Miracle At Saint Anna. True. We don’t buy a $12 dollar ticket to the movies to learn the searing truth about black history. Perhaps, for good reason. But, despite Miracle At Saint Anna’s unbearable length – almost three hours long – anyone who saw it would attest to Spike Lee’s talent as a filmmaker.
Surely, it didn’t stop the disaster that Miracle At Saint Anna wrecked on Spike’s career, from growing legs and carrying him to his utter disheartenment. That movie is still struggling to recoup a meager $10M from the $45M Spike lavished on it.
The Help on the other hand, after only three weeks has grossed almost $120M. The budget – a mere fraction of Miracle’s – only $20M.
An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s decides to write a book detailing the African American Maid’s point of view on the White families they work for, and they hardships they go through on a day to day basis.
Could Spike Lee have thought that black folk, would have at least, wanted a burning truth about their history? After all, Malcolm X made a whooping $45M albeit a $26M budget? Could he have been consumed with the fact: that if black folk would troupe to Madea Goes To Jail, then they might yet perform a Miracle At Saint Anna? Well, was he wrong! Black folk were not about to pay $12 for a history lesson.
That may just be the fire that stokes Hollywood’s ever-cautious tales on race relations in America. So, I wasn’t terribly surprised with The Help. It was just another of Hollywood’s feel-good fables on the history of race relations in America and a reassurance of some sort to black folk. That, we should first accept the past – it really wasn’t that bad – and second, accept the present, it can’t be that bad. Look how rosy it was in sixty-six!
Maybe the folks in Hollywood sympathize with the plight of black folk of yesteryear. Only they don’t seem to mind the still prevalent social ills that seem to pin the industry to the collar of old white men. And to tell a story of slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement short of the real painful experiences that Jim Crow bestowed on the fabric of black society is unacceptable. Completely preposterous!
If anything at all happened in The Help:
It was only to show how much Hollywood loves to hate the old South – vicious racists, slick womanizers, sanctimonious-out-of-touch reactionaries, moronic hillbillies, hypocritical preachers, greedy oil men—each one more repulsive than the last. So that they can sit and feel good about it, forgetting they drink from the same well.
So then, where would we be without Hollywood’s unique gifts of insight into the failings of others?
The Help is one of those movies that seem to pass on only one message – yes, racism was vile and cruel, but hey, not all white people were bad. You begin to ask yourself, did this movie really take place in the 60s? Or is it just contemporary people playing dress up? Because every step of the way, we are completely distanced from the terrible and brutal events of the Jim Crow period when black folk were being killed left right and center in Mississippi.
In The Help, every event concerning the civil rights movement was on television alone, separate from the lives of the characters. In one instance, when Medgar Wiley Evers was assassinated by the White Citizens’ Council member, Byron De La Beck, the camera chose to follow Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) instead, running away from the scene.
Furthermore, the film glosses over everything. Black women were present but did not have a voice. Black men did not exist at all. The only time a black person had a voice was when Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) gave Aibileen a voice – empowered her with a pen to write about her experiences as a maid. There was no sense of agency and urgency in the black community. The only real black man who had a name was Leroy, Minny Jackson’s (Octavia Spencer) husband.
But we never saw him on screen. Otherwise, they were all in Church. Black men did not exist, neither in the lives of black women nor in the agencies that resisted white supremacy and oppression. Even if they existed, they abused their wives (in Minny’s case) or were MIA when it came to raising a family (as in Aibileen’s life).
The social implications of movies like The Help are compounding. Not only do they set out to paint a falsified past – the real experiences of black folk in Mississippi – they strive to paint an ameliorated picture of white folk’s inhumanity to black folk. Furthermore, movies like this de-emphasize the terrible state of affairs that permeate the fabric of our society today.
For one, immigrants across the country suffer similar mishap – widespread discrimination, abuse and maltreatment – in American homes while cooking for them, baby-sitting their children and housekeeping their drawers. Come to think of it, the situation in America has not changed – just as black folk were not human enough to be full citizens during Jim Crow – now, immigrants are not citizen enough to be fully protected by our laws. How convenient!
Furthermore, the character in Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) only serves an overflowing caricature on a plate of ignorance and arrogance. Educational level can’t be the yardstick for measuring white resentment of black folk. But in The Help, this is what they do exactly. Skeeter was the only college educated woman, haven attended the University of Mississippi, she was the only woman who did not want to be house-wife and she sure hated the racist!
Plus, she was the one who wanted to help The Help out of her woe. Though in the end she only climbed on the back of The Help to further her career in NYC. What is that saying about the educated white folk? That they cannot be racist?
Hence, films like the help turn The Blind Side, 2009, to reality. Did I just mention another movie – the other white folk-feel-good fable? After some 64 thousand votes, it sits at an admirable 7.6 rating on IMDB with Sandra Bullock as its Oscar trophy for Best Actress. But I prefer to leave this for another discussion.
Consequently, when we buy tickets to the theaters, we must look forward to be entertained. Nonetheless, can we continue to lose sight of the import of Hollywood’s stories on our lives and society? Though we can agree that anything short of a laugh or a reassurance may not suffice at the movies, could we go there to learn a little? To know the simple truth – a little?
Certainly no one wants to leave the theater more depressed than they entered it. And this may leave us with one choice – the lure of Hollywood and the films they support.
Director: Tate Taylor
Writers: Tate Taylor (screenplay), Kathryn Stockett (novel)
Stars: Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer
I was big band jazz musician years ago.I worked with many superior black musicians, including Duke Ellington. I played in his band from time to time. It never occured to me he was “back”.. as were most of his musicians. They were excellent musicians – thinking, sensitive, talented, dissaplined, gifted guys.
Duke was an inspiring person to be around – “Gene, it’s a short life; we have to be nice to the phonies, too.” Here was an elegant human being in every respect. I knew him well enough to know that his personal philosphy held no place for racism. He simply regarded himself as a curious human being who chose to excell in every aspect of his life. He accepted black popular support in the 1930s, White acclaim in later years. He accepted both with eqinimity But he always regarded each person as an individual – not a person of color or no color. He never preached his beliefs, just when on excelling and entertaining. And that’s my point. Duke went absorded w”the phonies” to accomplice his goals. He overcame resistance with kindness, class and excellence. And made is point.
What does this have to do with The Help? It set oput to do what it was suposed to do… entertain and make people reflect on its point of view.
Duke understood that his first obligation was to entertain by making music… not to educate the public on the Black Experience. entertainment. His success by appleaking to the masses accomplished both points. He proved the excellence of “black” musicianship and intellectuallity. Hollywood’s first job is to entertain, not educate. The public can tell who the phonies are, what’s real and what isn’t, what’s exaggerated and what’s unstated. The pubic does not need strident voices calling Bullshit. We get it… that is, as much as we think applies. We understand the pros and cons of “The Help” because we were entertained. It was not intended to be a Civil Rights Movie. It is entertainment.
Gene Hull