I watched the film last night (6 well-educated white females) and I think we all really enjoyed it. I hold a BA in American History, and although this degree is not needed to miss the discrepanices present in “The Help”, I do think, for me, it was helpful.

As I said, I enjoyed the movie a lot, however, there is much missing. Perhaps if I were a black female, I would not have enjoyed the movie, or not have enjoyed the movie as much.

The first thing that struck me as “off” about the film is the lack of fear the “help” (the black, domestic workers) seemed to feel in the film. What they did was very dangerous and I cannot imagine what the consequences would truly have been had they been found out. The Jim Crow South was a violent, volatile, often dangerous place; these domestics would have been putting their lives at stake in sharing their stories. The KKK, as well as other racist organizations, were not once addressed during the entirety of the film. I did find the black comic relief refreshing as I am sure this kind of humor did exist, and I’m sure it provided a much-needed outlet for the frustrations of these women. And most likely also served as a strong, binding force between them.

The film, as the writer states, also ignores the brutal harrassment suffered by many black domestics at this time at the hands of their white, male employers. The reader/viewer did not see the terrorism many of these women were truly exposed to.

I cannot say I understand the comment about contemporary nostalgia. Perhaps the author is referring to the lack of reality portrayed in the book/fim that makes the Jim Crow South appear less threatening than it truly was. I know living in such a time and place as depicted in “The Help” does not appeal to me. Ialso agree with the comment about the book/film serving as a catalyst for young Skeeter’s career.

On a final note, I think all of the actors in the film, both black and white, were stellar and gave wonderful performances, not just the black women. I think that Sissy Spacek, in particular, was hugely entertaining, and Bryce Dallas Howard also gave a stunning performance.

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Take an organization such as PETA that ridiculously attacked a video game that depicted a cartoonish character dressing in a squirrel suit. Are they really as outraged as they sound? No, but they get their name in the press, and they do it well.

Dr. Jones is simply doing her job to try to keep the coffers of the ABWH lined. And if she has to sell a little of her self-respect for a worthy cause, so be it.

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Furthermore, the name of the maid is AIBILENE. An important distinction for copywriting. Also, this is a work of fiction, inspired by the author’s own childhood as she was raised by an African-american woman due to an absentee mother.

The case was thrown out because it was found to have no basis. The Abilene in question, was the name of the author’s brother’s maid, and she had only met her briefly. She might have been inspired by the name, and that is likely the reason for the lawsuit. Someone got into the woman’s ear about a pay day when the book became successful. That sounds about as frivolous of a lawsuit as any. “You used my name, so you stole my life story.”

As to this article, it’s almost embarrassingly myopic. How on Earth could a woman be expected to include all travesties occurred to the subject matter in a work of fiction. That is her RIGHT as an author, to present her story and her vision, factual or fictional. It is your right to dislike the story,but one would hope you’d do so without resorting to hate and scare tactics, such as those the protagonist of the book would employ.

I can’t help but feel Dr. Jones comes off as a bit like Hilly Holbrook herself. Perhaps her real disdain for this novel, is that it was written by a caucasian woman?

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It seems like academics always want to microanalyze things to the point that they seem to entirely miss the message. While not a perfect depiction, The Help did a good overall job of allowing the world to see the overwhelming difficulties that african americans had to endure in the South during those times and how the white aristrocrat did their best to keep us empoverished and dependent upon them. That story was told.

It is hard to put much stock in the comments of a writer who criticises the “factual accuracy” about a movie yet never lived in the South during that challenging time. This article is filled with all types of criticisms concerning omitted events that Dr. Jones undoubtedly read about while engaging in her studies in Maryland. There are thousands of us whose research in this area was conducted by living through those conditions and being involved in the social changes that followed. The friends of mine who have seen the movie all felt better after watching it. It’s difficult to see how a movie can be embraced by the very people it was written to portray and silmultaneously receive overwhelming criticism from an “african american history scholar” who derived all of her knowlege about the subject from history books.

I would encourage Dr. Jones to travel to Mississippi and spend some time there. Then, maybe she can see that, even though it didn’t contain all of the important events outlined in her textbooks, the depiction of the relationships and the racial divide in The Help was spot on.

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I thought it was a great movie. The black characters were not “mammy-ish.” They were realistic for the time period. You have characters who, like my grandmother, were working to send their children to college. Believe it or not, not all white employers were mean to their maids and some black maids who raised white children actually cared about those children.

This movie is not supposed to be “Malcolm X.” It is a story of what went on is the lives of regular working people during the civil rights movement. I think that the movie did a good job of showing both sides of the story. It was just as much a coming of age story for Stone’s character as it was for Davis’s character. Just as white women were learning that they didn’t have to go to college simply to find a husband, get married, and have babies like their mothers; black women were learning that they didn’t have to grow up to be maids like their mothers. I am a product of this generation of black women. My grandmother didn’t March on Washington, but what she did do (work hard to put my dad through college) was just as important to my life today as those who did. Not every black person who lived during this era did overt things to protest the way they were treated. This movie does not disrespect black women in any way. I think it tells a much needed story.

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