The Help
 

Pardon me if there is already a thread.

It comes out tomorrow. :D I plan on seeing it.

Please share your pre- and post-viewing thoughts. :D

I want to see this because I love Viola Davis and Octavia (don't know her last name :()

I think Emma Stone is a great actress for her age as well. This seems like it'll be an all-around good film.

I'm just reading this now, so I will make sure not to come back and read spoilers!

If people post spoilers, please type **SPOILER ALERT** or use a different font.

Spoilers never bother me but I know they bother most people. ;)

I'm definitely going to see it! Before we go, a bunch of us are going to re-read the book. Such a fantastic read.

I read the book a few months ago and I liked it, but not as much as I hoped I would. To me the previews almost make it look comedic and I just didn't get that impression from the book.

I'd go see it if friends want to, but if not I'm fine waiting for the DVD.

LOVED the book - will see the movie next week.

Read the book a few months ago and now re-reading in advance of seeing the movie some time this month.

Thought the book was really well done. I enjoyed how the book was told fthrough three very different individuals, and hope that movie can do that perspective justice.

So many of the characters in the book stayed with me long after I had finished reading, which just makes me want to pick up the book over and over again. They each had a nice balance of good and inperfections, making them all believeable.

As with anything that Hollywood gets its hands on, I feel the cast is glammed up a bit too much, specifically Skeeter and Hilly. Skeeters self-image issue and being more plain that her counterparts I felt were relevant traits.

As for the social message, I humbly confess that I never truly understood the dangers that African-Americans of that generation faced. Yes, I am familiar with Birmingham and other large events of the civil rights movement. Yes, I know that discrimination did (and still) exists, including the Jim Crow laws. However, somehow I just wasn't aware of the day-to-day things I can take for granted that would have gotten these women beaten/killed. (trying not to list specifics for those who haven't read book yet)

The book has inspired me to read more of the era, and specifically first person accounts.

Once people are ready to chat specifics of the book/movie (including spoilers) I will eagerly pop back over to this thread.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie. Hope it doesn't change the book too much. I think the author expressed the south in the '60s quite well.

DaffyKD

I plan to see it. Don't know if I'll make it to see it in theaters (I see maybe one movie a year in the theater, if that), but I definitely plan to see it. Maybe I'll get a chance to read the book first.

Because the author of "The Help" and one of the actresses in the movie (Dana Ivey) are Phi Mu sisters, my Alumnae chapter is getting together to go see it! I can't wait to go cheer on my sisters!

I've become obsessed with reading about the civil-rights era and watching movies and TV programs about it, so I could recommend some books (especially Freedom's Daughters by Lynne Olson), but you can just head to the American history or African-American studies section of a bookstore, especially used ones, or library and go through the shelves for something that piques your interest. I've amassed quite a backlog of books that way. Nothing against MLK, LBJ, etc., but I agree that the stories of the foot soldiers and lesser-known organizers and situations are what interest me more.

This review from AV Club was kind of my big fear for the movie - well, other than overexposure of Emma Stone ... it seems like a preponderance of "Civil Rights" movies follow the "white [girl] acts as conduit as black folks rise up against cardboard cut-outs of injustice!" trope.

I guess I shouldn't expect subtlety from Hollywood, but would the overall story really change if the "Anonymous" author was black?

:) It never ends.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...53F7STokcUoT7A

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...jyJrQpgPrhIMRg


Yes. There either wouldn't have been a book published in the first place or the author would've been mysteriously killed by angry white folks.

Generally speaking, white folks like stories of white folk saviors more than white folks like stories of the Joe Louis Clarks and Jaime Escalantes.

See, for the first ever, I was trying to avoid the obvious and just enjoy the movie. :) I admit that reading GCers say that they have become more interested in reading about the era made me say "hmmmm...to have the privilege to now be interested in an era that is such a huge part of history and present-day dynamics."

Now, while I've heard a number of suspicions that the movie would be one of these kinds of films, most of the reviews I've read (even in the "black" press) indicate the opposite.

I find it funny that the only movie that got a good review was "The Future," which has gotten pretty scathing reviews for being smug and twee in most press I've read (even The New Yorker, which likes their movies smug and twee). I guess that's the A.V. Club for you.

definitely plan on seeing it, but unfortunately not until NEXT week. I will avoid this thread like the plague until then. :p

BTW, there's great ticket discounts at AMC, Regal, and Cinemark theaters.

No Spoilers from me
 

Saw it this morning. The theater was packed for a weekday morning release. I laughed and I cried. This was a great book to movie translation. I read the book when it was first released and didn't recall anything of critical importance missing.

i am so excited to see it next week, when my daughter is home!!

Right - but we'll suspend disbelief about cars that turn into gigantic killer robots ...

I really want to see it but I might have to wait until next week (payday).

I read though that the movie is being told through Abilene's POV. Should be interesting no matter what.

Transformers are real. It's those cheesy Gobots that are fake.

Soundwave: "Eject...eject...eject!"

I'm so excited to see it! I love Emma Stone and the book was phenomenal.

Howard Stern (!) saw it and was moved to tears.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/sing...ErODsSLZOzX5YO

Another review: http://www.artscriticatl.com/2011/08...-white-people/

Loved the book, am becoming a big friend of Emma Stone's, and can't wait to see it! Until then, I'm outta this thread! ;)

IMHO, a lot of these reviews are missing the point. It's a movie, not a treatise on the race issues of the 60s. It is meant for entertainment and shouldn't be taken as academic.

I also think the book was far less "feel good" than the reviews are making the movie out to be (seeing it tomorrow, I'll post my thoughts then). One of the criticisms this article made (mild SPOILER ALERT) was that the movie divorced Hilly's nastiness from the outright racial violence- I thought the book made it very clear that those behaviors were on the same spectrum, and I thought the book did a good job showing Skeeter's growth as a character as she begins to realize this. If the movie didn't do the same, that's unfortunate. But I'll let you know what I think tomorrow :)

I don't consider this movie to be just entertainment. There is too much meaning behind it to be merely entertaining.

The commercials are making the movie seem more feel good (smartass Black helpers are funny enough for a commercial or two).. That's how they are able to get people to be excited about this movie. They take bits and pieces of the movie even if they misrepresent the movie. Meaning, white people (who will be the main supporters of this film) would not see this movie if they didn't make it seem funny and lighthearted.

I believe this is the "Al Jolson Corollary"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...olson_1916.jpg

Who's the man with the master plan?!

My friends and I read the book this summer and it was great! Although, I did not really care for the ending, I will be going to see the movie next week.

On another note, there was a nice plug from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in regards to the movie on CNN...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movi...tml?hpt=hp_bn5

Friends were involved in the production. They went to the premiere. Yes, biased review...but fabulous. We're seeing it this weekend.

A heapin' helpin' of The Help:

http://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com

JUST returned from seeing The Help. GREAT movie. Like all book/movie adaptions, it is hard to compare, but I think they did a wonderful job in capturing the essence of the book. The movie was packed with Phi Mus having a sisterhood night - that was fun to see. Congratulation to Tate Taylor (Ole Miss) and Kathryn Stockett.

Saw it on Monday at an advance screening with my alumnae chapter. A few thoughts:

*Way too many chocolate pie jokes. Not that it grosses me out, it just seemed like it was overdone.
*In the book, all 3 main characters narrate, but in the movie, I feel like Minny's "voice" was reduced a little, and she became comic relief in many of her scenes, especially with Celia.
*The only major change I noticed was the reason for Constantine leaving. The book's reason was considerably more heartbreaking.
*Also, if Hilly is 22, which we can assume since she grew up being friends with Skeeter, and Skeeter finished college (4 years, what an eternity)...how the HELL does Hilly have a mother who is old/frail enough to be put in a nursing home, especially since women back then/in that part of the country have kids in their late teens/early to mid 20s??? Hilly's mom would have had to be like 50 years old when Hilly was born.
*None of these things interfered with my enjoyment. I liked seeing the characters come to life and thought it was well cast.

Fiction or not, stories create opportunities to discuss issues, past and present. Our not wanting to talk about the racial issues that did and do continue to exist in America, is what the author of the article is talking about when she speaks of "cowards." The book, although not completely nonfiction, is a reflection on Kathryn Stockett's family. I read an article in Essence or Ebony (not sure which one) about the real Abilene. She is not happy about the book or the movie and is trying to sue Kathryn Stockett for how she was portrayed (not sure if she meant the book and/or the movie).

I am going to see the movie tomorrow and will come back with my 22 cents.

I'm happy for that too but it's still sad that it always takes a movie for people (all races) to be interested in that era. The racial history in America is a huge part of American history and yet people still think MLK day for example, is a day for African Americans. Slavery, Jim Crow, the Minstrel era, Civil Rights, etc...it's all American history and all of us should know more about it, plain and simple.

Should I just go see it or it is the kind of movie where I absolutely need to read the book first?

Haven't seen the movie yet, but I found the book a really quick read. I finished it in 3 days with a newborn..and I consider myself a slow reader.

I'm having a GNO with my friends/book club. We all read it for leisurely reading. I'll let you know what I think about the movie when we organize ourselves, LOL, which should be difficult with 9 people.

You can see it without reading it. You might enjoy it more that way because you won't be comparing it to the book while watching.

:) Amen.