The Help

DrPhil · #1 08-09-2011, 01:35 PM

Pardon me if there is already a thread.

It comes out tomorrow.

I plan on seeing it.

Please share your pre- and post-viewing thoughts.

knight_shadow · #2 08-09-2011, 01:36 PM

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.

ree-Xi · #3 08-09-2011, 01:42 PM

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

DrPhil · #4 08-09-2011, 01:44 PM

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

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

Munchkin03 · #5 08-09-2011, 02:04 PM

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.

WVU alpha phi · #6 08-09-2011, 10:06 PM

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.

SWTXBelle · #7 08-09-2011, 10:09 PM

LOVED the book - will see the movie next week.

ComradesTrue · #8 08-09-2011, 10:28 PM

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.

DaffyKD · #9 08-10-2011, 12:42 AM

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

DSTRen13 · #10 08-10-2011, 06:23 AM

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.

als463 · #11 08-10-2011, 07:25 AM

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!

Shellfish · #12 08-10-2011, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blondie93

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

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.

KSig RC · #13 08-10-2011, 01:02 PM

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?

DrPhil · #14 08-10-2011, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSig RC

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.

It never ends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSig RC

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

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."

Munchkin03 · #15 08-10-2011, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSig RC

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?

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.