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50 The Help (2011)

Discrimination in ​ the help.

By Alexia Privratsky

Imagine washing dishes and caring for another woman’s children all day, every day, with little to no appreciation or recognition; feeling like the children are your own, due to the fact that you practically raised them. Imagine being an African American woman in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, working as a housemaid, when the civil rights movement was in full motion. Jim Crow laws prohibit you from entering the same stores as white people, sitting in the same bus seats, using the same restroom, and even going to the same schools. You live a life entirely separate from that of white people, yet they still allow you in their home to work for them. This depiction of the lifestyle of African American housemaids in the 1960s is portrayed in the movie, ​ The Help . This movie is about a young woman, named Skeeter, who recently graduated college and has returned to her hometown, Jackson, Mississippi, to work on a project for her career as a journalist. The other white women that are the same age as Skeeter refer to their housemaids as “the help,” who are predominantly African American women. The treatment that the maids receive from the white women sparks unsettlement in Skeeter’s gut, giving her the idea to write a book about the relationship between housemaids and Southern white women. Skeeter eventually has numerous of the housemaids agree to tell her their stories, from which eventually Skeeter is able to publish a book. The main purpose of this movie is to portray the reality of racial discrimination in the 1960s. ​ The Help ​, overall, effectively portrays the magnitude to which racial discrimination impacted the lives of many African Americans in the 1960s through the use of specific visual and audio techniques, including editing, sound design, mise en scene, cinematography, and visual design.

During the 1960s, when ​The Help is set, the civil rights movement had begun to run full force. At this time, people were protesting, sit-ins were taking place at restaurants, the Little Rock Nine made a bold move attending an all-white high school, Rosa Parks got arrested for not giving up her seat, and so on. African American people were pursuing change in the world and were tired of the consistent discrimination that they faced. The director, Tate Taylor, and the producers of ​The Help​wanted to portray the racial discrimination that many African American women faced on an everyday basis, that was not always talked about in the media. The Associate professor of Theater at Tufts University, Monica Ndounou, states the filmmakers’ purpose as well when she states in her book, ​ Shaping the Future of African American Film ​, that “the black female protagonists in each film are intended to appeal to female audiences across color and class lines on the basis of women’s issues.” This shows that not only were the filmmakers of​ The Help ​seeking to portray issues of race, they also included issues regarding women’s rights. The filmmakers were able to convey the importance of the historical component of the movie through using film elements as well, such as mise en scene. The filmmakers created each set to include specific details, such as in the white womens’ homes the scenes had expensive decorations and looked virtually perfect while when the scene shows one of the black womens’ homes, it is not as nice nor particular (12:06 and 41:01). This detail that the filmmakers included also entails the historical importance of the impact that racial discrimination had on class standing. Since black families were not able to pursue the same careers or education that white people had the opportunity to, they often lived very simplistic and poor lives. Overall, this film portrays a very important time in history when minorities were finally embarking upon freedom and independence.

Through the historical component of this film, viewers are also able to determine instances of difference portrayed. The filmmakers were trying to exhibit the large social gap between African Americans and white people during this time period; they accomplished this through including scenes that show the difference in housing, clothing, lifestyles, and careers that different racial groups had. For example, at 8:21 in the film, Hilly, her mother Missus Walters, and Minny are walking down the sidewalk. In this scene, the camera makes a following shot, meaning the camera follows the characters’ movement to keep them in the frame.

This technique accentuates the clothing that each character is wearing: Hilly and her mother are wearing nice dresses and heels while Minny is wearing a maid’s uniform. This technique peaks the attention of viewers at each character’s outfit, and shows the drastic difference that their social classes are through the things they are wearing. Another instance of how the filmmakers portray examples of difference in the film is seen through Skeeter’s character. Although Skeeter is a white woman, she is still widely different from her peers. Exactly like Carol Miles, a professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha, states, “from [Skeeter’s] untamed curly locks to her practical shoes, and seeming lack of interest in marriage and starting a family, she is unconventional by the standards of the day and among her peers.” The filmmakers purposefully create Skeeter’s character to be an outsider to justify her decision of completing illegal acts, such as when she listens to the black womens’ testimonies regarding the treatment they receive from white people (56:26). Due to the time period exemplified in ​ The Help , the filmmakers worked very hard to distinctively portray differences among the black and white characters. Without these differences, the stark laws regarding interracial friendships would not be as understood by the audience. Not only was it dangerous for black and white people to become friends in the 1960s in Mississippi, like Skeeter did with the maids, “it was dangerous in Mississippi for whites and blacks [to even] talk about racial oppression” (Denby). The portrayal of difference in this film has such a heavy importance that without it, the civil rights movement of the 1960s would be inaccurately represented.

Not only are instances of difference among the characters important in the film, instances of the amount of power that different characters have is as well. The filmmakers of ​The Help crafted each character’s socioeconomic standing to represent the amount of power that they had in society. For example, due to the fact that the maids worked for the white women, they were often treated as if they did not have any power in society at all. At 32:24 in the movie, Hilly and Minny have an argument about Minny using Hilly’s restroom, which leads to Minny getting fired. In this scene, the amount of power that Hilly has is seen through the sound design in the film; when Hilly screams at Minny when she hears the toilet flush, she immediately uses her power to fire Minny. This scene directly correlates to the power that black people had in society in the 1960s as well. Manohla Dargis illustrates the degree to which white people had power over their maids when she states that the filmmakers included scenes of Aibileen and Minny “cleaning white houses and polishing the silver — and cooking meals and tending children and smiling, always smiling, even as they pretend not to hear the insults — to remind you that this is at least partly about backbreaking, soul-killing black labor.” Another instance of the portrayal of white power in this movie is when Hilly states that as a Christian, she is doing Yule Mae Davis a favor by not loaning her the money to pay for her sons’ college. This scene uses a medium close-up on Yule’s facial reaction to show the disappointment that she has in Hilly after she says that she would not loan her the money. Overall, the portrayal of power in this film is crucial to the central purpose of the movie, which is to accurately depict the lifestyle of African American women in the 1960s in the South.

Similarly to how difference and power are portrayed in the movie, discrimination is also depicted. In the Southern states amid the civil rights movement, white people were incredibly discriminatory towards African Americans. Due to the fact that the movie, ​The Help, takes place during this time period and the main characters are African American women, discrimination is central to the development of the plot. An example of when discrimination is portrayed is when Hilly finds it unacceptable that the black maids use the white women’s restrooms (14:52). In fact, due to Hilly’s disgust, she refuses to use the restroom despite how badly she has to go. This scene directly illustrates the degree to which black women faced discrimination during this time period; due to their color of skin, they were not allowed to use the same restroom as white people. The filmmakers of the movie were able to use frontality shots and still focus of the camera to isolate Aibileen’s reaction to Hilly’s statement regarding the bathroom, which provides a detailed explanation of the emotions that the black women felt from the discrimination they faced.

Another example of discrimination that is portrayed in the film is when Aibileen and Henry are riding the public bus home when the bus stops at a traffic block and the driver tells the “colored people” to get off the bus so that he can take the white people home (1:21:07). This scene contains numerous different forms of discrimination, from the fact that Aibileen and Henry were riding in the very back of the bus, entirely separate from the white people to the fact that they were forced to walk home. The filmmakers use a medium close-up on Aibileen and Henry before they are forced to get off the bus, to subtly show that they are in the very back of the bus, which is seen ever so slightly to the left of the camera’s focus. This technique enhances the portrayal of discrimination in the film because it adds another aspect of African Americans’ daily lifestyle that was affected by racism. This distinct illustration of racism also contributes to the film’s sole purpose, which is to show​“the​ injustice of black-white race relations in the South at the dawn of the civil rights movement” (Rainer).

Even though the filmmakers of ​The Help ​carefully crafted the film in order to ensure that every detail was accurately portrayed regarding the real-life events during the civil rights movement, there was still a minute amount of criticism. Tiyi Morris, a professor of African American studies at Ohio State University, states that the filmmakers of movies, including those of ​ The Help ​, “continue to ignore or deny the ugliness of racism and race relations throughout our nation’s history, instead opting for a sanitized and ultimately fictitious version of the past.” This was a common criticism of this film, due to the fact that it glazes over the harsh realities of racism and discrimination in the South, such as in lynching and violence. While this statement does contain some truth since ​The Help ​does not portray instances of the true violence that many black people faced during this time, there is valid reasoning as to why the filmmakers did not include such scenes. Since the film is rated PG-13, there are certain requirements that it must fulfill; if the movie were to portray the degree to which black people faced violence, the movie would need to be rated R. Also, the filmmakers made a decent effort in trying to depict the violence that African Americans faced, such as at 1:22:37 in the film, when Minny and Aibileen hear on the radio that a black man was killed by the KKK. Even though the film never shows the instance of the man being killed, the impact that it has on Minny and Aibileen shows enough. The filmmakers implicitly show their audience the violence that black people faced without graphically showing it on screen. So while criticisms of the movie state that the film shows a “fictitious version of the past,” others could counter the argument by showing scenes in the movie where the filmmakers allude to such violence black people faced amidst the civil rights movement (Morris).

The movie, ​ The Help , portrays such a realistic and appalling version of the past that draws viewers in instantaneously. It is because of this reason that I decided to analyze this film. When I first watched ​ The Help , I was astounded to see how white people treated such kind-hearted and hard-working African Americans. It truly broke my heart to see the amount of discrimination and power that white people had over innocent black people. I felt a deep connection to this movie in my heart because of the way that it portrayed white and black people. I found it interesting that while the white women were always trying so hard to look “perfect,” they often had more flaws than their maids. This shows the amount of humor that the filmmakers tried to include into The Help ​, they have a better interpretation of what it was truly like to be an African American in the 1960s. It is through films such as this that the issue of racial discrimination is brought to people’s attention in an urgent matter.

Due to the urgency of the issue regarding racial discrimination, it is important that people place themselves in the shoes of those who are part of racial minorities in order to understand the struggles that they have gone through. For example, imagining you were an African American maid in the South in the 1960s can directly show the treatment that black women received during this time period; not receiving appreciation, being paid incredibly low wages, not being able to use the restroom in the house, and raising another woman’s children as if they were their own are all hardships that these maids faced during this time. The movie, ​ The Help ​, portrays the relationship between black maids and white women to show viewers how influential the civil rights movement was to today’s society; without the civil rights movement, society would not be as progressive as it is today, meaning that even more racial discrimination would exist than what already does. Overall, this film discusses such important topics regarding racial discrimination that everyone should watch it. If we want society to continue to progress towards racial equality, we must first become educated on what initially caused racial tension to understand the pain that many white people have caused other races.

Baek, Su Bin. “Minny Is Using the Guest’s Bathroom Not Maid’s Bathroom | © DreamWorks.” Medium.com,​18 Dec. 2017, medium.com/@subinbaek/the-help-2011-you-is-kind-you-is-smart-you-is-important-5c04de42d28d.

Dargis, Manohla. “‘The Maids’ Now Have Their Say.” New York Times, 10 Aug. 2011, p. C1(L). Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A263841461/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=2f46ca21. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Davis, Sharen. “Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone, Back to Camera) Plays Bridge with Friends Elizabeth Leefolt (Ahna OReilly, from Right), Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard and Jolene French (Anna Camp), While Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) Looks On.” Latimesblogs.latimes.com,​10 Aug. 2011, latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2011/08/sharen-davis-dressing-southern-belles-maid s-for-the-help.html.

Denby, David. “Maids of Honor.” The New Yorker, vol. 87, no. 24, 15 Aug. 2011, p. 96. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A265027401/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=31ab6a75. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Miles, Carol. “The Help.” ​Journal of Religion and Film,vol. 15, no. 2, 2011. ​Gale Academic OneFile​, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A271665744/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=d95a6eda. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Morris, Tiyi M. “(Un)Learning Hollywood’s Civil Rights Movement: a Scholar’s Critique.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 22, no. 4, 2018, p. 407+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573714537/AONE?u=lbcc&sid=AONE&xid=613252ff. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Ndounou, Monica White. ​Shaping the future of African American film​. Rutgers University Press, ebookcentral.proquest.com​,​ https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/linnbenton-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1687285. Accessed 17 11 2020.

Rainer, Peter. “The Help: Movie Review.” Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2011, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=63993388&site=ehost-live.

Robinette, Dale. “Heavy Handed Help Saved by Great Acting,” www.npr.org​,2011, www.npr.org/2011/08/10/139086532/heavy-handed-help-saved-by-great-acting.

Difference, Power, and Discrimination in Film and Media: Student Essays Copyright © by Students at Linn-Benton Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
• Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times. — Walt Disney Pictures
• Jackson, Mississippi, 1963. With the Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation, budding journalist Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan returns to her hometown after graduation. But the vibrant, good-hearted white woman doesn't come home empty-handed: Skeeter has come up with the radical idea to interview local black maids and tell their side of the story in her book, a collection of their distressing, moving stories. As Skeeter gradually wins the cooperation of the fearful African-American housekeepers to dish the dirt on the upper-crust southern families, she inevitably locks horns with bigoted community leaders, arrogant childhood friends, and her family. However, nothing can stop the winds of change--not even the assassination of American civil rights activist Medgar Evers . — Nick Riganas
• In civil-rights era Jackson, Mississippi, 23-year-old Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan ( Emma Stone ), a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi and an aspiring writer, attends a bridge game at the home of her friend Elizabeth Leefolt ( Ahna O'Reilly ). Skeeter's girlhood friends have all gotten married and started families, but Skeeter is disturbed to see how they treat their African American maids. Elizabeth's maid, Aibileen Clark ( Viola Davis ), fields a call from "white trash" Celia Foote ( Jessica Chastain ), who wants to help with a benefit being organized by the Junior League. Elizabeth and fellow socialite Hilly Holbrook ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), head of the local Junior League chapter, laugh at Celia's efforts to be accepted, as they don't think she's up to their social standards. (We learn later that Celia's married to Hilly's former boyfriend, which might have something to do with Hilly's attitude.) Celia mentions to Aibileen that she's looking for a maid. After refusing to use Elizabeth's toilet because Aibileen uses it ("they carry different diseases than we do!"), Hilly describes the Home Health Sanitation Initiative she hopes to get passed in the state legislature. The bill would require white-owned homes to have a separate toilet for the Negro "help." This conversation is conducted within earshot of Aibileen. Skeeter has been assigned to write the Miss Myrna housekeeping column for the local newspaper. Because she has never had to do much housework herself, she asks Aibileen for assistance. In addition to doing all the cooking and cleaning for Elizabeth's family, Aibileen is the de facto mother of Elizabeth's toddler daughter, Mae Mobley ( Eleanor Henry and Emma Henry ), for whom Elizabeth shows heart-rendingly little concern. Every day Aibileen tells Mae Mobley, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." When Skeeter gets home, her mother, Charlotte ( Allison Janney ), is trying on a dress. Charlotte gets Skeeter to try it on and bugs her about still being single. Skeeter mentions the job she landed, and her mother frets that she'll never get married. Charlotte asks whether Skeeter is attracted to women, as she's "heard of an herbal remedy than can cure such 'unnatural' urges." Skeeter is horrified. At dinner that night Skeeter makes a rude remark about liking girls and her mother excuses herself from the table because Skeeter has upset her cancerous ulcer. Skeeter runs to a favorite spot outdoors, a small bench under a tree, and remembers how Constantine ( Cicely Tyson ), the maid who raised her from a child, comforted her when she wasn't asked to a dance. Skeeter desperately misses Constantine, who according to Charlotte quit while Skeeter was away at college. Skeeter can tell there's more to the story, but no one will say what really happened. Disturbed by the sudden loss of Constantine and at how Elizabeth and Hilly treat their own maids with bigoted condescension, Skeeter conceives a writing project: a book about the lives of Jackson's maids. She describes the project to Elaine Stein ( Mary Steenburgen ), an editor in New York, and receives lukewarm encouragement; Elaine doubts that any maids will agree to participate. Skeeter approaches Aibeleen about the book, but Aibileen declines to be interviewed. Hilly's maid, Minny Jackson ( Octavia Spencer ), disobeys Hilly's order not to use the family's bathroom during a violent thunderstorm that makes a trip to the outhouse dangerous. Hilly fires her over the objections of her own mother, Mrs. Walters ( Sissy Spacek ). In retaliation, Minny makes a chocolate pie into which she has baked her own feces, and takes it to Hilly in a fake act of contrition. While Hilly greedily eats two slices, she asks why her mother can't have a slice, to which Minny explains that it's a "special pie, just for Miss Hilly." A moment later Minny tells Hilly, "Eat my shit!" Hilly asks if Minny's lost her mind, and Minny replies, "No, ma'am, but you is about to. 'Cause you just did." Hilly's mother laughs and laughs and Hilly retaliates by having her mother committed to a nursing home. Later that night, Minny's husband beats her while Aibileen listens on the phone. At church the next day, Aibileen hears a sermon about courage and changing her mind, resolves to help Skeeter with her book. She tearfully recounts to Skeeter and Minny the story of her son's death years before: At age twenty-four, Aibileen's son was run over by a truck at his workplace. The white foreman drove him to a colored hospital, dumped him on the ground, honked the horn, and left. By that point it was too late to save him, so Aibileen brought him home, where he died on the sofa right before her eyes. She expresses her pain, saying "The anniversary of his death comes every year, and every year I can't breathe. But to you all, it's just another day of bridge." She becomes even more invested in the dangerous book project. Meanwhile Minny goes to work for Celia Foote, who's had no luck breaking into the Junior League social set and is therefore somewhat isolated. Celia pays Minny under the table because she doesn't want her husband to know that she has no domestic skills. Although she is generally suspicious of white people, Minny finds herself becoming more comfortable around Celia, who is bubbly and treats Minny with respect, but is deeply insecure. Minny improves Celia's dismal cooking skills by teaching her how to make fried chicken on her first day. They bond further when Celia suffers her fourth miscarriage. While Minny helps her into bed and soothes her, Celia is overwrought. She reveals that she married her husband Johnny ( Mike Vogel ) because she was pregnant, but quickly lost the baby and hasn't told him about the three failed pregnancies that followed. She worries that she will never be able to have children. Hilly's new maid, Yule Mae ( Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor ), explains to her employer that her twin sons have graduated high school and that she and her husband have been saving for years to send them to college. However, they are short $75 on one tuition, and are on the verge of having to choose which son can go. Yule Mae respectfully asks Hilly for a loan, saying that she will gladly work for free until the loan is paid off. Hilly refuses, explaining that it's "the Christian thing" to do because God does not give charity to those who are well and able. While vacuuming Hilly's living room later, Yule Mae finds a ring, which she pockets and later tries to pawn, hoping to get the tuition money. Hilly finds out and has Yule Mae arrested at the bus stop in front of the other maids, all of whom are deeply shaken by the event. Aibileen recruits a reluctant Minny into the book project, but Elaine Stein (who's warming to the idea) insists the book will need at least a dozen voices -- including the story of Skeeter's own relationship with Constantine. After Yule Mae's arrest, nearly all the local maids volunteer to help with the book. Though she has changed the names of everyone involved, Skeeter remains concerned that people will recognize the maids and create more trouble for the Negro community in the wake of the recent murder of Medgar Evars. Minny insists that they include the story about Hilly and the chocolate pie -- which she refers to as her "terrible awful" -- as insurance against being identified; an embarrassed Hilly will not want anyone to know that she ingested her maid's feces and will do all she can to convince everyone that the book isn't about Jackson. Hilly has several times directed Skeeter, who writes the Junior League newsletter, to include an item about her proposed "sanitation initiative," but Skeeter keeps putting her off. Now Hilly adds an item about a charity coat drive, the coats for which are to be dropped off at Hilly's house. Skeeter includes both items, but changes "coats" to something else. The next day Elizabeth gets a call and rushes herself, Mae Mobley, and Aibileen over to Hilly's, where Hilly is screaming, "I told her to write 'coats'! Not 'commodes'!" On Hilly's lawn are about 40 toilets. While Hilly continues her histrionics, Mae Mobley innocently sits on a toilet and Elizabeth slaps her till she sobs. Mae Mobley runs to Aibileen, who holds her and whispers, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Skeeter eventually pries the story of Constantine's departure out of her mother: Charlotte fired Constantine because Constantine's daughter Rachel ( LaChanze ) refused to use the back door and embarrassed Charlotte while she was hosting an important DAR luncheon. Charlotte regretted it and tried to get Constantine to come back, going so far as to send her son, Skeeter's brother, to Constantine's new home in Chicago, but by the time he got there, Constantine had died. Skeeter's book The Help is published anonymously, and soon everyone in Jackson is reading it. True to Minny's prediction, Hilly is horrified to find the chocolate pie story therein and goes out of her way to assure her friends that The Help isn't about Jackson. Skeeter splits the advance she receives evenly among all the maids, promising that more is on the way. She's offered a job at the publishing house in New York, which she is disinclined to take, but Aibileen and Minny insist that she must. Stuart Whitworth ( Christopher Lowell ), whom Skeeter has been dating, breaks up with Skeeter when he finds out it was she who wrote The Help. Hilly also figures out who wrote the book and storms over to Skeeter's house in a drunken fury. She threatens to tell Skeeter's mother, but Charlotte kicks Hilly off her property after insulting her and insinuating she knows about the pie. Charlotte tells Skeeter to take the job in New York, which Skeeter does, and Charlotte tells her she's proud of her. Celia works hard to prepare a lavish meal for Minny in gratitude for all she has done. Celia's husband, who has known all along that Minny is working for Celia, tells Minny she will have a job with them for as long as she wants it. Inspired, Minny leaves her abusive husband, taking their children with her. One of the final scenes shows Hilly taking in her mail. One item is a check for $200, a donation from Celia to the Junior League benefit. When she sees that the check is made out to "Two-Slice Hilly," she throws a tantrum and tears it up. Hilly, falsely claiming that Aibileen has stolen some silverware, browbeats the weak-willed Elizabeth into firing Aibileen. When alone with Aibileen, Hilly cruelly tells her that while she cannot send Aibileen to jail for her involvement in the book, she can send her "for being a thief." Aibileen snaps and finally stands up to Hilly, calling her a "godless woman" for her false accusations and for her conniving and backstabbing ways, at which Hilly bursts into tears of rage and leaves. Mae Mobley begs Aibileen not to leave her. They share a tearful goodbye, during which Aibileen repeats her affirming mantra: "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Elizabeth shows a rare glimpse of emotion, tearing up as she watches Mae Mobley bang on the window, crying for Aibileen to return. As she walks away, Aibileen promises herself that she will become a writer, as her son had encouraged her to do.

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by Kathryn Stockett

The help themes, race and racism.

Racism manifests in the lives of the black maids in a number of ways: they are denied opportunities for educational or professional advancement, they perform repetitive work for white families, they must curtail their speech to prevent violence, and they must use separate facilities. Perhaps most damaging of all, black people are constantly exposed to social messages telling them that they are dirty, lazy, and in all respects less than white people.

Even the way the book is written hearkens back to this central theme. When writing from the perspective of the black maids Aibileen and Minny, Stockett uses an antiquated form of speech. While this is meant to lend authenticity to their voices, it also makes them sound uneducated and makes it somewhat difficult to relate to them.

The Help also suggests that it is possible to cross this racial divide. In addition to anecdotes about rude or abusive employers, we hear stories of maids who have very close relationships with the white families for whom they work. Through her efforts to be a mouthpiece for the black maids of Jackson, Skeeter develops a close friendship with Aibileen and Minny. It's possible, through effort and understanding, to begin to heal the wounds of racism.

Mothers and Daughters

Mothers and daughters have difficult but deeply loving relationships. The Help examines several different types of mother-daughter relationships.

Elizabeth Leefolt has a strained relationship with her mother, who is aloof and demanding; she continues this unhealthy dynamic by being neglectful and critical of her own daughter, Mae Mobley . There's also an indication that mother-daughter relationships are not necessarily dependent on blood ties. For example, Aibileen acts as a mother to Mae Mobley, not only taking care of her day-to-day needs but also teaching her to be kind to others and to always have respect for herself.

Skeeter has a difficult but loving relationship with her mother, who is constantly pressuring her daughter to dress better and catch a man. Skeeter later discovers that this critical edge is tempered by love; her mother has cancer, and she wants to make sure her daughter has a good life after she is gone. Though Skeeter's mother often bosses her daughter, she also stands up for her at critical moments, such as during her conflicts with Hilly and Stuart.

Love and Friendship

The Help takes a close look at many types of love, some of them unlikely and fraught with difficulties. The close bond between black caretakers and white children (Aibileen and Mae Mobley, as well as Skeeter and Constantine) show that nurturing love is not limited to blood relationships. As we see later in the book, this bond is often unfairly complicated by the strictures of a racist society.

Because of her new consciousness regarding race, Skeeter causes a rupture in her friendships with Hilly and Elizabeth Leefolt. Through a series of events (the discovery of the Jim Crow materials, the toilet prank, Hilly's comment about Stuart), these lifelong friendships are torn apart. But we also see how new friendships can emerge out of the ashes of old ones: it is Aibileen and Minny with whom Skeeter celebrates her new job in New York City.

The novel also focuses on different types of romantic love. Despite his affection for Skeeter, Stuart cannot get over the betrayal of his fiancée, Patricia van Devender, and his attempts to build a new relationship with Skeeter continuously fail. On the other hand, Celia and Johnny have a deeply loving relationship, triumphing over class differences, infertility, and social disapproval.

A Writer's Life

What does it mean to be a writer? The journey to publish the book is not an easy one. After an initial stroke of luck in catching Elaine Stein 's attention, Skeeter struggles to develop her ideas, conduct interviews, write the book, and find a publisher. Each step is fraught with difficulties; for example, she must complete the book in only a few weeks in order to send it in for the annual editor's meeting. Skeeter spends many long nights typing until her hands are covered with ink and paper cuts, but she ultimately prevails.

Skeeter is not the only prospective writer in the book. Despite her academic excellence, Aibileen was forced to drop out of school to support her family. However, she writes down her prayers every day, continuing to build her skills in writing. Assisting Skeeter with the book about the maids gives her the chance to showcase her writing skills, and she eventually becomes the first black author of the Miss Myrna column. At the end of the novel, she thinks about developing her writing career even more.

Being a Woman

The varying difficulties faced by women constitute another major theme in the book. In the workplace, Minny struggles with the possibility of being fired due to her outspoken personality; at home, she is violently abused by her husband. Aibileen must cope with the sorrow of her son's untimely death at the same time that she tries to support the neglected Mae Mobley. Skeeter is struggling with a world that does not value her professional ambitions and tries to force her into the narrow roles of wife and mother. Celia Foote deals with a series of miscarriages and her social isolation, which is worsened by her desire to be a capable wife to her beloved husband. Each of these women struggle to overcome these difficulties, but they also forge close bonds with other women over shared problems.

Doing the Right Thing

Even when everything in the world is trying to tell you what to do and what to believe, you need to make your own path. The central protagonists recognize that the current state of race relations is wrong, and work to correct it. Aibileen strives to teach racial equality and acceptance to Mae Mobley. Minny persists in working on the book about the maids despite the danger it puts her in with her own husband and Hilly. Skeeter continues working towards racial justice despite the rift it causes between her and her two best friends.

Southern Values

The Help is a window onto the mid-century south, giving the reader vivid impressions of the beautiful landscapes and warm culture. This includes positive qualities such as friendliness and generosity; we see these close social ties in the ways that family members treat one another. Yet it also includes racism, segregation, and misogyny, which are evident in the violent enforcement of the separation between races, and the lack of professional options for white women.

The Help Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Help is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is the conclution of the drama?

In the final chapter, all three of the main characters (Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen) are poised on the edge of a great change in their lives. Skeeter's new beginning is a bit more promising than that of the others; though she cannot publicly...

What role does mothers and daughters play in the play?

Elizabeth Leefolt has a strained relationship with her mother, who is aloof and demanding; she...

What Page number is this quote on?

Page numbers differ depending on the copy you have.

Study Guide for The Help

The Help study guide contains a biography of Kathryn Stockett, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Help
• The Help Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Help

The Help essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

• Devastation Through Segregation
• Internalized language stereotypes within The Help
• The Problem of Female Identity: Restrictive Gender Constructs in 'The Help' and in Plath's Poetry
• Trauma and Racism: 'The Help' as Understood in Print, in Film, and in Scholarly Sources
• Challenging Behaviors and the Audience

Lesson Plan for The Help

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Help
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Help Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Help

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• Film adaptation
• Awards and honors

Kathryn Stockett

• Literature Notes
• Book Summary
• Character List and Analysis
• "Eugenia ""Skeeter"" Phelan"
• Hilly Holbrook
• Celia Rae Foote
• Minor Characters
• Summary and Analysis
• Chapters 1-2
• Chapters 3-4
• Chapters 5-6
• Chapters 8-9
• Chapters 11-13
• Chapters 14-16
• Chapters 17-18
• Chapters 19-21
• Chapters 22-23
• Chapters 27-28
• Character Map
• Cite this Literature Note

The Help , Kathryn Stockett's debut novel, tells the story of black maids working in white Southern homes in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, and of Miss Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a 22-year-old graduate from Ole Miss, who returns to her family's cotton plantation, Longleaf, to find that her beloved maid and nanny, Constantine, has left and no one will tell her why. Skeeter tries to behave as a proper Southern lady: She plays bridge with the young married women; edits the newsletter for the Junior League; and endures her mother's constant advice on how to find a man and start a family. However, Skeeter's real dream is to be a writer, but the only job she can find is with the Jackson Journal writing a housekeeping advice column called "Miss Myrna." Skeeter knows little about housekeeping, so she turns to her friend's maid, Aibileen, for answers and finds a lot more.

Aibileen works tirelessly raising her employer's child (Aibileen's seventh one) and keeps a tidy house, yet none of this distracts her from the recent loss of her own son who died in an accident at work while his white bosses turned away. Two events bring Skeeter and Aibileen even closer: Skeeter is haunted by a copy of Jim Crow laws she found in the library, and she receives a letter from a publisher in New York interested in Skeeter's idea of writing the true stories of domestic servants.

Skeeter approaches Aibileen with the idea to write narratives from the point of view of 12 black maids. Aibileen reluctantly agrees, but soon finds herself as engrossed in the project as Skeeter. They meet clandestinely in the evenings at Aibileen's house to write the book together as the town's struggles with race heat up all around them. Aibileen brings in her best friend, Minny, a sassy maid who is repeatedly fired for speaking her mind, to tell her story, too. Hearing their stories changes Skeeter as her eyes open to the true prejudices of her upbringing. Aibileen and Minny also develop a friendship and understanding with Skeeter that neither believed possible.

Along the way, Skeeter learns the truth of what happened to her beloved maid, Constantine. Constantine had given birth, out of wedlock, to Lulabelle who turned out to look white even though both parents were black. Neither the black nor the white community would accept Lulabelle, so Constantine gave her up for adoption when she was four years old. When the little girl grew up, she and Constantine were reunited. While Skeeter was away at college, Lulabelle came to visit her mother in Jackson and showed up at a party being held in Skeeter's mother's living room. When Charlotte Phelan discovered who Lulabelle was, she kicked her out and fired Constantine. Constantine had nowhere else to go, so she moved with her daughter to Chicago and an even worse fate. Skeeter never saw Constantine again.

Skeeter's book is set in the fictional town of Niceville and published anonymously. It becomes a national bestseller and, soon, the white women of Jackson begin recognizing themselves in the book's characters. Hilly Holbrook, in particular, is set on vengeance due to the details in the book. Hilly and Skeeter grew up best friends, but they now have very different views on race and the future of integration in Mississippi. Hilly, who leads the Junior League and bosses around the other white women in the town, reveals to Stuart, Skeeter's boyfriend, that she found a copy of the Jim Crow laws in Skeeter's purse, which further ostracizes Skeeter from their community.

In the end, it is a secret about Hilly that Minny reveals in Skeeter's book that silences Hilly. The book becomes a powerful force in giving a voice to the black maids and causes the community of Jackson to reconsider the carefully drawn lines between white and black.

Next "Eugenia ""Skeeter"" Phelan"

Kathryn Stockett

Everything you need for every book you read..

Set in Jackson, Mississippi, the novel begins in August 1962 with Aibileen Clark , a middle-aged black domestic worker, taking care of Elizabeth Leefolt’s only child, Mae Mobley . Miss Leefolt, a white housewife, neglects her daughter, but Aibileen showers Mae Mobley with affection. The novel opens with a luncheon at Leefolt’s house where the 23-year-old white women Hilly Holbrook and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan discuss Hilly’s initiative to pass a bill that would require every white household to have a separate bathroom for black housemaids. Disgusted by Hilly’s idea, Skeeter finds Aibileen and asks if she ever wished she could change things. Unwilling to express her true feelings to a white woman, Aibileen says that everything is fine.

A few days later, Minny Jackson , another black maid and Aibileen’s best friend, loses her job working for Hilly’s mother. Hilly has also spread rumors about Minny being a thief so none of the other neighbors will hire her. Minny tells Aibileen that she took revenge on Hilly, but she won’t give her the details, only telling her that it involved a pie . Minny ultimately finds work with the white housewife Celia Foote , a woman none of the white housewives in the community befriends because she comes from a working class background. Celia is kind to Minny and does not treat her any differently for being black.

Meanwhile, Skeeter gets a job writing an advice column about housekeeping for the Jackson Journal . Since she knows nothing about cleaning or cooking, she goes to her friend Elizabeth Leefolt’s house to ask Aibileen, her maid, some questions. While interviewing her, Skeeter learns that Aibileen’s recently deceased son had been writing a book on his experiences working for white men in Mississippi. Seeing firsthand how her friends treat their maids, Skeeter, who wants to be a writer herself, gets the idea to interview Aibileen about her experiences for a book about black domestic workers in the South.

At first, Aibileen declines to be interviewed for fear of losing her job or being targeted by white racists for publically criticizing white women. Aibileen changes her mind in order to help stop the racism that people like Miss Hilly are perpetuating in Jackson. Minny also tells her stories to Skeeter, but all the other maids in the community are too scared to talk. Skeeter also steals a book on the Jim Crow laws, which Hilly unluckily finds in her satchel. Thinking that Skeeter may be a secret integrationist, Hilly distances herself from her and tells the other women in the community to shun her.

Hilly’s maid, Yule May , steals a ring from Hilly so that she can afford to put her twins through college. Yule had originally asked Hilly for a loan before stealing the ring, but Hilly had refused. Despite the fact that Yule May was a loyal maid for so many years, Hilly uses her influence to have Yule thrown in jail overnight. Seething with anger at the injustice, the other maids agree to contribute their stories to Skeeter’s book.

When the book is nearly complete, Skeeter starts to worry that the maid’s pseudonyms won’t be enough to stop the Jackson housewives from figuring out that the book is about them. Minny decides to tell Aibileen and Skeeter about what she did to Hilly as “protection.” As revenge for ruining her chances of finding work, Minny baked Hilly a pie with her own feces in it and fed it to her. When Hilly reads this story in the book, she’ll know for sure that the book is about Jackson, but she’ll also use her influence to steer people away from coming to the same conclusion about the setting so that she can protect herself from the humiliation of people finding out that she ate a black woman’s excrement pie.

When the book gets published, people in Jackson start to realize the book is about them, but Minny’s plan works and Hilly tries to convince them otherwise. Skeeter ends up accepting a job as an editorial assistant in New York and, after a tearful goodbye with Aibileen, picks up and goes. Hilly, however, still tries to take revenge on the maids. Figuring out that Aibileen must have had a role in the project, Hilly has Elizabeth fire her. Even so, Aibileen, who has taken over Skeeter’s job writing the housekeeping column for the Jackson Journal , leaves Miss Leefolt’s house feeling unburdened and free now that she’s told the stories. The book ends with Aibileen feeling ready to write more about her life and experiences.

71 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-13

Chapters 14-18

Chapters 19-22

Chapters 23-26

Chapters 27-29

Chapters 30-34

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Socio-Historical Context

Stockett places the novel in a specific location and point in American history: Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960s. Although the novel’s plot events are fictional, she incorporates true historical events and social attitudes to provide a portrait of real life at this time in Jackson, and in the United States at large.

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Stream These 12 Movies Before They Leave Netflix in April

A Ryan Gosling detective comedy, a Formula One racing drama and the romantic musical “Mamma Mia!” are among the movies exiting the streaming service.

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By Jason Bailey

Fast cars, jazz drummers, time travelers, bounty hunters — you’ll find everything but the kitchen sink in this month’s roundup of noteworthy titles leaving Netflix in the United States. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)

‘The Nice Guys’ (April 8)

Stream it here .

Ryan Gosling is having a bit of a moment — he may not have won the Oscar for best supporting actor, but he won the Oscars telecast for his performance of “I’m Just Ken” — and those who prefer the intense actor in his loosey-goosey comic mode would be wise to check out this 2016 comedy-mystery. Gosling stars as a bumbling private detective who teams up with a bone-breaker-for-hire (an uproariously gregarious Russell Crowe) to solve a convoluted missing person case. The co-writer and director is Shane Black, who helped popularize the buddy-action comedy with his “Lethal Weapon” screenplay, and subsequently perfected it here and in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Keep an eye out for the up-and-comers Angourie Rice (“Mean Girls”) and Margaret Qualley (“Drive Away Dolls”) in supporting roles.

‘Rush’ (April 15)

Ron Howard spent a fair amount of his youth appearing in vroom-vroom car movies like “American Graffiti,” “Eat My Dust” and “Grand Theft Auto” — the latter marking his feature directorial debut — so it’s not surprising that he was drawn to this thrilling dramatization of the mid-70s glory days of Formula One racing. He tells the story of a rivalry between two of the sport’s stars: James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), a study in contrasts, the matinee idol and the ugly duckling, the party boy and the teetotaler. The nuanced screenplay by Peter Morgan (who penned Howard’s earlier “Frost/Nixon,” and would go on to create “The Crown”) mines the complexities of their relationship, while the thrilling race sequences effectively place us in the driver’s seat through the hairiest moments of trading paint.

‘Synchronic’ (April 15)

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead make brainy sci-fi pictures, small-scale indie movies like “The Endless” and “Something in the Dirt” that traffic in ideas over special effects. This 2019 effort was the closest they’ve come to a play for the cinematic mainstream, casting Marvel mainstay Anthony Mackie and “Fifty Shades” star Jamie Dornan in the leading roles. But their signature style and thematic occupations remain thankfully intact in this tale of two New Orleans paramedics who discover the mind-bending effects of a new designer drug. The central conceit is ingenious, but the filmmakers don’t just rely on its cleverness; there are genuine, human stakes, and the payoff is refreshingly poignant.

‘The Hateful Eight’ (April 24)

Quentin Tarantino followed “Django Unchained” by again riffing on the venerable Western genre, this time by crossing it with the Agatha Christie-style “locked room” mystery. He populates his story, of a poisoning in a tucked-away haberdashery during a deadly blizzard in the post-Civil War West, with faces familiar from his previous films, including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen; they’re joined by an Oscar-nominated Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a particularly foul-mouthed and ill-tempered mood. Tempers flare, blood is shed and vulgarities fly in typical Tarantino fashion, but in its unflinching portraiture of the racial hostilities of a splintered country, the work is by no means exclusive to its period setting. (Also leaving on April 24: the Netflix-exclusive “ The Hateful Eight Extended Version ,” which adds footage and breaks the film up into four one-hour episodes.)

‘Malignant’ (April 26)

James Wan started out directing bone-crunching horror pictures like “Saw,” “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” before going mainstream with “Furious 7,” “Aquaman” and its sequel. Between those two superhero flicks, he directed this gloriously unhinged, go-for-broke horror thriller, in which a young woman (Annabelle Wallis) is haunted by visions of grisly murders — visions that prove to be true, and suggest some sort of a psychic link to the brutal killer. If that sounds slightly peculiar, boy, just you wait . The screenplay by “M3GAN” writer Akela Cooper (with story assists from Wan and Ingrid Bisu) is an admirably unrestrained trip into the genre’s wilder corners, full of inventive kills, bananas story turns and cuckoo supporting characters, all rendered in a baroque, hurdy-gurdy visual style.

‘13 Going on 30’ (April 30)

Just in time for its 20th anniversary on April 23, this likably goofy and endlessly charming romantic comedy is, essentially, a gender-swapped remake of the beloved “Big,” this time with Jennifer Garner as a 13-year-old whose birthday wish to be “30 and flirty and thriving” unexpectedly comes true. Garner is warm and endearing, a loose-limbed wonder at capturing the awkward gawkiness of a teen trapped in an ill-fitting body, while recent Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo finds just the right mixture of confusion and sweetness as her childhood friend who’s become quite the babe.

‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ (April 30)

Fannie Flagg’s best-selling book “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” got the big-screen treatment in 1991, via director Jon Avnet (“Up Close and Personal”). It tells two stories: Kathy Bates is a housewife who finds escape from her unsatisfying life in the stories a nursing home resident (Jessica Tandy) tells her about her hometown; Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Cicely Tyson are among the residents whose yarns she spins. Some of the edges of Flagg’s book have been sanded down to make this cozy sweater of an adaptation, which is regrettable — but as it stands, it’s a lovely film, capably crafted and poignantly played.

‘Twins’ / ‘Kindergarten Cop’ (April 30)

Stream ‘Twins’ here and ‘Kindergarten Cop’ here .

Arnold Schwarzenegger may have put on a stone-faced persona for his breakthrough role in “The Terminator,” but there was always a sly sense of humor to his performances in even his most serious action movies. So it wasn’t a huge stretch when he teamed with “Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman to make his first starring comedy, 1988’s “Twins,” alongside Danny DeVito — a broad and sometimes obvious high-concept giggle-fest that is carried considerably by the charisma and chemistry of its leads. It was such a big hit that Schwarzenegger and Reitman re-teamed two years later for “Kindergarten Cop,” which found the star pointedly sending up his own tough-guy image as a bruiser of a big-city cop who goes undercover in a suburban grade school.

‘Mamma Mia!’ / ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ (April 30)

Stream ‘Mamma Mia!’ here and ‘Here We Go Again’ here .

The long-running Broadway jukebox musical , featuring the zippy music of the ’70s pop group Abba, was something of a punchline for New Yorkers, a go-to example of how far the Great White Way had gone in its relentless pursuit of tourist dollars. But the 2008 film adaptation (directed, as the stage production was, by Phyllida Lloyd) is altogether irresistible, offering up the peculiar but undeniable pleasure of heavyweight thespians like Meryl Streep, Stellan Skarsgard and Amanda Seyfried indulging in their inner theater kid. It was such a hit that most of the major players returned a decade later for “Here We Go Again” — and while it doesn’t quite match the frothy pleasures of the original, it does add Cher, and that’s not nothing.

‘Whiplash’ (April 30)

The “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle’s breakthrough feature was this 2014 hybrid of sports movie and musical melodrama, in which a young jazz drummer (Miles Teller) at a Juilliard-inspired music school comes under the tutelage — or, perhaps, the thumb — of a tough-as-nails professor and conductor (J.K. Simmons). It’s a complicated tale, working within an established milieu while simultaneously interrogating it, and grappling with the implications of time-told tales of the sacrifices one must make in pursuit of excellence. Teller is an ideal anchor for such a story, projecting a mixture of both arrogance and uncertainty, and Simmons deservedly won an Oscar for his nightmare-fuel performance as the merciless mentor.

ALSO LEAVING: ‘ Marshall ’ (April 7); ‘ The Zookeeper’s Wife ’ (April 15); ‘ Train to Busan ’ (April 22); ‘ Apollo 13 ,’ ‘ Elvis ,’ ‘ Erin Brockovich ,’ ‘ Joker ,’ ‘ Jurassic Park ,’ ‘ Silver Linings Playbook ,’ ‘ Step Brothers ’ (April 30).

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, kim's video.

Now streaming on:

“Kim’s Video” reaches so hard for quirky profundity that it falls on its face. It’s a real shame because there’s an interesting story buried in this frustrating film. From the ‘80s to when it closed in the ‘00s, Kim’s Video was a vital force for the love of independent cinema. It curated a culture that valued art above everything else, including whether or not some of the VHS tapes they were renting were 100% legal. Personally, my working at video stores in the ‘80s and ‘90s cultivated my love for the form, and I regret the fact that my kids can’t walk the aisles of a place like Kim’s Video, stumbling onto something that might change their life. And it’s fascinating how many former employees of Kim’s are artists now, including the great Robert Greene (“ Procession ”), Sean Price Williams (“ The Sweet East ”), and Alex Ross Perry (“ Listen Up Philip ”), all interviewed in this doc. Where will young directors get the kind of on-job education they did in video stores?

All of this is fertile ground for a film like “Kim’s Video,” but co-director David Redmon (who is credited alongside Ashley Sabin ) can’t find the story he wants to tell. It feels like the idea was to approach a counter-culture mecca like Kim’s Video with a counter-culture style—there’s a reason this was in the NEXT program at Sundance instead of one of the doc ones—but the constant returning to David’s story instead of the store or even founder Yong-man Kim is infuriating. Redmon narrates ALL of “Kim’s Video” as it unfolds, often interjecting film clips that he thinks amplifies his point but feel like the most basic Film 101 choices that only serve to exaggerate what’s happening to him. He didn’t find an ear in a field like “ Blue Velvet ”. He is not like the characters in “ Blow Out ” or “ The Conversation .” Lord help me, he did not do an “ Argo .”

So what did David Redmon do? Here’s where “Kim’s Video” gets weird. What starts as a document of an organization becomes obsessed with what happened after it closed instead of the impact it had when it was open. In 2008, Kim announced that Mondo Kim’s would close and that he would sell the collection, ending up working a deal with the city of Salemi in Sicily, a place that was trying to rebuild a reputation as an artist’s community after being devastated by an earthquake. Promising great things for the collection, Kim agreed, only for it to be basically buried out of sight and used as capital for other art projects but not displayed in any way.

Redmon gets it in his head to “rescue” the collection, traveling to Salemi multiple times to interview politicians and other key figures, washing all of it in the broadest Italian stereotypes one could imagine. He doesn’t just pull out the Scorsese clips, he claims in is narration to be frightened as someone he’s following stops under a bridge, saying, “We’re under a highway—this is where people go to get murdered.” And then nothing happens.

Almost everything that happens in Salemi feels forced into Redmon and Sabin’s filmmaking vision instead of what actually goes down or might be interesting. It’s as if they set out to make a film like what they loved at Kim’s Video and then forced all the square pegs into the round holes in an effort to make that happen. The approach leads to clunky pacing and obfuscation of the real story here. Yes, Kim’s Video was important, and saving its archive is important, but a better film would pull back from the over-played experiences of the person making it to tell the whole story instead bouncing all over the place and injecting clips that serve no purpose other than to call attention to the filmmaker’s alleged knowledge base. Kim’s Video created thousands of film fans, and even a few filmmakers—the film with the same name loses the macro story of why this place mattered in the micro one of the person trying to tell it.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Screen Rant

What happened to mike williams in real life after deepwater horizon.

Mark Wahlberg plays real-life Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams in the 2016's Deepwater Horizon, but the disaster film doesn't cover it all.

Spoilers are ahead for 2016's Deepwater Horizon .

• Mike Williams testified shortly after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, facing 28 lawyers' questions in a hotel conference room while still wearing his hospital gown.
• The real-life Mike Williams now lives with PTSD, which is partly why he left the oil industry to start his own construction company.
• The Deepwater Horizon disaster resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history, with 210 million gallons spilled.

The ending of 2016's Deepwater Horizon may leave some viewers wondering more about what happened to the real-life Mike Williams after the film's titular tragedy. Played by Mark Wahlberg in the disaster film, Mike Williams was a Chief Electronics Technician tasked with preparing a drill team for an operation off the coast of Louisiana. The oil drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon , was helmed by private contractor Transocean, though the company was operating on behalf of BP. The biographical diaster movie is based on the events of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

...the Deepwater Horizon tragedy irrevocably altered the real-life Mike Williams' life.

Deepwater Horizon 's true story hinges on survivors' accounts as well as a notable New York Times article on the subject, "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours." The film wisely foreshadows the explosion by highlighting the operation's failure to adhere to the industry's strict safety code. In particular, Mike and Offshore Installation Manager Jimmy " Mr. Jimmy " Harrell (Kurt Russell) are both surprised that Transocean hasn't thoroughly tested recently completed cement work . Eventually, that cement job fails, triggering a massive blowout. Ultimately, the Deepwater Horizon tragedy irrevocably altered the real-life Mike Williams' life.

Mike Williams Had To Give A Full Testimony Less Than 2 Weeks After Surviving The Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Mark wahlberg's real-life character couldn't move on in the wake of the tragedy.

After the cement job fails and causes a blowout that kills a majority of the drill team, a chain of equipment malfunctions and other missteps lead to the oil igniting. In turn, this kills several other drill site workers, prompting the rig's Dynamic Position Operator, Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez), to try and alert the Coast Guard of the ongoing incident. Overruled by her captain, Andrea is told to stand down since the rig itself hasn't erupted in flames — yet . When the rig is consumed by flames , oil starts spewing from the site and into the ocean.

Before the credits roll, Deepwater Horizon showcases a series of real-life clips...

The harrowing experience sees Mike and his colleagues struggling to save one another from a domino-effect of disasters. Against all odds, Mike and some other rig workers survive the night and are saved by a rescue team. However, Mike's real-life experience doesn't conclude at Deepwater Horizon 's ending . Before the credits roll, Deepwater Horizon showcases a series of clips, including testimony from the real-life Mike Williams, which he delivered just two weeks after the disaster. Immediately after his release from the hospital, Mike answered 28 lawyers' questions in a hotel conference room (via Financial Post ).

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Mike williams left the oil industry & struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, the challenges of his ordeal didn't immediately end for mike williams.

Frustratingly, only two people, Donald Vidrine and Robert Kaluza, were prosecuted for their involvement in the tragedy. While Vidrine and Kaluza were charged with the 11 Deepwater Horizon disaster deaths , the film reveals that the charges were ultimately dismissed by 2015. Meanwhile, the blowout lasted a staggering 87 days, spilling roughly 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Based on those statistics alone, the Deepwater Horizon incident is the worst oil disaster in U.S. history . For survivors like Mike Williams, however, the experience took an even greater toll — both at the moment and afterward.

Mike and Andrea manage to leap into the water just before the massive explosion...

While trying to evacuate the scene, Mike coaches Andrea through a panic attack. Moments later, the oil in the well ignites, destroying the rig. Mike and Andrea manage to leap into the water just before the massive explosion. Undoubtedly, the movie takes some Hollywood-style liberties with its action sequences, but the intensity of the scenes gets at the core of just how traumatic it felt to live through the explosion. As a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster — and the company's irresponsibility — Mike Williams lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Why Deepwater Horizon Was A Box Office Failure (Despite Good Reviews)

Mike williams owns a construction company & speaks out to help prevent similar disasters, the real mike williams wants others to learn from his harrowing experiences.

According to Mike Williams, most of the so-called accidents that happen on oil rigs aren't accidents at all. Outfits that operate in the oil industry pride themselves on drilling product as fast as possible. What Mike calls " decision problems " generally stem from assumptions, incorrect data analysis, and a pressing need to work faster, regardless of conditions or the state of the drilling team's equipment. After the events depicted in Deepwater Horizon , Mike Williams left the oil drilling industry to form his own construction company, though he still speaks out about his experience in the hopes of preventing future disasters.

As of April 2024, Deepwater Horizon is streaming on Max.

Deepwater Horizon

Deepwater Horizon is a 2016 disaster film based on the BP oil spill. Directed by Peter Berg and based on a story by Matthew Sand, the film chronicles a mishandling of an oceanic drilling job that leads to a massive explosion and mass amounts of oil leaking into the ocean depths.

Source: Financial Post