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The American History in Film Project, «The Help»

film help segregation discrimination The movie represents the American history of the 1960-s and concerns two major problems of that period: racial segregation and gender discrimination.dominant issue the movie is based upon is racial discrimination and segregation of blacks. The 1960-s were characterized by the active Civil rights movement, when more and more people began to fight against racial inequality and segregation, legislated by the Jim Crow laws.movie depicts the life in Mississippi - one of the states where the level of racial discrimination and violence had always been extremely high. Black women had no choice of work, because they were meant to be maids, owned by white families. One of the main characters, Aibileen, had always known she would be a maid, because her mother had been a maid and her grandmother had been a house slave. She accepted it as a normal, because it had been a social standard for generations; and those black women didn’t consider any possibility of a change, because it would mean a rebellion. At first they were scared to rise against the social order. Some people, who did it, lost their jobs, and both Aibileen and Minny faced it; some were shot: Medgar Evers, a prominent figure of the Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated by Ku Klux Klan; some lost their families. It required tremendous courage to risk your job, your family and your life. So for Aibileen and Minny it was a challenge to write the book with Skeeter, as it was against the law, as they said. On the other hand, it seemed even scarier to them to leave their life as it was, because such a life was horrible and someone had to change it. They finally braced themselves and agreed to help Skeeter, as they were inspired and given an example by such heroes as Medgar Evers and players of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, who are mentioned in the movie; and it was time when Aibileen and Minny were offered a real chance to improve the life of their fellows., at first Aibileen finds the idea of telling her story completely insane and tries to dissuade Eugenia from writing the book saying that «Nobody is gonna tell you… It’s the hell of a risk in a place like Jackson». Minny’s reaction is not much different. When they began to work with Skeeter, they still doubted if it was the right thing to do. But throughout the plot their decisiveness grows. First of all, they saw more and more horrible things happening around. The television and the press were announcing more and more information about harassment and abuse of blacks. Secondly, they realized they were tired of segregation themselves. Separate buses, separate dining tables, separate bathrooms outside of the house - maids tolerated all of it. However, when Minny was denied in using the «white» bathroom during a terrible storm and was fired for using it, it seemed too much for her. Besides, one of the most important reasons which prompted Aibileen to write the book was the Bible, and as we know, religion has always been important for Americans. When Skeeter asks Aibileen what changed her mind, her response was «God»; and we will return to the issue of Christianity in «The Help» later.with the black maids, the movie shows us the life of «white» society of the 60-s as accurate as possible.central, core part of this society is occupied by people (in this case we see only women), who are staunch advocates of the old tradition of discrimination and segregation. Most of the movie we see these women together, whether they have a party or just gather in the Hilly’s house to discuss the relationships or their maids. Hilly has a say in every issue, because she is the President of the Junior League of Jackson. She abuses her power, as she imposes her own opinion on everybody. Sometimes it seemed to me that her friends were not so mean and heartless as she was, but they were too weak and afraid to oppose her and express their own opinion on the issues. For example, when at the end of the movie Aibileen, Elizabeth’s maid, was slandered, it was Hilly who showed her the door. Elizabeth was not so decisive, but at Hilly’s insistence she had to fire the maid. These women could not resist Hilly’s power, because saying something that diverged from Hilly’s point of view would basically put them in a position against Hilly and the society, and nobody wanted it. They considered it awful to be like Celia Foote, a social misfit; or like Eugenia Skeeter, who did not have a husband and had to work. Everybody preferred though a dependent, but comfortable and stable life. Throughout the movie Hilly and the people of her «breed» do not change, representing an example of purely negative characters., in the movie there are instances when a person had to yield to the society, but afterwards realized he was wrong. This is the situation with Charlotte Phelon and her maid, whom she had to fire to keep up appearances with the other women. But by the end of the movie we see the improvement in her character: she defends Skeeter by showing deep disrespect towards Hilly and with it - the standards of society.character, who, on the one hand, follows the norms of the society, but on the other hand, opposes them, is Celia Foote. She does not go against the tradition of having maids, but she treats them like friends, she respects them for their qualities and skills and sometimes even downgrades her own position to make a compliment and show respect for her newly found maid Minny. She eats at Minny’s table with her; she asks her for advice and for help; she is grateful for what Minny is doing for her. She even hugs her, when Minny agrees to work for her.for Eugenia - this is an example of a purely positive character, who not only treats maids with respect, but helps them, tries to change their lives, fighting for their «inalienable» human rights. She is strongly emotionally attached to

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