'The Help': Emma Stone Stars In Inspiring Civil Rights Film (VIDEO)

Emma Stone puts her hair in tight curls and puts on a Mississippi southern accent for her latest film, an inspiring civil rights tale called "The Help."

Starring as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, Stone plays the enlightened college girl who comes back to her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi and sees old, dark traditions in a whole new light. As a new columnist for her local paper, she works to take up the cause of the horribly discriminated against black household maids, the women who helped raise her and deserve far better than that which her friends that stayed at home are subjecting them to.

Fearful of retribution, it takes an act of God and a lot of persistence to get her maid Aibileen (Viola Davis) and then Aibileen's friend Minny (Octavia Spencer) to cooperate. What comes out of it, though, is a truly groundbreaking movement.

It's a role that was meant for Stone, said Kathryn Stockett, the author of the controversial, best selling book on which the film is based.

"The minute I met [Stone], I knew I couldn't see whatever Skeeter looked in my head as a blonde because she was replaced by Emma," Stockett told People Magazine in November. "She was so clearly that person. And her mom is from Baton Rouge, so she got the accent."

WATCH:

Comments

[Onyx M]

07:08 PM on 04/24/2011

Sadly, the book simply ressurected negative slurs against the black culture and passed them off as "humor". And from the neck craning, eye stretching and dirty looks the maids give in the trailer, expect more of the same in the film, along with the white females acting shrilly and silly in the name of comedy "equality".

Case in point, Minny and Aibileen discuss Aibileen's ability to call down a venereal disease on her ex husband's lover. Further insults included Stockett implying that Aibileen had some how achieved this feat by "black magic" aligned with the power of prayer.
Page 23 and 24


I searched but did not find Skeeter or her friends even touching a subject about their "cootchies". In fact, none of the white characters defame their men or their race. But oddly enough, the black ones do.

From desparaging remarks regarding the skin color of African Americans, to demeaning the black male, to a stereotypical black child oozing attitude or "sassiness" (Kindra, Minny's daughter) the novel goes above and beyond with the offensive lines, using the black characters to diss their own culture and the civil rights activities in Jackson. Even Skeeter says some pretty nasty things about how she views African Americans.

What's also uncalled for is Minny, an abused woman winds up abusing her kids (contstantly hollering, even smacking one in defense of Celia) Yet Minny must also provide laughs.

http://www.acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com

[bgofca]

05:32 PM on 04/24/2011

the book was really good; look forward to the movie.

[O K Ali]

12:35 AM on 04/24/2011

Where have I seen this theme before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVF-nirSq5s&feature=feedlik

[brooklyncitizen]

08:25 AM on 04/22/2011

More revisionist drivel by whites.

[brooklyncitizen]

08:23 AM on 04/22/2011

Oh, this is like Park Slope Brooklyn circa 2011 ....just give "the help" a west indian accent.

[Absolute]

12:10 PM on 04/21/2011

"why doesn't the Afr. Am. directors address this subject - I don't understand why it has taken soooo long for them to make a "decent" civil rights movie - they have the money and the backing... "

Anyone care to respond to this question which was asked downthread? Apparently some folks get so angry when you disagree with them that they have to collectivize black filmmakers and pretend that hp commenters actually speak for them.

It's slightly funny and totally predictable.

[JAT3]

06:29 AM on 04/22/2011

IMO:I truly think that those that could create a movies, shows, etc. about the civil rights movement feel its "covered ground"! Almost as if Black people know this and therefore to sell it it would have to pique others interests in to have success. Tyler Perry, Spike Lee as forerunners have had their hurdles to get over to just get financing, distrubtion, etc. in the industry over the majority of their shows having nothing to do with civil rights directly.

Hence, you see Whites that can go back make a show/movie more easily. Blacks are big consumers and bases on good actors/actresses will spend money to see as well as wider audiences. Honestly, I don't think there is as wide an audience(whites, etc.) that like Perry or Spike works.

In the end you'd have Blacks making movies on stuff they know. Therefore the new generation seem to be trying to create entertainment on different issues, plights for Blacks thats more related and has a possible boarder reach.

You ll have Samuel L Jackson to portray MLK on Broadway. But its never been a hard thing to get Blacks to play roles in "White" produced shows/movies since of course the story is much more believible/real if you have Blacks playing Black parts/roles.

[LisaO8]

12:30 PM on 04/22/2011

you really do crack me up - you're the only one that is "angry" and I believe it's because I called you out on your blanket statement, but when forced to answer why haven't there been any Af. Am. directors that have made a "decent" civil rights" movie, you start pretending that it's personal - wow, just answer the question next time...nothing personal or angry about it, that's your diversion, but doesn't work, honey.

[Hareega]

11:12 AM on 04/21/2011

There must be a sex scene in the movie otherwise the HuffPost won't be talking about

[wetcoastm]

01:06 AM on 04/21/2011

Onyx M thanks for adding the link to wordpress.

I read the following blog and just reading the book excerpts without the OP's interpretation I don't know how anyone could read this revisionist work and take any positive view of black women from it. The OP included many excerpts, even one of the author reading one of the most disrespectful scenes.

It does not seem like the women who wrote this novel felt that her audience would include black women or that she spent a substantial amount of time researching the period that she was writing about.

An example of this would be the scene where the maids were discussing their employers on the bus - loudly and with less than positive comments.

That would not happen in the segregated south. One, black people did not openly disparage white people, if they did so they risked assault; two, black people on buses where to be scene and not heard, they were not considered equal members of society and the white people on the bus would not have tolerated hearing their voices; three ,the blacks on the bus had no position of power and the white drivers would have put them off of the bus immediately.

She is rewriting the history of segregation. Blacks were not considered full people by southern whites in this period and these excerpts present a rosy picture to a brutal period.

http://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/the-help-is-a-parody/

[Absolute]

12:07 PM on 04/21/2011

An excellent post, faved

[brooklyncitizen]

08:24 AM on 04/22/2011

I think it largely has to do with how few blackpeople most whites actually KNOW.That remains unchanged.

[ImJustSaying24]

11:18 PM on 04/20/2011

Im not sure which is worse, the book or the film. I cant understand how a book oozing of stereotypes and blatant errors in research on the Civil Rights era could become a best seller. There was so much in this book that I found offensive. Especially the constant need to talk about how dark an African American was, even going as far as stating they were "as black as a roach." The maids in this book encompassed every possible stereotype of a Mammy, especially Minnie. The ending was horrible, Skeeter gets her dream job in NY while Aibileen and Minnie are left to deal with the aftermath of speaking up. And what "ground breaking movement" resulted from Skeeter interviewing the maids? Either the film had a serious rewrite or the author of this description hasn't even read the book.

Perhaps the movie will attempt to fix the problems the book had, or completely remove them from the storyline all together. From the looks of the trailer, I wont be wasting my money to see it. It has none of the strength of "The Color Purple" which some people are foolishly comparing it to.

[Kendall Curtis]

02:40 AM on 04/21/2011

The white woman gets the dream job in NY and the black women are left to deal? Well that sounds just like real life.

[sagelove]

08:07 PM on 04/20/2011

interesting plot... Emma is great in easy A... she's taken lindsays rolls.

-http://thesagepress.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/polaroid-hotel-emerges/

[lilyinbloom]

06:42 PM on 04/20/2011

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but it seems a bit foolish to make generalizations without ever actually picking up the book. If you read the book and still come to your conclusion, then at least it's an informed one. But, again, that's just my opinion.

[wetcoastm]

01:09 AM on 04/21/2011

Read this.

http://acriticalreviewofthehelp.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/the-help-is-a-parody/

I think the criticism is spot on.

[Onyx M]

02:48 PM on 04/20/2011

The book has its own issues. And from the looks of the trailer, so will the movie.
I see the movie tried to empower Aibileen and Minny, which the book failed to do.
In the book Aibileen cringes and cowers while Minny foolishly takes a knife to defend Celia, even though Minny is an abused woman and is carrying her sixth child (yes, the black people having too many babies and can't take care of them is in full effect in the novel) and get cold cocked in the head, with Celia having to rescue her. Yes, this is the same big, bad Minny that Aibileen claimed was strong enough to "lift up this bus"

Aibileen even disses her good friend Minny in the book, saying Minny's home is like a chicken coop, among other things. And while Aibileen just loves Mae Mobley, her commentary on Kindra "she sass walk . . ." reads like Saint Aibileen is playing favorites.


But the over the top performances in the trailer made me cringe. In the novel, only Elizabeth and Celia Foote were scatterbrained. Now just about all the white characters are ditzy, making this movie appear as though it's in a kooky sit-com mode. I fear that even with the acting chops of Viola Davis, this frenetic, heavy on trying to push out laughs even though segregation wasn't the least bit funny movie will stumble over its own good intentions.

[mehitable]

01:27 PM on 04/20/2011

I haven't read the book. It's probably a good book, and maybe it's a good movie. But unfortunately it IS the same message over and over again about a good white person helping or saving those poor black people who just can't get the job done without them. This might be a valid type of movie if we didn't see this message OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

How often do you see a serious movie with a mainly or all black cast, who do things completely on their own without white people "helping" them? I would like to see that. I'd like to see movies about all kinds of people and different ethnic groups. I'd like to see more movies and tv shows where the gay guy isn't the caring friend of the white female lead. There are just certain formulas that Hollywood has been using that frankly, I'm sick of.

[PaddockGirl]

03:42 PM on 04/20/2011

Just read the book and then formulate your opinion.

[mehitable]

10:41 AM on 04/21/2011

My comment isn't really about the book, it's about the repeated messages from Hollywood that black people need a white person or persons to "save" them. I've seen this in movie after movie after movie. Even if this is an excellent book and movie, I'm just sick of this theme. Maybe it makes white people feel good, but it's really insulting to blacks.

[panasonic52]

04:31 PM on 04/20/2011

While I see your point, I don't view these movies as a "oh the heroic white person saved the defenseless blacks" thing. Instead, I see it as a collaboration of 2 different people/cultures. Many great changes come about from unlikely collaborations. Emma Stone's character wouldn't have been able to get any message across without help from "the help".
I think too many people rag on entertainment because of race and try to find some sort of racial controversy in everything.

[wetcoastm]

01:17 AM on 04/21/2011

So you dismiss all concerns over the theme of the white savior of blacks as playing the victim. No that is all it is don't bother to try and do some research on your own, black people like to scapegoat right?

This is a movie set in the segregated south, where blacks where routinely murdered, where Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving to the back of a bus, where real heros black and white were murdered for trying to work towards civil rights.

She doesn't get a pass on accuracy on this subject : it is vital that the population does not forget the brutal history of this period and the lasting impact on society.

[mehitable]

10:34 AM on 04/21/2011

I think that would be fine if it were a unique message. But Hollywood has put out film after film with the same basic premise: some good white person(s) helping black people have a better life. It makes white people feel noble and it's very condescending to blacks. It's not this particular movie - it's just this same theme or image being repeated over and over again in many movies.

I would like to see more movies about black people and their lives making it on their own...or maybe one of them helping a white person! I don't think black people should be used as a plot device.

[seekoeur]

11:27 AM on 04/20/2011

i approve this message

[sbmulqueen]

09:21 AM on 04/20/2011

I can't for a minute know what it's like to be a black person, let alone know what it would have been like to have lived in the Deep South in the Civil Rights era. That said, I do think a lot of people criticizing the book haven't actually read it. While Skeeter was the "author" the heroines are clearly the maids - OK they didn't go on Freedom Rides, but they took risks with their lives and livlihoods to tell their stories because they knew that was the only way they could affect change. I really loved the book - couldn't put it down - and am hoping the movie does it some justice.

[PaddockGirl]

03:43 PM on 04/20/2011

I loved the book as well. I just hope the filmmakers do it justice.