Melissa Harris-Perry On 'The Help': 'Appalled At The Gross Historical Inaccuracies' (VIDEO)

MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry spent a lengthy chunk of her Saturday show on one of the things that has troubled her most in the past year: the success of the film "The Help."

The movie, about black maids in the Jim Crow South and the white woman who writes a book about them, is set to clean up at the Oscars on Sunday night, with actresses Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer both favored to take home awards. But "The Help" has caused controversy almost from the moment it was released, setting off an intense dialogue about its portrayal of race and racism.

Harris-Perry was one of a chorus of voices speaking out against the film when it was released last August. She went on Lawrence O'Donnell's show, where she called it "deeply troubling," and even live-tweeted her reactions while she watched it, saying it "reduces violent racism, sexism and labor exploitation to a cat fight that can be won with cunning spunk."

On Saturday, Harris-Perry returned to the topic, covering it along largely the same lines. She said that the "real stories" of black domestic workers were far more compelling than the stories told in "The Help," and involved political activism and resistance --both of which were met with terror.

She accused "The Help" of whitewashing history, saying that, for many black women, the reality of their employment was "much closer to a horror film than a lighthearted drama. Just ask those who found themselves at the mercy of Jim Crow justice, at the end of the lynch mob's rope or a burning torch...for black maids, the threat of rape was always a clear and present danger."

While Harris-Perry said she was "appalled at the gross historical inaccuracies" that she saw, she also admitted to being "deeply moved" by Davis and Spencer's performances. But she lamented that, over 70 years after Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Mammy in "Gone With The Wind," Davis and Spencer should only find themselves similarly honored when they did the same thing.

Also on HuffPost:

Black actors at the Oscars.

Comments

[Swendell]

07:08 PM on 03/09/2012

Look, I understand her concern. She does not want people to think that this is how all black maids experienced this time period. For many it was horrific. But she has to understand that the writer is not telling that story. The writer is telling this one, and they never claimed this was the way it was for everyone. People have to be allowed to tell a story without being responsible for educating the public about a time period they should already be familiar with.

[Dustee]

08:25 PM on 03/18/2012

Perhaps that's what is wrong with the country now.

[chelledc]

11:27 PM on 03/25/2012

Exactly what is what's wrong with this country now?

[dcpartner]

06:42 PM on 03/03/2012

I was raised by a Black maid. I learned about the world and the black point of view from Maggie. After she retired with Diabetes the entire family took care of her. She did what she had to do at the time in history in the US and was always proud in her way. She loved JFK and Dr. King and died with her white family around her and had a truly amassing funeral at her black church which she attended for 60 years. They loved and respected her as an active member.

[Char71]

09:22 AM on 03/02/2012

I agree w MHP. When this movie was first released, my daughter and I were like "no way, had enough." and despite seeing the book slathered all over the local book store, hearing rave reviews about it from family, friends, and critics (to now include Oscars), I still do not want to see it. I relented and went to see the movie about the football player based on a true story. It was not a bad movie at all as I am sure The Help is a good movie. The problem for me is these are the kind of movies I would expect to watch thirty years ago! Give us something FRESH! Hmph, maybe I'll write my own story...

[Andie Marshall]

05:49 PM on 03/13/2012

Yeah you should. But in trying to get it published let alone made into a movie, you'll see why The Help is so offensive. It's offensive b/c it is case and point of how some Americans, mostly people of European decent want all of us to see and remember our collective history despite the millions of people who feel and know differently. These preferences are explicit and a part of the overall objective of justifying the beliefs and actions of their forefathers, and the power and stolen wealth that they currently enjoy, as well as their conscious and often surreptitious plan to perpetuate the status quo so that they can similarly and disproportionally advantage their heirs. Nicely packaged and perfumed propagandist whitewash by any other name still smells the same!

[chelledc]

11:29 PM on 03/25/2012

The thing is this story in no way justifies the treatment heaped upon black maids. There is nothing perfumed about this story and I find it odd that those who never saw the movie keep saying otherwise when it is cimply not true. The ending was only happy because one maid ended up with a decent family and away from an abusive husband while the other was able to get away from an abusive family. That's not exactly a neat little package considering the crap they went through to get there.

[bongogirl]

11:30 PM on 02/29/2012

I agree with Melissa. I think she is brilliant, and like Rachel Maddow, she has an excellent research suuport staff. She only presents facts. Check her out on Saturday and Sunday mornings on MSNBC.

[bongogirl]

11:33 PM on 02/29/2012

Misspelled support (typo).

[klowdnine]

12:51 PM on 02/29/2012

In case you haven't noticed MHP...ITS A MOVIE!!! You know...not real!

[Mr Muckle]

06:12 PM on 02/29/2012

"Birth of A Nation" was a movie. It inspired a revival of the Klan and a wave of terror against Black people that lasted decades. "Triumph of The Will" was just a movie as well. The problem here is that this nation is pretty much a movie as well, much more than a book, which involves a measure of personal effort.
So do you think that those maids needed some "rebel" (pun definitely intended) white woman to tell their stories? In the midst of the single greatest organizing effort across the south these women were voiceless? With Klan activity at a peak, with the awareness that any day could be the next September 16th, 1963 in Birmingham moment, do you imagine that silence was a choice?
Anyone posting here remember Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer? Septima Clark? Ella Baker? Vivian Malone-Jones? Dorothy Height?
Black people have always spoken well for themselves. No one else can, no one else should, invariably, they will miss the point.

[Congo Line]

01:12 PM on 03/07/2012

Amen to you! Some (seems like a majority) people on here both Black and white need to see your post.

[Havana Thinks]

07:47 PM on 03/11/2012

Brilliant post. Fan+Fave, Mr Muckle!

[Tom McDonald 1]

12:50 PM on 02/29/2012

You clearly haven't watched much else MHP has done, and are going only on some stereotype rattling around in your head.

[bongogirl]

11:25 PM on 02/29/2012

Melissa Harris-Perry is biracial. My guess is that you have not seen her show on MSNBC.

[emncaity]

03:55 AM on 02/29/2012

Well, there ya go. MHP is right again. In other news, it must be Wednesday.

[Rouvey]

09:59 PM on 02/28/2012

She's right, "The Help" played like an old episode of "Hazel" done in blackface...

[SouthpawSass]

03:26 PM on 02/29/2012

I refer you to Alice Walker's (author of The Color Purple for one) review of The Help. I think when you read the thoughts of a woman whose own mother was the help, you may come to a better understanding of what the story meant to her...

http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2011/09/the-help/

[PoshPetCare]

08:46 PM on 02/28/2012

Clearly these people have not read The Help. It was written from the point of view of Skeeter and how she rebels against society at the time. It's insulting that these talking heads are bashing an amazing book/movie to advocate their own positions in reflecting on the civil rights movement.

[jgw845]

08:07 PM on 02/28/2012

I wonder what Ms. Perry thinks about the historical accuracy of "Cowboys and Aliens?"

[UnknownSolider]

09:00 PM on 02/28/2012

Maybe that's because it didn't win any major awards

[jgw845]

12:24 AM on 02/29/2012

No matter. I am most concerned that the film is historically accurate per Ms. Perry's standards. If it is not then I can not be politically correct in spending the time watching it and being somewhat amused.

[emncaity]

03:53 AM on 02/29/2012

What kind of id!otic question is that?

I mean, unless you think there's a way to defend the proposition that all films are trying to do the same thing.

[jgw845]

02:02 PM on 02/29/2012

Hollywood films are trying to do the same thing: entertain!

Some time ago I viewed a documentary about Sherman's march to the sea. Left out completely was what happened at Ebenezer Creek Georgia. The Yankee army crossed the deep water but made no effort to help the hundreds of freed slaves cross. Under direct order of Union General Jefferson Davis (Different J. Davis) they were stranded with the Confederate army closing behind them. Hundreds drowned rather than face being returned to slavery. Under orders, the Yankees just watched. How's that for historical accuracy? Don't believe it? Just "Google" Ebenezer Creek.

The difference is that "The Help" is a fictional work set in the mid-1960's in Jackson, Miss. It is meant to entertain. The documentary about Sherman was meant to inform and educate. However it was "cleaned up" to make Sherman appear to be a gallant hero instead of what he really was.

I patiently await Ms. Perry's remarks on the exploits of W.T. Sherman at Ebenezer Creek.

[Mr Muckle]

07:06 PM on 02/29/2012

Does it not astonish you that any representation of humiliation and exploitation are "entertainment" to some? I think that more than anything else, that defines the soul, if I may be so generous, of this nation.

[Puzzlr]

05:15 PM on 02/28/2012

I'm sick of movies that portray blacks as simple bystanders to our own movement. Or the notion, when talking to white people from that time, that only a few or handful of whites were screaming at little Ruby Bridges (and others) as she desegregated Frantz Elementary. Puh-lease!

[UKVisitor]

01:55 AM on 02/29/2012

Amen. Worst Example for me "Cry Freedom". Apartheid is bad because it inconveniences white liberal journalists. Actually made we want to puke!

[emncaity]

03:55 AM on 02/29/2012

You're going too far with Cry Freedom (Ebert did better, if memory serves), but a somewhat less severe version of that criticism of that film is true, and so is your (and the OP's) point in general.

[MarieNat]

04:26 PM on 02/28/2012

Read the book after it was recommended by a friend who happens to be white. She said, "you're going to hate it" and she was right. And for that reason I haven't seen the film. I, for one am sick of movies about the Black experience that oversimplify that experience just so they can exploit it to make some point about the heroism or personal growth of the primary white character.

[pattyg77]

04:44 PM on 02/28/2012

Amen...My thoughts are verrry similar! f & f.....

[SouthpawSass]

03:30 PM on 02/29/2012

Alice Walker who wrote The Color Purple liked both the book and the movie... her mother, btw, was a maid for a white southern family. You may have a different view after reading her thoughts.
I read the book first, then saw the movie - while I enjoyed the movie, the book was better.

[valley boy]

02:55 PM on 02/28/2012

The film attempts to tell the story of how it affects individuals, faced everyday with the bigotry of society. Everyone can't be a Thurgood Marshall. The situation has not changed , even today, for many people of all races and ethnicities. The book and film are an attempt to draw people into the dialogue of how we see this around us everyday and accept it as normal, until it is told on a personal level. The film attempts to point out how everyday life is violent in it's acceptance of these predjudice attitudes, until somehow there is a voice or window to understanding the truth of the issue. I would like to know how Miss Harris-Perry's perspective would describe the circumstances that exist, right down to the 9th ard in New Orleans. Where are the people that stood on rooftops or were locked inside the stadium, experiencing life threatening situations. Where is her voice for these people?

[Puzzlr]

05:24 PM on 02/28/2012

But the dialogue that its attempting to draw is from a flawed place. It would be like telling the story of those standing on rooftops from the white persons perspective. There wouldn't be any mention of the killing of blacks who dared to cross into white areas (high ground). There wouldn't be any mention of any blacks who saved people. We wouldn't learn about Ethel Freeman, unless it was to tell how some white person tried desperately to save her. (BTW, her son was the person who tried to save her.)

[Rebgraves]

06:19 PM on 02/28/2012

I heard Dr. Harris-Perry speak in St. Louis on Jan 16th. She very clearly spoke out about the problems - no the blatent racism during hurricane Katriana. She also very clearly spoke out about wealth inequity. I learned much from her that day. It was well worth the 4 hour round trip to hear her.

[Waldimore]

02:37 PM on 02/28/2012

I wish Melissa Harris-Perry and those on the panel offended by the film would re-direct their ire in another direction and the need to make a wider variety of black films instead of focusing on this one film. That's the real problem. Were there a wider depiction of black culture and black people then a movie like The Help would not offend. It would just be one of many films with its own point of view.

[MarieNat]

04:28 PM on 02/28/2012

You're correct, of course. But we can multi-task can't we? I'm pissed about hunger AND racism, war AND child abuse, bad movies AND the dearth of positive Afrocentric alternatives. Why choose?

[Darlene Jones]

02:20 AM on 02/29/2012

That's the problem in a nut shell. These are the only movies Black actors receive acolades for! Think about it . Maids,criminals,bad cops,over sexual needy woman.... If I'm wrong ,please enlighten me..

[Mr Muckle]

01:36 AM on 03/01/2012

You're not wrong at all. These images are imbedded in the culture. In a manner of speaking, that is all that is known. So long as we patronize it, there's no impetus to change it. So long as Black people are written out of the history, those images will suffice for many.

[Darlene Jones]

08:49 PM on 03/03/2012

Exactly!!!! Idon't want to hear about what 'White" actress played a junkie,or a maid (usually a comedy). There are so many other roles they have won awards for. Let's be real here.People have to take their blinders off. It's so blatanly clear!

[The Common Village]

02:23 PM on 02/28/2012

Rest in Peace Brother

http://www.theroot.com/buzz/oscar-forgets-we-remember-dick-anthony-williams

[Mr Muckle]

12:43 AM on 03/01/2012

That's heartbreaking. I remember seeing him perform somewhere in the early 70's free theater in what was then Mt. Morris park in Harlem. Summer nights. Actually I saw him many times. What I remember was when I finally got a chance to say something to him, he was happy at the numbers of folk who filled the parks those nights. Cat was brilliant.
thanx for posting.

[The Common Village]

01:22 AM on 03/01/2012

No Problem, sometimes we lose focus on the pioneers and the people we used to see in those blaxploitation movies that for me, gave me a pride in self and an inner strength. No one was badder than SHAFT and FOXY BROWN.......

[Mr Muckle]

01:32 AM on 03/01/2012

Overdue fanning you. Enjoyed your posts on another thread.