A few thoughts on The Help - Queen's take

I realize that I'm late with comments about this movie.  I made the conscious decision not to pay to view it so I had to wait until it came on cable.  I'm glad that I followed my first mind because I have been literally seeing signs that WE are still viewed as "the help" in today's world.  Whether you work in corporate or private industry, the signs are still there to show that black women are looked at as mere tokens to make the lives of white people (especially white women) better.

Here are the parts of the movie that stuck and sting every time I think about it:

1.  I take serious issue with the part in the movie when Adeline and Minnie were shopping in the grocery store and there was a white lady coming down the aisle in front of Adeline.  She stopped and expected Adeline to move out of her way so that she could continue her tread without moving to the side.  She acted as though she had more right to that space than Adeline did.  The reason why this sickens me is because the perception is that as a white woman, it's a privilege for a black woman to even be in that store so she (the help) should move so that the white woman can get by. 

Shortly after watching this movie, my director (who I akin to Hillie) was walking down the hall in my direction.  She was walking toward me, looking at me (or so I thought) and almost walked into me because I REFUSED to move.  I had coffee in my hand and I had braced myself for a head on collision with her because she clearly wasn't going to move.  She didn't bump me but she brushed up against me because she didn't realize until it was too late that I wasn't moving to give up the hallway to her.  She apologized but my newly re-angered spirit did not accept her apology or even recognize it.  I just kept walking.  (See, I knew this would awaken this spirit in me, that's why I chose not to pay to see the movie.)

2. I was literally mad as hell when Skeeter's mother closed the door in Constantine’s face.  This elder lady who deserves respect just for being above grown as long as she was, had raised this woman's child; combed her hair; taught her life lessons, etc.  But when faced with a decision between right and wrong; black and white, her "boss" chose to kick her out of her home because she was entertaining racist women who would have shunned her for allowing a black person to enter her house through the front door.  To me, Skeeter's mother and those like her, as a much a problem as the woman who stood in HER house and DEMANDED that the black women be treated as second class humans. 

Ironically, this incident happened to me (at work - on the same hall as the aforementioned incident).  I saw the white woman coming toward the door to close it in my face, but my soul would not let me walk away from it.  I stood there, steadfast, thinking, "this bitch is about to close this door in my face."  When she did, I said to myself, "I am the help!"  I have worked her for 10 years.  I have climbed as far as they are willing to ALLOW me to.  I am management.  Yet, I am STILL THE HELP.  I am still beneath them, in their eyes.

3.  Lastly, the end of the movie didn't sit well with me.  WHY is it that Skeeter gets to set off to the pie in the sky and start a new life while Minnie and Adeline (and the others) have to stay and face the consequences of HER idea?  While I think its par for the course for the struggle of black women and that we are built to survive it, it was still meant to leave the impression that white folk will come out on top and black women will continue to be inferior and destined to struggle.  This entire movie was supposed to shine light on the black woman's struggle (although through a white woman's eyes) and at the end of the day, our main representative (Adeline) gets the shaft.  She is fired.  The white women STILL have the upper hand and she didn't even have a ride home.  She had to take off walking and listening to the little white baby in background crying for her.

I am from Jackson, MS - the city that this movie was about.  I live this movie every day.  While I don't clean houses or raise white folk children, I am still oppressed by the same guard that oppressed the maids in this movie.  Don't y'all think we are not viewed as THE HELP still.  We are.  If you think we are not, then I beg you to open your eyes.  We are still fighting this battle.  It may be different depending on geography but I guarantee you that it still breathes. 

So, what do we do about that?