Racism? Why I’m Not Surprised By The Help’s Nomination For Best Picture

January 25th, 2012 - By Charing Ball

"the help"

by Charing Ball

Even before the film The Help opened, folks were already predicting that it would be nominated for an Academy Award.  The public hadn’t seen it and didn’t know whether the film, plot or acting was any good.  But the running joke for weeks prior to its opening was that the Academy Awards loves seeing Black characters playing maids, drug dealers, pimps and other lowly characters.

That’s why for many, the several nominations the film received including Best Picture, Best Actress (Viola Davis) and two Best Supporting Actress nods for Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain comes as little surprise. It’s been about 73 years since Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone With The Wind in which she too played a maid. And after all this time, it certainly seems that our best work in Hollywood always comes by way of cleaning up the mess of white folks.

Nevertheless, we will all be cheering on both Viola Davis, who is not a stranger to Hollywood, and Octavia Spencer, who seems to be on a fairytale ride, for bringing depth and grace to their roles. But I would be lying if I didn’t say that their success with this film is a bit bittersweet. As Kola Boof, feminist and Egyptian-Sudanese-American novelist, noted in a tweet, “I Really *HATE**that Viola Davis will have to sit in the OSCAR audience with the term “The Help” written across her chest all night.” Word.

At first, I was reluctant to go and see The Help because, like Red Tails, I objected to the questionable marketing strategy of the film, which felt it necessary to use images of black domestics to hawk Emeril Lagasse stainless steel cookware. And where have I seen that before? Oh Aunt Jemima and her famous pancakes. But I digress.

After months of folks giving me the same old justification of “that’s true but you should really see it first,” I conceded and sat down to watch the film. Certainly it was quite entertaining watching Minnie hand deliver a special pie to her evil, former boss. However, I was still less fulfilled emotionally with the conclusion of the film. While Skeeter, the aspiring journalist and white protagonist in the story, gets to go on to New York after “heroically” telling the tale of her Black domestics (which was more about shaming her former friends), the domestics themselves, whose stories were exploited for the benefit of the aspiring journalist, are again left to clean up the mess left behind by Ms. Skeeter.  I mean, who exactly is this satisfying to?

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  • ANYCo17

    Ugh I’m over these blogs complaining about “The Help” being another “white savior” movie. Shut up and read the book. It’s anything but that.

    Yes, those type of films and situations DO exist, considering we live in a white-dominated society. At the same time, not every single thing in this world pertaining to our lives is “white-washed”.

    When I read “The Help”, I didn’t get some savior vibe. These we were women who were living their lives and the story is about how their lives intertwined together. The white woman wasn’t trying to save anyone, she just wanted to write. Her maid was like a mother to her and inspired her to be the best person she could be. Coming home and getting to know the local help opened her eyes to the “white-washed” society she lived in. Writing these stories helped liberate these women in a different way. If anything, it was the maid who raised her and the other maids that were the saviors. Without them, their story would have never been heard and things may have never happened as they did. The role of the white woman was more of a medium (but still a very important character). I just wish people would look at stories like these differently instead of breaking them down into something meaningless.

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  • Vickilove84

    Smh!!

  • MixedUpInVegas

    I read the book but haven’t seen the movie yet.  At first, it was hard to read because it brought up a lot of unpleasant memories of the past.  However, the fact that it reveals the ugliness of the time made the entire exercise worthwhile.  There are plenty of people who grew up pretty much unaware of what these women’s lives were like.  The evil and gross inequity of the times were made plain in the book.  For that, it deserves recognition.  People need to be reminded that racism is cruel, unjust and baseless.  The book served that purpose to me.

  • ChelleBell

    I loved this article. And I have to speak on the “white savior” thing because my cousin and I talk about this all the time and watching movies like “The Blind Side” makes me mad because it focused more on the white people who “saved” the poor black kid from his horrible life. Also movies like “Freedom Writers” and “Dangerous Minds”. Again, good movies, but they’re always stories focusing on the white super heroes that save the poor minority kids from their oppressed lives. I totally get what you’re saying.

    As far as the Oscars goes, I always felt the same way. I totally LOVE Denzel but I was upset that out of all the awesome movies he’s played in, it took for him to play a crooked cop to win an Oscar. It’s very upsetting.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LPDQRWCX4UVPVSXFDRE2CNE4BQ Jessica

      That was his second Oscar, he also got one for his role as a union soldier in Glory.

    • Graygood87

      “The Blind Side” was based on a true story. What the heck? Were the writers suppose to stick a black woman in as the savior? You know black people like you who cling to this slave mentally need to come to terms with the fact that not everything is black and white. Stop trying to find a reason to be a victim, cause its a detriment to all us African Americans. People, both black and white, get tired of black people always trying to find a reason to be angry about something. What if “The Help”, which was and awesome film, hadn’t been nominated of anything, or just non-acting categoties? Yall would’ve been upset at that. It’s ridiculous!!

  • Just2hurtu

    When will Black people who are Not descendents of American slaves stop speaking on behalf of “us”. You have little more insight than any other ethnic group & constantly d(ism)iss, deride & insult us.. While some of your assertions are thisclosetocredible, you’re still not “us” unless it’s convenient for you. Kinda reminds you of gays & civil rights..

  • Graygood87

    I think this article is very cynical in nature, in many ways. First to address the tweet by Kola Boof, this isn’t Viola’s first nomination at the Academy awards. She earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her breakout performance in the 2008 film “Doubt.” But I’m sure she probably holds I’ll feelings about the title “Doubt” flashing under face as well. But that isn’t my real issue with this commentary. My issue is with cynicism of the countless claims that the Academy Awards loves the “downtrodden negro.” Im tired of my fellow African Americans always trying to find cause to play the victim card.

    Lets take Denzels win for “Training Day.” Denzel Washington has more on his resume than many. The roles he traditionally plays are of inspirational characters. It isn’t hard for him to hone in on those characters and produce an outstanding performance. The Academy likes to see an actor deliver an outstanding performance outside of what they usually see from an actor. Hence the reasoning behind his win for his role in “Training Day.” Same thing goes for Halle Berry. Before “Monsters Ball”, “Loosing Isaiah’ was the only role she starred in that had any resemblance to her character in “Monsters Ball.” As a black man I feel seeking out the nonexistent innuendos does more to hurt us, than it does to help (no pun intended). Its as if we over look the many black actors that have been nominated or won an Academy Award, and there are many. Lets take the 2004 film “Collateral.” Jamie Foxx received a nomination for a role that you say is atypical for a black actor in that film. Lets look at Don Cheadles role in “Hotel Rawanda.” Morgan Freeman in “Invictous” and “Million Dollar Baby.” I can on and on.

    Another issue I have is the fact that you took Skeeter, a character who genuinely wanted expose the lifestyle and experiences of southern black maids, and dumbed her down to a self righteous white woman who was only looking for a come up. Did you over look how she held her own family maid (Cicely Tyson) in high regard? How she bashed her own mother and father for letting the woman who raised her, go? Thats cynicism at it finest. We have to move out of this slave mentality. What if Hispanic Americans complained of the same thing? Because honestly, with this, they have way more to complain about. Raise above people.

  • http://twitter.com/DTFunkyChocolat Dannie

    What’s wrong with being nominated for an Oscar for a good movie?. Everyone who I spoke to who read the book loved it, and when it was created into a movie, they were all excited to see it ( as most people are when books turn into movies). I agree that it’s often that blacks play these same roles over and over, and sure it becomes a little tiring, but I don’t believe that they’re only being recognized because of these roles.

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