Saturday, September 3, 2011

"The Help" - the book and the movie

Well, The Help, the book by Kathryn Stockett is really good. It is a point of view that I had not read, and did not know much about the help that was hired back in the 60's and earlier in the southern states. It is obviously a time in history that a lot might not wish to remember, but it is part of American history. I think that it's okay to assume that all countries have times in history that they wish had not happened. 




On the other hand, there will be others who feel the opposite, who feel it was part of the culture and nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing to hide. I felt that the women in the book represent both sides. 

Love the names that Kathryn Stockett gives the main characters:
Aibileen - the first maid to talk about her point of view of serving white ladies.
Skeeter - the woman who tells the maids' story. Legal name is Eugenia, how fitting!
Minny - the character who made me laugh.
Hilly - how posh and well, suitable for the meanest one in the book.
Celia - a nice, naive character that was much needed, or else the book would have been too bitter.

Aibileen's worked since she was a teenager, and she tells about her son who is recently killed when the book starts. That part was really sad for me. I cannot imagine losing one's child at 24, right when you think they will make it, when they could have started a family of their own. In his case, when he could have made something of himself. So sad, and it is not important who you are or where you are from, the story touches one for what it is - the loss of a son.

I really liked how Kathryn decides to write in chapters, but what's neat is that each chapter is the point of view of Aibileen, Skeeter, or Minny. We get all three points of views, which makes it more interesting for the reader. It would have been boring if we had only read about Aibileen. Don't you think?

One of my favorite parts about the story is the search for answers from Skeeter. Her family's maid, Constantine, had been working for them for 29 years, and she just disappears without an answer from her family. We see the dilemma from Aibileen trying not to tell her too much, afraid of what the reaction would be. It's nice for Skeeter to find out about what really happened when her mother is sick, makes it easier to forgive her. I would have hated for someone so dear to just take off without knowing where they went and why. In the end, it's all about the rules that existed back then, and how southern society made you live your life - black or white.

This is more evident with Aibileen and Skeeter's fragile friendship. It never develops to the point where they are both comfortable with each other 100%, but a nice truce is created. I am a sap for happy stories, so I was a bit disappointed with how it ended. How Skeeter at one point, hasn't made contact with Aibileen for six months, that was too long. I wish it had ended with them keeping in touch, not just leaving it as a friendship that was created while the book was written and had to end when it was done. I guess the author felt that it was better to be realistic, because really, how often would a young person make friends with an older one, especially one with not a lot in common? Besides the time in history the book is based on. :)

So, now we get to the juicy stuff in the book, the funny stuff. I loved Celia's character and how her naivete was Minny's "salvation". It was so nice to have her being so nice to Minny, to redeem her "kind" to her. The whole point of the book is to show  that we are all just people, with different skin tones maybe, but we are all the same in the end. I felt the relationship of these two made the strongest point of this. Yes, Minny is still a maid, but there are many maids that are currently employed and it is not a bad thing. A job is a job.


Hilly... Oh, Hilly's character!! Loved it. What meanness. A pure creation of that time's society. How many women acted like that because of what they had been taught by their parents? Aibileen makes this poing, saying how the babies they take care of don't know the difference about anything, but it's later on that their parents distort everything. I don't think we can really hate what Hilly represents 100%, because it is what she was taught. Every culture has things that are taught that are not pleasant. Of course, that doesn't mean I liked what she represents. It's so sad how it was back then in the States. All the segregation, the opposing forces trying to stop the Civil Rights movement. How many were killed just because of their skin color. How many children were affected for life. The bitterness still remains, and so does the separation.


In the end, Hilly gets what she deserves (yay!) and Skeeter gets her dream job in New York. Oh, and now let's talk about Skeeter's love life. How sad! That was another facet of how society back then treated a girl who did not live to get married. Whose goal was a career and not start a family. It was obscene! How dare they! It's nice to know that my daughters will not have those restrictions and that it will be their choice whether they want an education first and then a family. Shhhh... Don't tell them, but I do want to be a young grandma'. Ha!


Now unto the movie:

Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard



Loved Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard as Minny and HIlly respectively. That casting was genius. Bryce was incredibly good as the villain. Oh, her facial expressions were incredible! I know a lot of people were saying Emma Stone is really good, but I feel Bryce was much, much better. Emma's wrinkly nose sometimes annoyed me - anyone else? 

As for Octavia Spencer, she was hilarious! Oh, man she made me crack up! Awesome that Tate Taylor, the write and director, decided to have her less bitter than in the book. However, in the book we get to see Leroy, and in the movie all he is a voice. They only show her scared, but in the book she feels love and at the same is really frightened, but it's not until later in the book that it gets really bad for Minny.


Jessica Chastain plays Celia, and she had to gain 20lbs in order to portray the bombshell. Even though they had to choose what to show in the movie, it was nice that we still get a gist of what Minny and Celia have. It was changed, but it was still moving. (FYI: Chastain has publicly said she HATED gaining all that weight for her role - how sad! I thought she looked really good.)


One thing I really, really did not like was how much they changed what happens to Constantine and why she leaves. In the novel, her daughter is light skinned due to Constantine's parentage. She has a white father and a black mother. I wondered to my friend why they could not show a mixed actress. To me, it was awesome that the book touched on that, but how come it was not presented in the movie? Could it be because there are still some movie executives who don't want to rile people up? Is it that bad? It was one of the changes that I really minded.


It was well done, but I do feel the book was better. Viola Davis is good as Aibileen, but I had pictured Aibileen a bit stronger, with more life to her. Nothing Viola does, it was just the direction. It is kicking butt at the box office, and for that I'm grateful. There needs to be many, many more movies with female leads and strong stories. If you've read the book or seen the movie, please let me know what you think. ☺