Bryce Dallas Howard would like everybody to know that The Help is probably not the best movie to watch right now. As the country grapples with police brutality and racial inequality, spurring explosive protests met with violence by aggressive, militarized cops, The Help has become one of the most popular movies on Netflix—a predictable but still astonishing bit of face-palmery. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Howard, who played the racist villain in the film, gently reminded followers that there are much more relevant offerings they could be watching right now.
“The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers,” Howard said. “We can all go further.”
Howard, who took care to note that she was “so grateful” for the friendships she formed while making that film, also went so far as to make a watch list of better options, naming films like 13th, I Am Not Your Negro, and Just Mercy. She also suggested miniseries like Watchmen and When They See Us.
“Stories are a gateway to radical empathy and the greatest ones are catalysts for action,” Howard wrote. “If you are seeking ways to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, and all the ways in which those have an impact on us today, here are a handful of powerful, essential, masterful films and shows that center Black lives, stories, creators, and / or performers.”
Her latter point highlighted exactly why The Help’s surge in popularity is so problematic. The 2011 film, written and directed by Tate Taylor and based on the Kathryn Stockett novel of the same name, revolves around aspiring white journalist Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), who writes a book detailing the stories of African American maids (two of whom are played by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer) during the civil rights movement. Howard plays Hilly Holbrook, a villainous housewife who makes her maid’s life a living hell. The film falls right into the white-savior trope, telling the story from Skeeter’s point of view and centralizing her voice in the narrative. Still, it was a huge hit upon its release, earning nearly $217 million worldwide and garnering Spencer her first Oscar win.
Howard, however, isn’t the only person involved with the film to speak out against its point of view in recent years. In 2018, Davis also criticized The Help, saying she regretted starring in the movie because of the way its story was told.
“I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard,” she told the New York Times. “I know Aibileen [her character]. I know Minny [Spencer’s character]. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
Ablene Cooper, the real-life maid who worked for Kathryn Stockett’s brother’s family and inspired Davis’s character, also roundly condemned the film upon its release, filing a $75,000 lawsuit against Stockett. In the suit, Cooper noted that Davis’s character was clearly based on her and that she found the portrayal embarrassing and “emotionally upsetting.” The suit was ultimately dismissed in 2011, though Cooper stood by her claims.
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June 09, 2020 at 01:35AM
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The Help Star Bryce Dallas Howard Thinks Everyone Should Be Watching a Different Movie - Vanity Fair
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