A reader writes:
It's interesting that reviews and comments on The Help have consistently failed to mention the lawsuit against author Kathryn Stockett, which was recently dismissed on a technicality. That backstory ironically and painfully contradicts the feel-good message some people are getting from the film.
Another writes:
I haven't seen the movie, so I don't really have an opinion on it. But I do know that there are women, black women, who are taking exception to it and in some cases are fairly angry because they feel it makes light of the experience of black women while pretending to elevate it in some way. Melissa Harris-Perry had strong words about it. And the American Association of Black Women Historians released an open letter expressing their objections.
I was interested to read the opinions of Viola Davis (an incredible actress) and what
drew her to the role. It seems that she initially wasn't keen on doing it. It bothered her that it was written by a white author. (Not in a racist slant, but because the black experience doesn't always translate accurately when projected through a white person's lense however well meaning.)
But they changed her mind with the screenplay. She makes comments about what it was like to film on location and how the South does not own what they did even to this day, when it comes to the treatment of the black workers. Too many dodge and scurry to deny owning any of it, she found.
(Photo via "A Critical Review of the novel The Help")
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