Topic > Racism in the film "Help"

According to Robert Blauner, racism is the tendency to classify those who are culturally different in terms of physical traits, such as skin color, hair color, texture and shape of eyes (source) . There are a number of films that portray racism. It is inspiring for filmmakers to create extraordinary and touching films and one of them is The Help. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Help was based on the novel of the same name by Kathryn Stokett. In 1960s Mississippi, white families employed African-American women to help care for children, do housework, and so on. These women called “the help”. The three main characters in the film are a young white woman, Miss Skeeter, and two maids, Aibileen and Minny. Because Sketter is making an effort to become a writer, she decides to write about the black maids in her town and the relationship between them and their employers. With the help of Aibileen and Minny, he finished the book. Through the views of the helpers and their stories, racial discrimination in the context is clearly revealed. 150 Thought-Provoking Topics About RacismThere are 2 levels of racism that appear in the film. The first type is at the individual level. At the level, racism involves a particular person's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward people of a different racial group ( source ). The film provides many examples of individual racism. Take as an example the following dialogue in which Hilly comes to Leefolt's house (Hilly and Leefolt are Skeeter's friends) to play bridge: Ms. Leefolt: Hilly, I wish you would just go to the bathroom.Ms. Hilly: I'm fine. Walters: Oh, she's just mad because the Nigra uses the guest bathroom and so do we. Leefolt: Aibileen, go check on Mae Mobley.Aibileen: Yes, ma'am. Leefolt: Just go, use mine and Raleigh's.Ms. Hilly: If Aibileen uses the guest bathroom, I'm sure she'll use yours too. Leefolt: It doesn't. The language used by white women expresses their racist attitudes. In conversation, when Abileen refers to white women, she should use courtesy titles and address white people such as Ma'am, Miss. Instead, white women simply call her name, Aibileen. This shows that class and social status are clearly divided. For whites, black maids are of a lower class. They don't deserve to be respected or treated like miss, madam, or lady. Furthermore, the above dialogue also reflects Hilly's prejudice towards Aibileen when Hilly denies using Leefolt's bathroom. He thinks that if Aibileen uses the indoor bathrooms, the maid will use Mrs. Leefolt. Hilly always thinks of black people as diseases. In the next conversation, he says that African Americans carry different dangerous diseases than whites, so he builds separate bathrooms for the maids to separate them from the white families. By building separate bathrooms, Hilly's prejudice turns into racial discrimination. In addition to individual racism, the film describes another level of racism, which is the institutional one. At the institutional level, racism is the exclusion of some people from equal participation in society's institutions solely because of their race. Institutional racism is inherent in social structures such as government, schools, media, and industrial practices ( source ). The institutional level can be seen throughout the film. For example, in describing the rules that were promulgated in Jackson at that time, he says: “”No person shall require a white woman to breastfeed in the wards or rooms where Negro men are placed. The books will not be interchangeable between schools, 4(2), 159-171.