Text Review of The Help

The movie The Help is a fictional story that takes place in Missouri in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement when African Americans were often considered “the help” to White people, particularly in the south. However, a daughter of one of the White families, named Skeeter, is an author who is determined to write a book regarding the lives of these African American women who cared for Skeeter and others ever since they were children. The purpose of writing this book is to bring attention to the mistreatment of African Americans in the U.S. even though they have only provided for White families in a kind manner.

There are clear identities at play here that fit the criteria we have covered throughout this course. Considering the history of the treatment of African Americans in the United States, particularly in the 1960s, we know there was clear systemic injustice at play. African Americans were not provided an equal opportunity, which rendered the countless instances of African Americans being “the help” for White families in America. Therefore, there was a clear label of the Other placed on African Americans in The Help, which emphasized the realistic label of the Other placed on African Americans in the real world during the same time period. The Help clearly depicts how White people held a greater power over African Americans through socioeconomic status. For instance, all of the White families are extremely wealthy and have secure jobs, meanwhile, the African American women live in small homes with many children and struggle to feed everyone.

Regardless, an interesting aspect of The Help is the effort Skeeter makes to help advocate for the African American woman that cared for her in her childhood. I found this section of the plot interesting considering it was frowned upon for White people in the south to stand up for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. So, why do you think the author/director incorporated the help of a White woman to advocate for African Americans? What message do you the author/director was trying to send to the audience through the plot of The Help, if any?

Dallas Buyers Club is a film based on the real life of Ron Woodroof (played by Matthew McConaughey), a straight male that was diagnosed with AIDS while living in Texas in the mid-1980s. This news thrusted Ron into a culture that he had not previously wanted anything to do with, but his views would slowly shift towards a greater understanding with time. Many of the fellow AIDS patients were gay, something that Ron was not comfortable with up to this point in his life. He clearly previously aligned with the notion that straight people were the “one”, while everyone else was an “other”. He did have a respect for this “other”, as this ideology had been ingrained in his mind for the entirety of his life thus far. He continued to deny that he was gay himself as he received accusations from his old friends; this form of mistreatment is eventually what would push him towards an empathetic view on his fellow AIDS patients. One thing that he and his old friends did not have an understanding for was the fact that not all AIDS patients had the same story. There was one idea of what this title meant in the eyes of many, and it took being a part of that group for Ron to see the other side. Striving for a possible method of treatment for this horrific illness, Ron would eventually be pushed towards alternative therapies and he actually ended up smuggling unapproved drugs into the United States. This leads him towards the unimaginable friendship between himself and Rayon, a transgender AIDS patient who was also seeking some form of treatment. This unlikely connection is the bond that drives the messaging of this film. Once a common ground was reached between these two an extremely close friendship developed. Their first meeting showed clear disgust in the eyes of Ron, but he would later on defend her in front of his old friends (a true turning point for Ron’s character development). They eventually founded the Dallas Buyers Club together, which focused on providing the treatments he was using for a monthly fee. The early goal of Ron’s actions seemed to be of the financial sense, but as time passed you could see his care for his patients.  The furthering of Ron’s ability to understand and care throughout this film is intriguing and encouraging to watch. This is a fantastic representation of what exposing yourself to different types of people from yourself can do, even though Ron was forced into this situation himself. This is a crucial story to hear, and it does a lot to display the shortcoming of anyone who has a problem with someone else’s gender/sexual identity.

The Steven Spielberg movie, Avatar, tells the story of Jake Sully, a former marine, who is paralyzed from the waist down. Jake is sent on a mission to an alien planet where he becomes connected to a hybrid human-alien life form known as an Avatar and is immersed into the world of Na’vi. Jake enters the Na’vi world and is ordered to gather information on gathering places as well as other information for his commanding officers. At first, Jake does as he is told because he is held to the promise that his commanders will restore his mobility if he executes his mission. However, after he enters the world, he quickly falls in love with a Na’vi woman and begins to question the integrity of his mission. Jake then figures out that his mission may be something more sinister than he had previously been aware. The human forces are planning on taking the Na’vi people’s resources by force. The humans begin to use Jake’s information to coordinate attacks on the Na’vi. Jake slowly begins to synthesize with the Na’vi people and ends up fighting for them.

The movie Avatar offers a unique perspective into how humans might act in an encounter with an alien society. In many ways, The Black Panther is very similar to the plot in Avatar. In both movies, a fictional society comes into contact with a human society that is trying to take advantage of them in some way. In Avatar, humans are after natural resources on the Na’vi planet much like humans want vibranium in The Black Panther. Both societies are left to defend themselves from an enemy who is driven by greed.

Though the human society is fictional in both films, ethical dilemmas are present in both. These screenplays are designed to draw attention to ethical issues that stem from the abuse of other cultures. The idea of taking advantage of a culture for one’s own gain has long been a hotbed for debate as it is unfortunately all too common in today’s world. Much like the movies, cultures around the world are robbed of riches and taken advantage of simply because they can’t defend themselves. This mostly stems from the early ideas of colonialism where African tribes were forced into labor and kept under tight control as colonists searched for Africa’s vast riches of gold and resources. Today, an excellent example of this mistreatment are blood diamonds Blood diamonds are a result of forced labor and are often not the true property of the one selling it. Overall, I believe Avatar was intended to cast a light on the idea that societies are often mistreated and when that society is small enough or far away enough, people turn the other way. 

Text review assignment – Kim Merrick

For this assignment I chose to analyze Grey’s Anatomy season where there is a merger between two hospitals and things go south and eventually people are very short staffed. During this time period there a doctor who steps in to help for a day to help at the hospital and does not want to listen to anyone or allow anyone to help him except the “nazi” who is Miranda Bailey. Doctor Bailey offers help and is shut down immediately because one she is a woman and two she was an African American woman. The male doctor is a white man who thinks he has authority over everyone and has the power to do anything he wants. This in my opinion is an injustice because of how he treats dr. Bailey even though she is one of the most knowledgeable and strongest doctors at the hospital. The male doctor also uses his identity and thinks because he is the male doctor he knows more she can do everything alone because he is “ better” and dr, Bailey and Meredith are women who he considers useless and a subaltern/other. Which relates to the concept we learned in class and he doesn’t not allow them to show how capable they are. Through this whole episode he keeps declining her help and sending her on a mission to find the great and all mighty nazi who is known for being brilliant not realizing it was her. It is not till when dr. Webber who is the chief,  has a conversation with Bailey and says “this is why they call you the nazi” that the male doctor heard and feels like he now has no power or authority because of how little respect he showed dr. Bailey. During this whole episode Dr. Bailey was treated as the  “other” by her race, and her gender. This proves that people need to be slow to make assumptions until they get to know the other affiliates. Dr. Bailey felt as if she was useless at first because she could not believe how this doctors actions allowed him to feel so powerful yet so rude. She did not say anything to him even though she could have but she did not feel as if she needed to prove herself.