Tulane University professor Melissa Harris-Perry wants hazard pay for having to sit through the new DreamWorks movie The Help, and from everything I've seen and heard (at least from the people who matter), I can't blame her.
And how much do you want to bet that she's going to be nominiated for an Oscar for this role? You know how much they love to nominate us for playing roles like dirty cops, whores and child-abusing mothers.
I have not seen it or read the book. I imagine the author was well intentioned and I think people should take the movie for what it is... entertainment ie. Glory, Cry, the Beloved County,and Mississippi Burning. These movies were full of white saviors. I do not begrudge the writer. Cinn is right, Hollywood has to do better and let us tell these stories ourselves. And yes, Viola will get nominated and win. And when she does, we need to lift her up.
My mother enjoyed the book, but I don't know if she'll see the movie. She was a maid at one time back in America's bad old days, so she probably really relates to the maids in the book. She's told me some stories that make me cringe every time I hear them. One little girl in a family she worked for thought she had a tail because that's what they were told about black people. Another family fired her because she wouldn't shuck and jive for them like they wanted her to.
This history is a history that definitely needs to be told. I'm just tired of it coming from perky white women or "heroic" white men in such a way that let's WP off the proverbial hook. "See, not all of us are racist assholes! And because of people like WhoeverTheFuckBackThen, I can turn a blind eye to all of the systemic racism that still goes on today." Blah, blah, blabbity, blah.
Makes my corneas itch.
ReplyDeleteI hate the fact that Viola Davis was wasted in this.
ReplyDelete@SotW
ReplyDeleteAnd how much do you want to bet that she's going to be nominiated for an Oscar for this role? You know how much they love to nominate us for playing roles like dirty cops, whores and child-abusing mothers.
I have not seen it or read the book. I imagine the author was well intentioned and I think people should take the movie for what it is... entertainment ie. Glory, Cry, the Beloved County,and Mississippi Burning. These movies were full of white saviors. I do not begrudge the writer. Cinn is right, Hollywood has to do better and let us tell these stories ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Viola will get nominated and win. And when she does, we need to lift her up.
My mother enjoyed the book, but I don't know if she'll see the movie. She was a maid at one time back in America's bad old days, so she probably really relates to the maids in the book. She's told me some stories that make me cringe every time I hear them. One little girl in a family she worked for thought she had a tail because that's what they were told about black people. Another family fired her because she wouldn't shuck and jive for them like they wanted her to.
ReplyDeleteThis history is a history that definitely needs to be told. I'm just tired of it coming from perky white women or "heroic" white men in such a way that let's WP off the proverbial hook. "See, not all of us are racist assholes! And because of people like WhoeverTheFuckBackThen, I can turn a blind eye to all of the systemic racism that still goes on today." Blah, blah, blabbity, blah.
Hi Brown Sugar!
ReplyDeleteMelissa Nailed it to the wall! Hell to the No, I will NOT be watching this BS!
SG2
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