The Help..... really?

[wakefresh 689]

Wien - I did not champion this film to be included on the show. I don't think it's a good suggestion for HDTGM at all, I don't really think it would make for a good episode. I never argued that it would make a good HDTGM episode. I only made the point that this movie exists as part of a pattern in Hollywood to frame white people as agents of change in movies about racism. If you still think no such pattern exists and that this isn't an example of it... maybe it's just something you're never going to see because you don't want to see it.

 

But thank you for taking the time to make every classic argument white people make in an effort to downplay the latent racism that permeates our media and culture.

 

"The intention wasn't to be racist! Therefore it's not racist! The message was not racism sheesh!"

It doesn't matter. You and every other apologist for racism like to think that only willful conscious intentional racism is the only kind of racism that matters. That nothing can be called racist unless you can "prove" that someone was trying to be racist on purpose. It doesn't matter if it was on purpose. It doesn't matter what the intent was. People not knowing they're doing something racist doesn't change the impact of their racism. But I think you're a little naive if you think there's not a deliberate effort within Hollywood to make sure a white person is front and center of any movie they want white audiences to see.

 

"Oh yeah? What about all these other examples that AREN'T like what you're complaining about?!"

It doesn't matter. You and every other apologist for racism like to think that a racist pattern can only be established if it happens 100% of the time. Any time someone points out a problematic pattern someone is quick to point out all the times it doesn't happen. That's like saying the police predominantly pulling over minorities can't be racist because white people get pulled over too. No man. If something happens frequently enough to be a noticeable pattern, it's a pattern. It doesn't have to happen all of the time, it doesn't even have to happen most of the time. It just has to happen enough times to realize that it's not coincidence. And you're depressingly naive if you think the many occurrences in film of white people being the hero in films about the struggles of people of color is just some innocent coincidence.

 

"Sometimes I think that people look at the wrong things when trying to find a target for their rage. I mean seriously, a property's propensity to sell is what drives how things are made more than some perceived nefarious plot to "get the black man!" blah blah blah list of good black movies."

NICE! Again, you and every other apologist likes to frame any black person who so much as hints at the possibility that there is any racism or imbalance in how people of color are portrayed, as just some angry irrational black person mad for no reason just LOOKING for something to direct their anger at. You're mind numbingly naive if you think 42 and Precious and any other example you want to throw out just cancels out anything else that's dubious.

 

Of course you have a hard time recognizing racism if you're still operating under that super lenient definition of it that clueless white people use. Racism isn't just Klan members burning crosses and using slurs, racism largely isn't that overt anymore. If you think that I think The Help or movies that follow the same pattern are part of a conscious effort to "Get the black man!" then you understand so little of what I'm saying and what racism is.

 

I'm not saying you can't like The Help. I'm not saying it's a terrible movie in it's own right. But I'd be blind to see that it's not part of a tradition of how people of color's struggles are depicted in mainstream movies. I'd recommend reading Reel Racism by Vincent Rocchio, and Reel to Real by Bell Hooks if you're still having trouble understanding that there are still very problematic tropes in American cinema. Read those books, then get back to me. Or not. This has turned out way more contentious then I thought it would. I'll peace out now.

 

 

Damn, I like your style, son. Your two rebuttals to Wien's stupidity were spot on and to the point.

[jarrycanada 2483]

I am pretty sure Easy A was not award bait. Nor was it nominated for much of anything.

 

it wasn't the Oscars it was the golden globes, my bad. "Easy A" got Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical Emma Stone. I remember thinking really why did that get nominated.

 

http://www.imdb.com/...rds?ref_=tt_awd

 

was so long ago I had forgotten, but remember watching it just in case it got nominated for a oscer, I wanted to really win my Oscar party... keep in mind i had not seen it tell it got a golden globe nomination. so I didn't know how bad it was. Then the help won one Oscar, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Octavia Spencer.

[seanotron 2307]

 

it wasn't the Oscars it was the golden globes, my bad. "Easy A" got Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical Emma Stone. I remember thinking really why did that get nominated.

 

http://www.imdb.com/...rds?ref_=tt_awd

 

was so long ago I had forgotten, but remember watching it just in case it got nominated for a oscer, I wanted to really win my Oscar party... keep in mind i had not seen it tell it got a golden globe nomination. so I didn't know how bad it was. Then the help won one Oscar, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Octavia Spencer.

 

I really didn't think it was bad. It seemed to me to be of a similar mind as Mean Girls. But I definitely would not describe it as award bait.

[imhatch 271]

easy a was def better than i had expected but that may be because i think "don't forget tomorrow is earth day" is a great line just great