A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she finally saw "The Help" and that her reaction was contrary to the reactions of others who have written on Facebook, "Oh my gosh, this movie is life-changing!" "Oh my gosh, I cried the majority of the time, what a powerful story." Some people posted their opinions and defended why they felt the way that they did either agreeing or disagreeing.
I later sent this person a text and said, "I like what you posted on Facebook about 'The Help', ever notice that the majority of people who like the movie aren't Black?" She responded, "Funny how that is, huh?"
I personally enjoy movies surrounding issues of race, successful minorities, and social problems. Some of my favorites are Selena, Stand and Deliver, Whale Rider, Crash, and Sin Nombre. But, these types of movies seldom portray the realities of those the movie is attempting to depict.
Ryan told me a long time ago, "Black people don't like movies like 'Precious' or 'Jumping The Broom' because it's a White man's perspective of our culture, not our own." I thought that was powerful. My friend Malachi told me, "My grandma doesn't have to go see 'The Help' because she lived through it, why go and see her story through someone else's perspective?" Malachi mentioned that the movie was offensive because they portrayed White women standing up for Black women's right as if Black women did not have the power or capability to do so on their own.
Race has always been a controversial issue and my purpose in this post was to acknowledge what my friend had posted, I haven't even seen the movie but "The Help" is a movie marketed to attract mainstream America, and if you look up the directors and producers (Tate Taylor, Chris Columbus, Jeff Skoll) it's probably easy to understand why my friend didn't enjoy the movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment