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[ZephyrFate]

Heh, I almost could predict that someone white or let's just say "not black" would post a postitive review as to why the movie shouldn't be wrong or offensive to blacks or users in this thread.

Let me ask you this, if they made a movie with happy Jews in a concentration camp and Jews found it to be rubbish, would you still do what you just did?

Yowza. I wander into the Black Culture thread once and I already see you stirring up race shit.

I can't help but feel your analogy to Jews and concentration camps smacks of pot calling the kettle black when it comes to wild, abstract connections.

 

[justjohn]

'The Help' Needs No Help: Midweek $5.5+M





The Help might end up as a sleeper hit.........

sigh.

 

[DominoKid]

fuck yeah Emma Stone bringing in them numbers

 

[Lionheart1337]

*sigh* Now I have to watch this movie to form my own opinion.

 

[Londa]

Yowza. I wander into the Black Culture thread once and I already see you stirring up race shit.

I can't help but feel your analogy to Jews and concentration camps smacks of pot calling the kettle black when it comes to wild, abstract connections.

Explain to me how that is wild? There were no happy maids. But of course you and dead man are sooo confused as to why some users find it not watching material. I wouldn't spend a dime to watch it and so have others voiced the same opinion. Why come in here telling people they must watch it first before deciding? The previews are enough reason for many to decide otherwise.

 

[Dead Man]

Explain to me how that is wild? There were no happy maids. But of course you and dead man are sooo confused as to why some users find it not watching material. I wouldn't spend a dime to watch it and so have others voiced the same opinion. Why come in here telling people they must watch it first before deciding? The previews are enough reason for many to decide otherwise.

Way to miss the point completely. As ever. Care to actually reply to my post?

 

[SmokyDave]

Heh, I almost could predict that someone white or let's just say "not black" would post a postitive review as to why the movie shouldn't be wrong or offensive to blacks or users in this thread.

Let me ask you this, if they made a movie with happy Jews in a concentration camp and Jews found it to be rubbish, would you still do what you just did?

This post is fascinating. Utterly fascinating. It's as if you appeared out of nowhere a few months back with the express purpose of stirring racial tensions. Last week I nearly combed this thread to see just how much the tone had changed since your arrival but then 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' came on TV and I watched that instead.

 

[Londa]

Way to miss the point completely. As ever. Care to actually reply to my post?

Already did by saying that it isn't surprising that you don't understand what is wrong with the film and why others would not view it. Outside of the rest of your post, it can stay untouch since I feel I rather not waste efforts on you. Time and time again you go around being outragous so you can keep the drama filled back to back posts for another day.

 

[computers putin']

Hollly ish! I knew Kreayshawn was a talentless hack, I didn't know she was this bad. It honestly gets no worse than this.

EDIT: Also, make sure to listen to the second half (when she's out of written stuff). There are no words....

she's an awful rapper, but her music is catchy enough for me not to care.

 

[Dead Man]

Already did by saying that it isn't surprising that you don't understand what is wrong with the film and why others would not view it. Outside of the rest of your post, it can stay untouch since I feel I rather not waste efforts on you. Time and time again you go around being outragous so you can keep the drama filled back to back posts for another day.

I go around being outrageous? LOL. Anyway, have fun with the outrage, I guess an actual discussion is too much for you. Sorry to hear that.

 

[Tokubetsu]

I didn't even know this movie existed until coming into this thread.

 

[Lionheart1337]

I didn't even know this movie existed until coming into this thread.

.

 

[Lespedeza]

I wonder how "Dejango Unchained" will be recived?

 

[Londa]

I go around being outrageous? LOL. Anyway, have fun with the outrage, I guess an actual discussion is too much for you. Sorry to hear that.

lol you are one to talk.

Bye, enjoy the movie ^_^!

This post is fascinating. Utterly fascinating. It's as if you appeared out of nowhere a few months back with the express purpose of stirring racial tensions. Last week I nearly combed this thread to see just how much the tone had changed since your arrival but then 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' came on TV and I watched that instead.

I'm flattered that I have that much affect on you. I'm sorry I can't seem to find the same amount of interests in you. But I'm sure there are plenty others that find you fascinating, there has to be... after all, you try so hard to be liked on Gaf.

 

[SmokyDave]

I'm flattered that I have that much affect on you.

You have stood out like a sore thumb for negative reasons, not positive. I wouldn't be flattered.

I'm sorry I can't seem to find the same amount of interests in you. But I'm sure there are plenty others that find you fascinating, there has to be...after all, you try so hard to be liked on Gaf.

Yeah, it's because nobody loves me in the real world. I crave the approval of others on the net, hence my reputation as a miserable right-wing racist bastard.

 

[Londa]

You have stood out like a sore thumb for negative reasons, not positive. I wouldn't be flattered.


Yeah, it's because nobody loves me in the real world. I crave the approval of others on the net, hence my reputation as a miserable right-wing racist bastard.

yet to take the time to stalk posts because you don't like someone is more effort than what I would waste time doing. So in a way, I rather be flattered than creeped out.

I don't think of you as racist, but I think you try waaay to hard to be liked on gaf. With all that "your a members" crap, its very apparent. I'm quickly finding that its beyond boring talking about you even a second more. Peace. lol

 

[SmokyDave]

yet to take the time to stalk posts because you don't like someone is more effort than what I would waste time doing. So in a way, I rather be flattered than creeped out.

I don't stalk, I have a good memory. Also, you're as subtle as a brick through a plate-glass window, it can be difficult to miss your "But GAF told me *insert inflammatory statement here*" posts.

I don't think of you as racist, but I think you try waaay to hard to be liked on gaf. With all that "your a members" crap, its very apparent. I'm quickly finding that its beyond boring talking about you even a second more. Peace. lol

Honestly, your perception of me is so far down on my list of things to care about, I needed a new sheet of paper to write it on.

I said 'aren't you members?' because the generalisation 'GAF says' does my fucking head in. GAF never speaks with one uniform voice.

 

[Dead Man]

I don't stalk, I have a good memory. Also, you're as subtle as a brick through a plate-glass window, it can be difficult to miss your "But GAF told me *insert inflammatory statement here*" posts.


Honestly, your perception of me is so far down on my list of things to care about, I needed a new sheet of paper to write it on.

I said 'aren't you members?' because the generalisation 'GAF says' does my fucking head in. GAF never speaks with one uniform voice.

No point getting into it with her David. She likes stirring shit and then acting as if she is the voice of reason. It's an old act, no point to buy into it.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Heh, I almost could predict that someone white or let's just say "not black" would post a postitive review as to why the movie shouldn't be wrong or offensive to blacks or users in this thread.

Let me ask you this, if they made a movie with happy Jews in a concentration camp and Jews found it to be rubbish, would you still do what you just did?

what the fuck?

 

[ghstwrld]

MHP goes in on the Help:

“This is not a movie about the lives of black women,” she clarified, as their lives were not, she argued, “Real Housewives of Jackson, Mississippi… it was rape, it was lynching, it was the burning of communities.” She then explained that it was, to her, completing the work started by the Daughters of the American Confederacy when they “found money in the federal budget to erect a granite statue of Mammy in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial,” which happened while the same Senate contingency failed to pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. “It is the same notion that the fidelity of black women domestics is more important than the realities of the lives, the pain, the anguish, the rape that they experienced.”

“It’s ahistorical and deeply troubling,” she argued, to make the suffering of these laborers a backdrop for a happy story. But there was a silver lining to the film, and Harris Perry concluded on a good note: actress Viola Davis’s buzz was well-earned. “What kills me,” she concluded, “is that in 2011 Viola Davis is reduced to playing a maid.”

 

[Londa]

what the fuck?

I guess you weren't around for the controversial cartoon thread.

 

[The Faceless Master]

I guess you weren't around for the controversial cartoon thread.

i don't think there can be any context in which that reply makes sense, but go ahead and link me.

 

[Londa]

i don't think there can be any context in which that reply makes sense, but go ahead and link me.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=394082

same thing happened in there when it came to the black face cartoons like "Coal Black".

Some quotes:

I was just posting a direct link to it because it's probably the most famous of the Censored Eleven. It's very highly regarded in spite of the blatant racism. It deserves a watch, even if you find it offensive.

Instead of watching it and accepting it for what it is - a masterpiece of animation that is also horribly offensive - let's just cover it up and never acknowledge its existence.

That's a much better approach.

it's ridiculous that these media companies hold back so many classic films and shorts, as if somehow people are somehow too fragile to see the content.

It's not like I'm going to see a racist Bugs Bunny cartoon and think Warner Bros hates black people.

Of course, it doesn't help my cause that the even the supposedly open-minded NYT was in favor of censoring Aladdin.

thread reminds me of how some members told others that "The Help" shouldn't be offensive to them.

 

[Big Baybee]

So I think I was confronted by some angry drunk white dude. I'm walking into a gas station, dude speeds his car up like he is about to hit me, and stops his car a few feet in front of me. He then yells some drunken shit out of his window about voting for Obama, etc, etc. I walk to the drivers side of his car and he speeds the fuck off. Man I was heated. I wish he'd gotten out of that car.

 

[Parallax]

can you two not argue about this? cant you just agree to disagree?

So I think I was confronted by some angry drunk white dude. I'm walking into a gas station, dude speeds his car up like he is about to hit me, and stops his car a few feet in front of me. He then yells some drunken shit out of his window about voting for Obama, etc, etc. I walk to the drivers side of his car and he speeds the fuck off. Man I was heated. I wish he'd gotten out of that car.

i was at the nevada stateline last saturday, and i was being accosted by drunk white dudes all damn day. it was more funny than it was sad. mainly because they could barely stand on their own and had people apologizing for them.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

This post is fascinating. Utterly fascinating. It's as if you appeared out of nowhere a few months back with the express purpose of stirring racial tensions. Last week I nearly combed this thread to see just how much the tone had changed since your arrival but then 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' came on TV and I watched that instead.

Can't blame you there, great movie.

 

[Teknoman]

dont sully my favorite character with this nonsense

:'(

Im not seeing a problem here

 

[The Faceless Master]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=394082

same thing happened in there when it came to the black face cartoons like "Coal Black".

Some quotes:

thread reminds me of how some members told others that "The Help" shouldn't be offensive to them.

yeah, still not seeing the logic...

 

[spindashing]

I didn't even know this movie existed until coming into this thread.

Same...

Can't blame you there, great movie.

Jack Nicholson at his best.

 

[Boombloxer]

Same...




Jack Nicholson at his best.

Along with The Shining and Chinatown.

yeah, still not seeing the logic...

Different standards for different races is what I think she's talking about. Put it like this, suppose Song of the South depicted Jews in the same light that it depicts black people.

Same thing with the Holocaust paling in comparison to slavery, which is kinda just glossed over.

For me personally, I don't see The Help or Tyler Perry's movies because I think it puts us back. I was happy to see black people saving the world in the Matrix (most of Zion is black), happy to see the scientist to figures shit out in 2012 be black. Happy to see Blade prove that superhero movies can work. Happy to see a media depiction as successful and influential family on the Cosby Show.

And on the other hand, we have House of Payne, Meet The Browns, etc. Buffoonery. At first glance, that's what I think "The Help" fits into--back in massa's house, raising their kids and giving the good advice that can only come from a magical negro.

That's why shit like Song of the South can be kept in a vault forever. Any historical value is overwritten in that case because the imagery is so strong.

There's exceptions, sure. Like Twain and Huckleberry Finn, where the context of the story is never genuinely offensive and the overall message delivered is greater than the use of a singular term. Hell, I love H.P. Lovecraft's stories and he was a product of his times, to put it lightly.

 

[Ash Sparrow]

Some old white guy stopped his car on the expressway while me and my mother were waiting for the train, gave a black power fist and went along his way. Wth. happened years ago, was just kinda WTH.

 

[Qwomo]

yet to take the time to stalk posts because you don't like someone is more effort than what I would waste time doing. So in a way, I rather be flattered than creeped out.

I don't think of you as racist, but I think you try waaay to hard to be liked on gaf. With all that "your a members" crap, its very apparent. I'm quickly finding that its beyond boring talking about you even a second more. Peace. lol

This is one of the more desperate posts I have read on GAF.

 

[Bay Maximus]

Watched 'The Help' with an open mind. My opinion:

Objectively speaking, the movie is competently directed with average to above average writing. The pace of the movie drags a bit in the beginning, but once it gets started it moves at a steady clip. However, the most enjoyable part of the movie came from the strong performances by Viola Davis as one of the maids and Bryce Dallas Howard as the main villain. Since her Law and Order:SVU days I've thought Viola was an underrated actress and it's great to see her get such a big role. I'm not sure that Hollywood can deny her, her propers after this performance. She's just unbelievably stately, even as a down-trodden southern maid, that it did wonders in assuaging the disgust I felt from her maid friend Minny.

Minny is pretty much what people fear when watching movies like this. The stereotypical, pie-making, eye-bulging sass talker is in full effect with this character. While she certainly had her high points, the lows where just too much for me to stomach. In one scene she

Spoiler

goes on about how amazing Crisco is and how she just loves fried chicken and how "Minny don't burn no chicken!" with a nice neck roll for full effect.

Of course this was just part of the racial imagery that is inherent in the movie's story. Like I said, it's a well put together movie but if you don't want to stomach this kind of imagery, I'd recommend keeping a safe distance. In any event, I'd say it's a good Redbox movie to watch, even if just for the performances of most of the main cast. 7.5/10

SN: I think I'm done watching movies at the theaters until I start seeing some minority lead characters. Groaned through all of the trailers.

 

[lightless_shado]

I wonder how "Dejango Unchained" will be recived?

Woah! I just looked it up on IMDB, I thought it was going to be about this Django

This will be interesting to say the least

MHP goes in on the Help:

Watched 'The Help' with an open mind. My opinion:[snip]

Yep, pretty much confirms what I thought about the movie, I didn't expect it to not be a well made movie, it has some good star power in it, but the imagery and the whole concept of it makes me very uncomfortable. There's a black president in America, yet we still have Mammy running around on the big screen? No thank you.

 

[Dead Man]

Here's a question. Is it possible to make a movie about racial relations in the previous hundred years, set in the south, that doesn't include servants? Is it possible to make a film that includes a black servant that does not raise the mammy stereotype?

I don't know the answer to either of these is the reason for me asking, not trying to bait anyone. I am interested in the views of the people in here.

 

[Satch]

Here's a question. Is it possible to make a movie about racial relations in the previous hundred years, set in the south, that doesn't include servants? Is it possible to make a film that includes a black servant that does not raise the mammy stereotype?

I don't know the answer to either of these is the reason for me asking, not trying to bait anyone. I am interested in the views of the people in here.

The thing about the mammy stereotype is that life for black female servants was hardly like that.

The stereotype is very consistently perpetuated, much to my chagrin, and it looks like it may never die out, at this rate.

Entertainment is largely segregated as it is with black actors taking generally black, small scope, "stereotypically black" projects, and white actors getting everything else.

 

[ChocolateCupcakes]

I already had asked earlier if anyone who has read the book would speak up, nobody did :/

My problem with movies like The Help and Driving Miss Daisy isn't so much what happens in there, as it is the imagery. I watch the commercials and I see these servants giggling along like they have no problem with being servants/ thinking that they're equal with their employers and I just hate that. I hate seeing that imagery of the black servant who doesn't seem to have that much of a problem with being a servant and if he or she does, it doesn't seem to be the impetus of the movie, and rather it seems like the master and servant are just getting along and having a good time and there isn't enough focus given on the sheer anger that must be flowing through the servant who has to put up a front so that they don't lose their jobs or something. I don't think that female black actors should still be playing mammy type characters in this day and age. Its the 21st century and I just feel that it needs to stop.

All I'm going off of is the trailers I've seen which make it seem like a comedy with elements of drama thrown in, no scenes of anyone actually trying to fight along side the servants telling them that they deserve equality or anything like that. Just scenes of the servants laughing along with their white bosses and other servants, with occasional cuts to a sad maid who seems to remember that she lives in poverty and in a time of inequality as soon as she heads to her own house.

Feel free to tell me to shut my face though because I haven't seen the film. The in-depth reviews from fellow posters here who have seen it will either confirm what I was thinking or encourage me to see the film. But the way I see it, the only thing that seperates this film from a Tyler Perry production is that it humiliates black people in the past rather than the present and is written by white people.

I didn't see the post. And yeah, there definitely was elements in it that made it seem like it would be a carefree film but it defnitely touches on some of the deeper issues.

As for the "stereotyping" I wasn't all that annoyed or bothered by it at all. The only character who I would say was like that was Minnie with her Crisco and chicken scene.

 

[lightless_shado]

Here's a question. Is it possible to make a movie about racial relations in the previous hundred years, set in the south, that doesn't include servants? Is it possible to make a film that includes a black servant that does not raise the mammy stereotype?

I don't know the answer to either of these is the reason for me asking, not trying to bait anyone. I am interested in the views of the people in here.

No to the first question yes to the second question. I'm pretty sure its even been done. Too lazy to look around but I'm sure someone who cares more than I do will provide a link

 

[ghstwrld]

I remember liking the The Long Walk Home. It's been a long time since I've watched it, though.

 

[Dead Man]

The thing about the mammy stereotype is that life for black female servants was hardly like that.

The stereotype is very consistently perpetuated, much to my chagrin, and it looks like it may never die out, at this rate.

Entertainment is largely segregated as it is with black actors taking generally black, small scope, "stereotypically black" projects, and white actors getting everything else.

Hmm... thanks for the reply. Is it possible do you think for a positively adjusted servant to be portrayed without it falling into the mammy stereotype? Or is it that only angry, victimised people can be shown? If it was only like the stereotype for a few, does that mean depictions of those are wrong? Or does it just mean that there needs to be more balance?

No to the first question yes to the second question. I'm pretty sure its even been done. Too lazy to look around but I'm sure someone who cares more than I do will provide a link

If someone could point these out it would be great! Thanks for the reply, too.

 

[ZephyrFate]

Explain to me how that is wild? There were no happy maids. But of course you and dead man are sooo confused as to why some users find it not watching material. I wouldn't spend a dime to watch it and so have others voiced the same opinion. Why come in here telling people they must watch it first before deciding? The previews are enough reason for many to decide otherwise.

The Help is not another case of that awful Sandra Bullock movie.

 

[Big Baybee]

The Help is not another case of that awful Sandra Bullock movie.

Don't even bring that movie up in this thread. And she won an Oscar for that piece of shit. Ugh.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

Don't even bring that movie up in this thread. And she won an Oscar for that piece of shit. Ugh.

Real talk. Academy Award Winner Sandra Bullock doesn't sit well with me at all, meanwhile Kate Winslett barely got hers. That movie was trash though.

 

[theignoramus]

The most humiliating and nauseating "Black" movie I've ever seen was that fucking awful "Precious" film. I've never been so repulsed. The director of that film has conceded that he is bitter about how the black community he grew up in reacted to his homosexuality, so his film about inner city black trash degenerates (presumably the same sort who made his life miserable) who act out (in spectacular fashion) every conceivable urban black stereotype has to be seen in a certain light. The way the film is constructed and so blatantly manipulative, (all it does a throw a bunch of horrific, nightmare scenarios at you, then hold a magnifying glass up to it) it's basically a letter of hatred and scorn to inner city black communities.
Critics should have seen right through such an amateurish production, but they're too eager to heap praise on audacious films about the black community, especially ones not directed by Spike Lee, their favourite target of scorn.

 

[Mr. Patch]

The most humiliating and nauseating "Black" movie I've ever seen was that fucking awful "Precious" film.

I think I saw that scene where Precious steals some fried chicken when I watched the Oscars one year. From that moment, I vowed to NEVER watch the damn movie.

 

[Satch]

Hmm... thanks for the reply. Is it possible do you think for a positively adjusted servant to be portrayed without it falling into the mammy stereotype? Or is it that only angry, victimised people can be shown? If it was only like the stereotype for a few, does that mean depictions of those are wrong? Or does it just mean that there needs to be more balance?

Personally, I feel that there could have been differently adjusted house servants back then. It's certainly not impossible at all. But I feel that it would be the exception, not the rule. As it stands, media tends to perpetuate it as the rule.

So, with that said, I think it's possible to have a house servant in movies that is adjusted to the white master's home without falling so hard into mammy territory. It's just that it probably takes so much work to get it to come across with any kind of genuine authenticity... it seems like Hollywood wouldn't find it worth it to go for the extra effort, so filmmakers resort to the caricatures. They take the easy way out, and watchers take it as historical truth.

As for whether or not only angry servants can be shown... I think that the subject matter needs to be honest with itself. It's a bit of a lose-lose situation when the options range from "showing house slavery for what it really was" (which I certainly would have inhibitions about watching because of the impact) to "showing house slavery as something that it wasn't" (which I certainly have inhibitions about watching because it's making light of something horrible).

I don't think I know what a good answer to that would be, to be quite honest with you :lol

@theignoramus

Isn't the story of Precious taken from a book?

 

[lightless_shado]

Hmm... thanks for the reply. Is it possible do you think for a positively adjusted servant to be portrayed without it falling into the mammy stereotype? Or is it that only angry, victimised people can be shown? If it was only like the stereotype for a few, does that mean depictions of those are wrong? Or does it just mean that there needs to be more balance?

There are some writers who have written about the psychology of opressed groups. For some people the way that they cope is by just accepting their position in society and thinking of it as only natural and that they deserve to be treated as less. They glorify their masters and think of it as an honor to serve them, and if anyone speaks out they report them to the masters. The same thing happened in Soviet Society, Concentration camps, and I'm pretty sure it happens in the Arab world and North Korea today.

At the root of the psychology of those kind of people is fear, fear that they'll lose whatever position they have in society. For Mammy, she is afraid that the only employment she can get will be lost if she dares to speak out whenever offensive things are said to her and when she's demeaned in public. I mean I can understand what you're getting at, you don't want history to be forgotten, but the problem is that movies like the help are glossing over the complexity and horror of the reality of that time period. We can have a movie that has Mammy in it so long as we understand and were shown the psychology behind her, instead of just having her presented at face value and thinking of her as "just another character" instead of a character whose fear has consumed the anger that she should be feeling and the tragedy of a person who seems to have just given up hope on ever achieving equality. I think Melissa Harris Perry sums up the disappointment that people have much more eloquently than I can. A link was posted in this page or the one before.

Isn't the story of Precious taken from a book?

Yes. It was written by a black woman too, so I'm thinking that's why people were more receptive to it than something like the help, it's written from the perspective of someone who can be in that situation. Although I agree that its not really a very good movie and it does just seem to throw a bunch of horrific things your way and it seems to just reinforce the notion that blacks are 100% responsible for every one of their problems in America.

 

[ZephyrFate]

Don't even bring that movie up in this thread. And she won an Oscar for that piece of shit. Ugh.

I don't understand any of its appeal. It's completely backwards as a film.

 

[Satch]

I don't understand any of its appeal. It's completely backwards as a film.

That movie where she took in the homeless boy?

What was so bad about it? Wasn't it based on a true story?

(I've never seen it)

 

[Dead Man]

Personally, I feel that there could have been differently adjusted house servants back then. It's certainly not impossible at all. But I feel that it would be the exception, not the rule. As it stands, media tends to perpetuate it as the rule.

So, with that said, I think it's possible to have a house servant in movies that is adjusted to the white master's home without falling so hard into mammy territory. It's just that it probably takes so much work to get it to come across with any kind of genuine authenticity... it seems like Hollywood wouldn't find it worth it to go for the extra effort, so filmmakers resort to the caricatures. They take the easy way out, and watchers take it as historical truth.

As for whether or not only angry servants can be shown... I think that the subject matter needs to be honest with itself. It's a bit of a lose-lose situation when the options range from "showing house slavery for what it really was" (which I certainly would have inhibitions about watching because of the impact) to "showing house slavery as something that it wasn't" (which I certainly have inhibitions about watching because it's making light of something horrible).

I don't think I know what a good answer to that would be, to be quite honest with you :lol

@theignoramus

Isn't the story of Precious taken from a book?

Thanks for the reply again. Sorry to have so many questions, but thanks.

There are some writers who have written about the psychology of opressed groups. For some people the way that they cope is by just accepting their position in society and thinking of it as only natural and that they deserve to be treated as less. They glorify their masters and think of it as an honor to serve them, and if anyone speaks out they report them to the masters. The same thing happened in Soviet Society, Concentration camps, and I'm pretty sure it happens in the Arab world and North Korea today.

At the root of the psychology of those kind of people is fear, fear that they'll lose whatever position they have in society. For Mammy, she is afraid that the only employment she can get will be lost if she dares to speak out whenever offensive things are said to her and when she's demeaned in public. I mean I can understand what you're getting at, you don't want history to be forgotten, but the problem is that movies like the help are glossing over the complexity and horror of the reality of that time period. We can have a movie that has Mammy in it so long as we understand and were shown the psychology behind her, instead of just having her presented at face value and thinking of her as "just another character" instead of a character whose fear has consumed the anger that she should be feeling and the tragedy of a person who seems to have just given up hope on ever achieving equality. I think Melissa Harris Perry sums up the disappointment that people have much more eloquently than I can. A link was posted in this page or the one before.

Yeh, I read that, thought it was an interesting piece. I did get the feeling that she thought it was a failing if any black actor ever played a servant though. Maybe I misread the intention though.

All in all a more nuanced subject than I initially thought, I'll leave it there, don't want to derail the thread, but thanks for the replies and information guys.

I do hope in the future there will be a depiction of post slavery racial relations that will be seen as authentic by both sides.