If we were to be talking about the historical accuracy, then I would review it as a 3 out of 5, but I do have to comment on the stereotypes of the African Americans. Antonia Quirke from Financial Times commented that this movie suffered from an obscure amount of stereotypes. The only food that the blacks cooked was fried chicken. Now, I have not lived in that era, but I am almost certain that the coloured people ate more than just fried chicken. It's a common stereotype even today that they only eat KFC, watermelons and drink Kool-Aid and I think that this is just a blatant lie. Another common stereotype is that every white person lived a luxurious life. Of course, the film was appointed to the history of the coloured people, but I have to comment on the life of the whites as well. Not everyone was riding luxurious cars and wearing fancy dresses, there were actually people that were in worse situations than the blacks, but don't get me wrong, altogether the coloured people suffered the most.
Moving away from the historical topic, we have the dramatic scenes that I would call as "woman's drama". Some scenes were just not understandable and felt like I was watching a soap opera. For example, whenever Aibileen stands up to Hilly at the end of the film. Aibileen insults Hilly and therefore Elizabeth orders Aibileen to leave. Aibileen gets her chance to talk to Mae Mobley, the daughter of Elizabeth, and bids farewell to her. This upsets Elizabeth and she starts to cry and just stand in place, while Hilly stands in front of the door, also supposedly crying. As Aibileen leaves she grabs her stomach and it seems like she is having stomach pain and moments after she is totally fine and just walks it off. I believe that this scene was just unnecessary and incomprehensible. If Taylor would've wanted this film to be historically accurate then I would've suggested to leave out the drama and actual research the period better. Even Keith Uhlich from Time Out sarcastically said that there's nothing a little race-transcending girl power won't cure. Which from his point of view the movie was all about, a white woman named Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, who saved the blacks by writing a book. The writer could've concentrated more on the risk that the blacks were taking by contributing to this book, not the actual writer, who had her life all intact. But looking at the fact the writer himself is also white, this doesn't even amuse me.
SOURCES
Uhlich, Keith. “The Help - Movie Reviews.” Rotten Tomatoes, 10 Aug. 2011, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_help/reviews?type=top_critics&sort=&page=2.Quirke, Antonia. “The Help - Movie Reviews.” Rotten Tomatoes, 27 Oct. 2011, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_help/reviews?type=top_critics&sort=.
