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The Help

I chose to write my last tumblr post about the movie “The Help”. The story takes place in Jackson Mississippi during the 1960s. A that time black females were used as housemaids for the rich white families. The maids did all the housework and almost entirely raised the white children for the families. Skeeter a young white female, who is a writer, she returns home from college and she sets out to talk with some of the towns well known maids, Abilieen and Minny to develop a book sharing their stories.

Right away by looking at the cover of the film it is evident there will be some conflict with race in the movie. The cover shows two white women from the movie well-dressed, sitting on a bench while the two black maids are standing off to the side wearing their uniforms. As the movie starts, we are introduced to the white families and the maids that work for the families. The maids are not allowed to sit with the families, eat any of their food, or have any opinion on any matters regarding the household. The white families think the black people are dirty and carry diseases only black people would have. One of the scenes shows Hilly Hollbrook, a white lady, planning a rule to only allow the maids to use the bathroom outside of the home. During a bad storm Minny is stuck facing the decision to go out in the storm to the back-yard outhouse where “her” bathroom is or risk her job by using the family restroom. She ultimately choses to use the family restroom which causes her to lose her job. Another story from the film is, one day the seventeenth child Abilieen is raising came home from school and told Abilieen that she got yelled at by her teacher because she drew a picture of herself with a black crayon. The teacher told the little girl, Mae Mobley, black people are dirty, and she should only use white.

There were many scenes in the film the I felt related to the list we read in “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. One of the many that relate to the list is point number 10, “I can be fairly sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race”. The maids definitely don’t have their voices heard when they are working in the white family’s home. Another point I want to discuss is this film shows how racism is passed down through generations. The kids adore the maids who are more like a mother to them than their own but once they are able to understand what the other white people are telling them about the black people it become ingrained in their mind that black people are not as good as white. If the kids would grow up not hearing all the negativity surrounding black people, they would likely accept them at an older age. 

The cover of the film.

The two maids Abilieen and Minny telling Skeeter their stories.

The scene where Minny is faced with the decision of using the outside bathroom or the family bathroom.

Scenes that show the relationship between Abilieen and Mae Mobley. Abilieen has a special saying she used that I love it is “You is kind, you smart, you is important”

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/real-life-maid-child-cared-reunited-20-years/story?id=14079986

An article of a real life story as portrayed in this film about the maid almost raising the little girl.

Citations 

Garguilo, Dana. “The Help Video Clip Bathroom Scene.” YouTube, YouTube, 3 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-g9PX-cAWs.

“Minny Jackson, Aibileen Clark, and Skeeter Phaelan in The Help. | The Help | Octavia Spencer, Best Picture Nominees, Emma Stone.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/345369865165996355/.

“Real-Life 'The Help': Maid, Child She Cared for Reunited After 20 Years.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 15 July 2011, abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/real-life-maid-child-cared-reunited-20-years/story?id=14079986.

“The Help.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 10 Aug. 2011, www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/.

Ward-Haddan, Alison. “Aibileen and Mae Mobley.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 July 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTZ_67iIkls.

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Tumblr Post 2:#blacklivesmatter

        For my social media selection, I chose to research #blacklivesmatter. The hashtag was first used in July of 2013 and its usage has gone up and down over the years that tend to be correlated with different events that are taking place. The first time #blacklivesmatter was used was after the Trayvon Martin shooting. It became a place for people of the black community to openly express and discuss their frustrations. According to USA today, as of July 2018 the hashtag has been used over 30 million times, with high spikes after major news events.

           The majority of the information that was coming out on the news regarding the Trayvon Martin shooting and many others was coming from a white perspective. An interesting comment made in Greg Jay’s, “Defining Race, Ethnicity, and Cultural Diversity” was made saying that many times different races are so affected by white supremacy they construct their own groups that can have a voice for political resistance or cultural affirmation. I think this is a main reason of the #blacklivesmatter began. The people of the black community felt that they did not have a strong enough voice to be heard so they took to social media. They were then able to express their feelings and concerns freely and openly. There words didn’t have to be told from a white person’s perspective.  

           One big discussion in this class that I think relates to the formation of #blacklivesmatter is the Civil Rights History. The Civil Rights involved people of color fighting for social equality. The formation of this hashtag still proves that people of the black community don’t feel they have social equality. They feel the only way for their voices to be heard are to take to social media to express their feelings. They’re might not be different bathrooms and bubblers in today’s society but there is still evidence of unequal rights between whites and blacks.

Graph showing the trends of the usage of #blacklivesmatter 

The women who coined the term black lives matter. 

One of the many protests supporting #blacklivesmatter

Tweets from well known people using the hashtag #blacklivesmatter

Blue, Officer. “Lady Gaga Voices Support For Man Who Tried To Murder Officer.” Blue Lives Matter, 11 Aug. 2016, archive.bluelivesmatter.blue/lady-gaga-support-paul-oneal-black-lives-matter/.

“From July 12, 2013, to March 31, 2016, #BlackLivesMatter Was Used Eight Times as Often as #AllLivesMatter.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 12 Aug. 2016, www.pewinternet.org/2016/08/15/social-media-conversations-about-race/pi_2016-08-15_race-and-social-media_3-01/.

Guynn, Jessica. “Meet the Woman Who Coined #BlackLivesMatter.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 4 Mar. 2015, www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/03/04/alicia-garza-black-lives-matter/24341593/.

Reporter, Dailymail.com. “The Weeknd Donates $250,000 to Black Lives Matter after Tweeting His Support.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 11 Aug. 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3734154/The-Weeknd-donates-250-000-Black-Lives-Matter-tweeting-support.html.

Simon, Caroline. “How Social Media Has Shaped Black Lives Matter, Five Years Later.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 15 July 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/12/black-lives-matter-movement-and-social-media-after-five-years/778779002/.

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This is Us

“This is Us” is a television show that follows the life of a family and all of the struggles they are faced with. It flips between present day and flashbacks on their life. One character in particular faces the challenges we are taught in this class. His name is Randall an African American man and was adopted by a white family. The Pearson’s found out they were pregnant with triplets, at the time of their birth one of the triplets didn’t survive and on the same day Randall was left at a fire station. The Pearson’s found out and adopted Randall into their family to complete the “big three” again. Each character has struggles in the show but Randall struggles being African American and raised in a white family. Kevin one of the triplets lives a perfect life, he is popular, good-looking, and a movie star. An episode shows the three children’s tenth birthday party. Kevin and Kate have many of their friends at the party while only a few of Randall’s friends showed up.

I feel that McIntosh’s list can relate to many of the events that take place during the show. One point from the list that I felt related well to the show was “I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race” (McIntosh). An example from the show is Randall’s foster child wrote a paper in one of her English classes that got published the school newspaper. She felt that the only reason it was good enough to be published in the school paper was because she was black and spent some time growing up in her mom’s car.

Randall lies in a hard spot by being black and raised in a white family and community. He is a successful business man, lives in a big house, with a beautiful wife and kids. He tried to run for city council of a poorer neighboring community. The people of that community didn’t accept Randall at first because they saw him as a successful man who grew up with white privilege even though he was black. We learned in week 3 that white privilege is being successful because you are white. Randall has always had his personal struggles with race and didn’t feel that he grew up with that same white privilege his siblings grew up with but that is not how the rest of his community views him.

The “Big Three” as babies

NBCThisIsUs. “The Big Three This Is Us GIF - TheBigThree ThisIsUs ThisIsUsGifs - Discover & Share GIFs.” Tenor, Tenor, 4 Sept. 2017, tenor.com/view/the-big-three-this-is-us-this-is-us-gifs-big-three-big3-gif-9662404.

The entire Pearson family 

Bentley, Jean. “How 'This Is Us' Perfectly Cast Three Generations of Pearsons.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Mar. 2019, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/is-us-casting-director-finding-younger-big-three-1063730.

Randall let down after hearing peoples thoughts about him running for the city council.

Sneirson, Dan. “'This Is Us' Creator on That Who Is 'Her'? Mystery Revelation, Randall and Beth's Future.” EW.com, EW.com, 27 Nov. 2018, ew.com/tv/2018/11/27/this-is-us-creator-who-is-her-mystery-randall-beth/.

Randall at his 10th Birthday Party being questioned by his parents why there were few kids at his party. 

Jones, Ron. “'This Is Us' Recap: Top 6 Moments from 'Three Sentences'.” Fan Fest | For Fans, By Fans, 25 Jan. 2017, fanfest.com/2017/01/25/this-is-us-recap-top-6-moments-from-three-sentences/.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPlKtf2E5GI

A clip of Randall and Jack (his father) discussing his differences.