The Help And Contemporary Social Issues. In Recent...

The Help and Contemporary Social Issues In recent conversation about The Help, a controversial issue has been whether this movie conveys racist tendencies or not. Valerie Boyd, the forthcoming author of â€Å"Spirits in the Dark: The Untold Story of Black Women in Hollywood† and a journalism professor at the University of Georgia, argues that it â€Å"is a feel-good movie for a cowardly nation†. On the other hand, John McWhorter, author of â€Å"Authentically Black† and Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, argues that â€Å"the absence of bigotry in the film ought to be apparent to anyone watching it with an open mind†. I agree with Boyd’s statement, as this nation still sidesteps addressing racial ailments. But, I†¦show more content†¦The mammy stereotype was employed throughout the movie and was mainly seen in Aibileen, Constantine, and Minny. Ida Jones, the director of the Association of Black Women Historians defines the Mammy is à ¢â‚¬Å"a mythical stereotype of black women who were compelled, either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families, portrayed as asexual, loyal, and contented caretakers of whites† Aibileen and Constantine embody these characteristics through the loyalty and genuine love they showed to the white children they raised, although they were also loyal to their own children who had already grown up. Aibileen says that she raised 17 children over the years and Constantine worked for Skeeters family for over 20 years. Even though they both were very loyal to the children of their employers, they still loved their own children and are shown to play a role in their lives. In this movie, Minny was the only maid who had young children and does not raise a white child. Although not burdened with being the caretaker of anyone else’s children, she did not seem or was not shown to care as much for her own children. In the few scenes that her kids were shown, she was always sendin g them off to do something or go somewhere. These maids also follow the stereotype by the lack of a manly figure in their lives, as reflected on in the previous paragraph, and are depicted as Asexual, as they do not have any love interests; content, likeShow MoreRelatedGender, Gender And The Media1501 Words   |  7 Pagesmedia, Gender and the Media. It provides a critical introduction to the study of gender in the media and updated assessment of the crucial issues and debates. The book looks in detail at five kinds of media: news, advertising, talk shows, magazines and contemporary screen and paperback romances. It is examined how presentations of female and male are changing in recent years. 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