Helpless

[DeimosMasque]

I knew that The Help was going to be a white guilt movie the second I saw the first trailers, so I am glad to know I was right there.

Bob, you continue to match my opinions and view points to the point that I'm ready to run the DNA test to make sure we aren't the same person.

I'm sure you don't check these messages but I'll say it again, when do we get more American Bob videos? They have been nothing but awesome. My fiancee and I quote them all the time when talk to others about politics.

 

[bificommander]

In Europa, I haven't seen many Civil-rights drama, but I have the same knee-jerk reaction to the regular dramas about South Africa's Appartheid-era. My response to the announcement of the last one was roughly "Oh FFS, another story of a white author helping the poor blacks? Call me when the movie centers squarely on ANC members, preferably those that joined during the armed-resistance period and have to come to terms with the peacefull resolution Mandela played such a big role in." Hey, I'd go see an overly sappy drama about Mandella before dropping money down the 'look at the whitey being all noble and crap, fighting for the primitive's rights.'-hole

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Haven't read the book or seen the movie, so I can't really comment on the subject too well. However, after reading through the article and the associated comments, I have to wonder how a tasteful "white guilt" movie taking place in civil rights era America would be done. The first thing that comes to mind would be a remake of Black Like Me [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Like_Me]. The context of the book easily allows for a "white" man to take the place of main character without devolving into a "white savior" sort of role while making "black characters the sidekicks of their own stories". Following Movie Bob's summation of Hollywood's take on "black films", a hypothetical remake of Black Like Me would also be able to give a (partial) black point of view while still pandering to white audiences in that a white lead was learning to deal with social and racial injustice too. Admittedly, I'd also like to see the re-discussion of the topic of the "tasteful" use of black face that would inevitably follow the movie's release.

Out of curiosity, for those of you without prior knowledge of "The Help", did you also mistake the movie to be about Mexican immigrants? Just going purely off the title of the movie without researching it whatsoever, what immediately came to my mind was a left-leaning movie following the lives of Mexican immigrants working as unskilled laborers trying to carve a life for themselves and their newly transplanted families while dealing with racial prejudice and the dismissive attitudes of their white, wealthy employers.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I have no guilt for being white and i dont see any connection between myself and what my ancestors did. Its history, it happened and needs to be gotten over. In a time when black recording artists sell millions of albums, headline multi million pound movies and has become the president of the USA....these types of movies are less relevant. Mainly because the movies are unrealistic, pretensious and make white people look like racist arseholes when having a black maid etc was just the way of life. Kids grew up with it and it was normal for them. I film about racism and they demonise all white people apart from that one enlightened woman, great job.

 

[AnthonyMS]

So Moviebob is a racist because he's tired of the Magical Negro trope? -everyone- is tired of the Magical Negro.

1. For my post, I'm saying condemning Skeeter's intentions for getting these black women to share their stories about their white employers as "blatantly trying to prove she's not a racist" is ironic/hippocritical because Moviebob's article is just as subconciously fueled by his desire to prove he's not a racist as Skeeter's is.

2. Sorry, for me, "racist" is as overly used by everyone as "troll" is, and this makes it just as trite as "troll". Why? Because I'm J-J-J-J-Jimmy!!! (South Park character) In 4th grade, I went to a doctor (because I had these bulges around my joints) and he taught me the word Osteochondromatosis (said bulges are benign cancerous tumors that have to be surgically removed because as I go through puberty they'll become too big knocking my bones out of alignment, or cutting surrounding tissues like muscles, arteries, nerves, etc.). In 7th grade, the doctors operated on one tumor that was under my shoulderblade and another tumor that was near my kneecap in my right leg, simultaneously. This left me having to crutch around school on one crutch like Tiny Tim, and that's when I got my nickname: Tiny Tony. So, my philosophy on racism is similar to Tyion Lannister's advice to John Snow. I AM Tiny Tony, and You are THE <insert racial slur, homophobic slur, misogynistic slur, etc. here>.

 

[TitanAura]

That's because racism against black people is the safest. Racism against Arabs is a very volatile issue right now. Especially because you inevitably are going to run into issues of religion.

Native Americans are also a pretty safe topic but that doesn't have as much current 'weight' as the black issue as you have to go back over 100 years. I'd love to see something on current day racist issues outside of the black movement. Say the constant expelling of the Roma (gypsies) out of every European country (including Romania itself where they actually got their name!). How about the current Morrocan and Turkish (did you know there are more Turkish than Germans living in Berlin these days?) people in Europe? Also haven't seen a good examination of current day native American tales (a movie pops up now and then about it but usually skirt around the issue for the most part).

Another major problem with all those is that there's no historical precedent of some great movement or heroic tales to draw from. So someone would need to write such a thing from scratch. And walking into the racism powder keg without being able to point to some real world event is tricky business to say the least.

God Bless Robert Rodriguez.

 

[Grand_Arcana]

MovieBob: Helpless

Is The Help really as positive a movie as it makes out? MovieBob isn't so sure.

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Okay, maybe I missed it, but I really what to hear/read your commentary on Tyler Perry's work. I think it would be very funny (no pressure) or at least insightful (There's something that I frankly don't like about his material. It's rehashed, stereotypical, arguably more racist than anything a White director could get away with ect. but since I'm not a movie buff, I have a grave suspicion I don't know all of the underling wrongness. What I'm saying is; it's like the Sims.)