During the summer, The Help had moviegoers swooning over its Southern charm, even as civil rights buffs were clenching their armrests in fury and disgust.
The film, based on Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel, brought civil rights to the big screen with a tale about black maids in the Jim Crow-era South. The Athena Grand Theater recently decided to bring the film — which reeled in $26 million nationwide during its opening weekend — back to Athens.
“The film obviously did better than anticipated,” said Rick Frame, owner of Athena Grand Theater. “It did so well here, I thought we should bring it back.”
Films are not often replayed after their retirement, Frame said, but he made an exception this time. The rerun, however, is inflaming some feelings that flared when the movie first played in August.
“I can’t imagine why anyone would want to bring this film back,” said Joan Weston, assistant professor for African-American studies at Ohio University.
Some African American Studies professors at OU used the film as part of their lesson plans. But Weston, who teaches Black Women and the American Experience, said she would not recommend the movie to anyone, arguing that it only fortifies the deterioration of today’s civil-rights intelligence.
A report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center last month showed that high schools are now focusing less on racial inequality and social injustice. The center allotted grades to each state based on its students’ knowledge in different subject areas. Ohio and 34 other states received an “F” in civil rights — their curriculums include none or less than 20 percent of the recommended content.
“The Help reproduced the stereotype of the mammy, a single role that African American women were limited to,” she said. “It was a misleading representation of the work that domestics did.”
Akin to Weston’s complaints, The Association of Black Women Historians announced dissatisfaction with the Walt Disney film.
“The Help distorts, ignores and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers,” according to a statement online. “We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism.”
Only 2.7 percent of the Athens population is black, and almost 92 percent is white, according to the 2010 U.S. Census report.
“The Association of Black Women Historians finds it unacceptable for either this book or this film to strip black women’s lives of historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment,” its online statement said.
The last day to see The Help at the Athena Grand is tomorrow.
oy311909@ohiou.edu
