Review: The Help

It seems that the formula “touch on racial conflicts and you’ve got yourself a story” worked again. The novel by Kathryn Stockett tells a story of a twentysomething, ambitious woman writing a controversial book about African-American maids working for white families.

To make it even more dramatic, the story happens during the civil rights movement in the early1960s. The protagonist, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, not only has a hard time because she swims against the stream of racial separation in the United States, but also because she hatches out of her traditional place in the American society.

The quest for freedom of black citizens is not the only struggle the book describes. It also portrays a struggle for emancipation of women. It involves a narrative so adored by writers and Hollywood directors, namely that a young girl from a small town tries to make a career in a metropolis. “It’s a cliché Devil Wears Prada scenario all over again”, you might say, but the story of The Help is much more dramatic because of the historical context in which it unfolds. Skeeter leaves Jackson town in Mississippi, being a symbol of narrow-mindness and racial prejudice, and with much courage pursues her dreams as a journalist in New York. It is also very clear that Skeeter does not need a man by her side. Most of the male characters are portrayed as arrogant, egoistic or simply unaware of the dramatic events unfolding while they are at work.

The Help was also an inspiration for a movie adaptation released last year. It is a nice-to-watch movie with surprisingly happy ending, and it has its tear jerking moments. I will risk a conclusion that the colorful 1960s fashion, tensions between social classes and all the devious scheming makes The Help movie a more ambitious version of Gossip Girl.