I remember when it first came out it was lauded and so was the movie. Everyone I knew was talking about it and raving. I was in middle school when the movie came out and that's when I read the book. Reading it then was a different experience now. Now the white savior trope feels more obvious but it's really the dialect that gets me. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the 3 characters. Skeeter and all the while characters speak plainly. You wouldn't guess they're from the south based ofc how they speak but Minny, Aibileen, and all the black characters speak with not only a southern dialect but the spelling and grammar reflect that. Being from the south myself I feel that the white characters could have been written similarly and the fact that they aren't is a bit distracting. Some of the poorer white characters don't speak in dialect either. When I first read the book I didn't even notice it but it's very noticable now.
I don't hate the book of the movie by any means and neither does anyone in my family. As a matter of fact some of them quote it. Especially the two slices of shit scene. I still remember my mom discussing the book with her friends and comparing it to what my grandma experienced when working in a nursing home in the 60s as a Black care taker.
My mother felt it did a great job of making people think about that and how so many Black women of the time had to work outside the home (so many ppl today think women didn't work then. Completely false) and take care of other people's children. More than their own. I remember her being very loved by the book and her having discussions about it with her white coworkers who had parents that grew up with help. I remember feeling moved by the book as well. All of the characters felt real to me and I felt that they had a lot of life to them. I think my mother and sister loved having a book highlight the struggle Black women have always experienced. I think they feel similarly about books/movies like The Color Purple.
So overall I think it's great that the book got people talking about this particular part of history but there are some parts of it that definitely stand out to me now and not in a good way. I'd still recommend it to other people so they could develop their own feelings about it. How did you like it?
by battleangel1999
1 Comment
Any piece of art, writing, movie, etc, is going to be colored by the author’s/creator’s life.
Going back a decade plus later and calling that shit out as problematic? That’s problematic. Those people doing that are the problem. The author lived their life, and described the issues/morals/problems as best they could.
You want to write? You think you can do what they did? Go do it. Looking at stuff from the past in today’s lens? It’s for people that want to feel superior.