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Rachel Straughn

Professor James Derosa

ENGL 207 A

9 June 2017

The Help: Anti-Racism or New Racism?

The Help is an American historical fiction film directed by Tate Taylor and released in

2011. Based on the 2009 novel written by Taylor’s childhood friend, Kathryn Stockett, the film is

set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963 and primarily follows three women: Aibileen Clark (Viola

Davis), Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), and Eugena “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone). Aibileen

and Minny are black maids tasked with cooking, cleaning, and raising young children for white

families. Skeeter is a white college graduate, having just returned home and attempting to

jumpstart her journalism career. She does so by publishing a book also called “The Help” that

details Aibileen and Minny’s experiences working for white families during the Civil Rights

Movement. The film closely follows their struggles in completing this project, in addition to

Skeeter’s own personal challenges concerning her place in society as a young, educated, single

woman. The book ultimately gets published, and the film ends with Skeeter receiving a job offer

from a New York publisher and Aibileen being fired from her job but nonetheless happy she

agreed to write the book.

The film was well-received, grossing $169,705,587 nationally and receiving numerous

nominations (“The Help (2011)”). Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis won several awards for their

work in this film, which is said to have jumpstarted their acting careers in mainstream motion

pictures. Despite its popularity, the film has encountered controversy. The novel and screenplay

were both written by white people, and the director—who is also white—lives on a historic
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plantation in Mississippi. The idea for the book came from a conversation between Taylor and

Stockett, in which they longed to see their own family maids, who they say played a large role in

raising them when they lived in Jackson during the 1970s (France). The two were “intrigued” by

the lives of their maids, and decided to tell a story from their point of view through “The Help.”

This white perspective inadvertently led to a racially biased film, and demonstrates that

American society has yet to fully acknowledge and overcome its challenges with racism.

The scene that most completely captures the essence of The Help and the societal ideals it

promotes is the final scene of the film. Aibileen and Skeeter's book has been published for some

time, and Hilly knows that it contains information about her eating a feces-filled chocolate pie

prepared by Minny. To preserve her reputation in the community, she pressures Elizabeth into

firing Aibileen by claiming that Aibileen has stolen some of Elizabeth's silver. The camera cuts

back and forth between close ups of Aibileen and Hilly, who angrily stare each other down. In

what initially seems to be a triumphant exclamation, Aibileen tells Hilly: "All you do is scare and

lie to try to get what you want. You a godless woman! Ain't you tired, Miss Hilly? Ain't you

tired?" Miss Hilly simply stares back, until Elizabeth breaks the silence with "Aibileen, you have

to go now."

Aibileen walks over to Mae Mobley, Elizabeth's young daughter who she has been raising

over the past few years. Mae Mobley is visibly upset, crying "Don't go, Aibiee! Please don't

leave." Aibileen is kneeled down to Mae Mobley's level and comforts her, saying "I don't want to

leave you, but … it's time for me to retire. You my last little girl. I need you to remember ever

thing I told you. Okay? Do you remember what I told you?" Mae Mobley nods, reciting the

mantra Aibileen has famously bestowed upon all of the white children she has raised: "You is
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kind. You is smart. You is important." Aibileen rises, looks Elizabeth directly in the eye, and

demands "You give my little girl a chance."

Aibileen leaves the house, head held high, tears streaming down her face, and never turns

back. In the background, the viewer sees Mae Mobley run to the window and hears her cry

inconsolably, as Aibileen voices over the scene: "God says we need to love our enemies. It hard

to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it felt like to be me.

Once I told the truth about that I felt free. And I got to thinking about all the people I know, and

the things I seen and done … My boy, Treelore, always said we gonna have a writer in the family

one day. I guess it's gonna be me." The film ends with the camera panning upward and away as

Aibileen continues down the street and turns the corner toward the sunset.

In spite of the jarring news that she had just lost her job, The Help ends on a rather

hopeful note for Aibileen's character. Had this story occurred in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi,

Aibileen (and all other maids who helped write the book) would have likely found their lives in

danger because of their contributions to the project. Even so, the odds of Aibileen becoming an

accomplished writer without at least moving north were close to nothing. Meanwhile, Skeeter

has said her goodbyes and left for New York—for a job offered to her because she authored "The

Help"—and essentially left Aibileen, Minny, and the other maids to handle the aftermath in their

community following the novel's release. Only after the viewer reads the plot in this way will

they begin to understand that The Help may not be a feel-good tribute to black women of the

1960s and the power of telling the truth. Instead, they will see that this film is artifact from

modern American society's attempt to simultaneously ignore and reshape its past concerning

white identity and roles in the Civil Rights Movement. It is also a product of New Racism, a term

coined to describe a subtle and indirect form of racism that acts through societal systems rather
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than within individuals. By analyzing The Help in three ways (intersectional feminism, spectator

gazes, and the white savior/Magical Negro tropes), one is able to see how American media

exhibits characteristics of this New Racism in current society.

Feminism is a common theme within The Help: an unlikely group of women meet and do

their part in lifting up the others so that they may overcome their obstacles and become the best

they can be. While the idea appears progressive initially, the film neglects the full

intersectionality of the of the maids' experiences both as women and as people of color in the

1960s, resulting in an unrealistic portrayal of how these interactions may have occurred, if they

occurred at all. In "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism," Bell Hooks describes the

combined effect of racism and sexism on black women during and after the first women's

suffrage movement, and how white and black feminists were never quite able to join together in

promoting their causes. She says, "From our peripheral position in the movement we saw that the

potential radicalism of feminist ideology was being undermined by women who, while paying lip

service to revolutionary goals, were primarily concerned with gaining entrance into the capitalist

patriarchal power structure" (Hooks, 188). The viewer sees similar themes in The Help. While

unaware of it, Skeeter is exploiting the maids' experiences for her own professional gain and

personal growth, without giving any attention to other aspects of their lives: Mindy's abusive

husband, Aibileen's late son Treelore, and the widespread poverty and violence within their

neighborhoods. Additionally, a significant portion of the story is dedicated to Skeeter's lack of

employment and love life. This focus is inherently racist because it assumes that her struggles

equate to those of the black characters, when they are going through much worse simply because

they were born as black women. Hook also tells of a stereotype about black women: “One of the

United States’ most popular sexist-racist myths about black womanhood is that black women are
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inherently more assertive independent, and domineering than white women.” (Hooks, 181) This

stereotype is born from the fact that black women feel they do not need the feminist movement.

Hooks says, “Just as white women had publicly disavowed any political connection with black

people when they believed that such an alliance was inimical to their interests, black women

disassociated themselves from feminist struggle when they were convinced that to appear

feminist, i.e. radical, would hurt the cause of black liberation” (Hooks, 179) In The Help, each of

the maids is well aware of the discrepancies between their goals and that of their employers. No

matter the intentions of the white person, the maids are always hesitant to trust them or accept an

offer for help. And what happens when they do? According to the film, they receive the

satisfaction of finally being courageous enough to tell part of their story for the first time ever.

However, they also receive uncertainty about their futures, and if not life will likely return to

what it was before Skeeter came along and proposed the novel. Throughout the entire film,

Aibileen and Mindy remain independent of their employers, spouses, and even Skeeter. The only

dependence they show for another character on is for each other, because they clearly and

succinctly understand their past and present challenges, and have proven that they are

trustworthy. Their first (and rightful) reaction to a white woman looking to stir up trouble is to

turn away and say, “no thank you.” And even as they begin this journey with Skeeter, they

remain involved yet distant, ready to drop the project and proceed with their lives as if it never

happened. In the end, their position in society is unchanged, and all they have succeeded in doing

is publishing a novel that will serve their community as a form of entertainment and not much

else. This demonstrates society’s inability to respond to acute social criticism and its tendency to

modify criticism such that it is more bearable for white audiences to bear.
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If feminism is to be intersectional to achieve true equality for all women, and if popular

media is to support it, Marci Littlefield says several things must occur. Of racism in popular film,

she says “change is possible only when all participants understand their own agency and

respond. As long as the traditional blame-the-victim scenario defines our understanding of

popular culture and the media, then the actors will never be challenged to change or make

different choices” (Littlefield, 683). This places the responsibility on filmmakers to be aware of

how they are representing minorities and the white people who interact with them. In the film,

Yule May asks Hilly for assistance in paying for her sons’ college tuition. After declining to help

her, Hilly informs Yule May that she is actually doing her a favor. She says “God doesn’t give

charity to those who are well and able. You need to come up with this money on your own.

You’ll thank me one day.” While this scene was clearly meant to demonstrate Hilly’s lack of

empathy for humanity, the entire film seems to be a faint echo of the themes introduced here. The

plot is framed in a way such that Aibileen and Minny are thought to be stuck in a never-ending

rut, going through the motions of their lives as maids, raising white child after white child, with

not much else to look forward to in their lives. Not until Skeeter comes along does their life

begin to change for the better, implying that the solution to their problems was as simple as

developing a friendship with a young white woman. And while feminism describes women

raising other women up, it never allows one woman to decide which of her fellow women are

worthy of raising or not. Additionally, the lack of historical context in the film results in the

trivialization of the maids’ struggles. The purposeful omission of events from the Civil Rights

Movement like the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which serve as a concrete

reminder of what all black Americans were experiencing in that era: the inability to climb the

social or economic ladder, no matter how educated they were or how hard they tried. This was a
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product of the new systemic face of racism, and no feminist act can eradicate it. Had the

filmmakers understood this, they would have approached the plot of the film in an entirely

different way. Of how this racism is promulgated in media, Littlefield says “Ideas about race and

ethnicity are transferred to the public through images and public presentations of racial groups,

and until these presentations are filtered and challenged, racial identity and understanding will

constantly be viewed through the lens of capitalism. That is, until minority groups play an active

role in self-definition and reject the presentations of minorities by producers who are motivated

by the dollar, then media representations will continue to define minority groups” (Littlefield,

684). This not only places responsibility on filmmakers, but also on the actors who choose to

play these historically and socially inaccurate roles. They should be vigilant in marking them as

incorrect, and either refuse to play the part or have a hand in revising it so that it is no longer

problematic. However, this introduces interesting circumstances for two actresses: Viola Davis

and Octavia Spencer. Before this film, both actresses were relatively unknown in the industry,

having only had small acting roles. For both, this film was a risk with good chances for high

reward, considering the success of the novel. If the two were to reach stardom anytime soon,

they had to accept these roles. Up until 2011, films that not only stared multiple black women but

also used their roles in an uplifting manner were rare but increasing in demand. This was their

chance, and they took it. Thus, even the actresses were forced to turn a blind eye to the problems

within the movie and the external system of racism to climb the social and economic ladder to

open doors to more opportunities for themselves, and the feminist narrative of their rise to

stardom are tinged with racism.

Another approach to unearthing evidence of New Racism in The Help is by analyzing

how the film presents itself to its explicit and implicit audiences, or the intended gaze. Initially,
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The Help appears to be a heartwarming yet historically informative story for all families across

America. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the popular film is actually denying the actions

of white people in the Civil Rights Movement, in addition to applauding a contemporary white

audience for the progress made to this date in civil rights. Irene Seu studies factors influencing

an audience’s denial to human rights appeals. She suggests that “attention should be paid to what

is socially and culturally available to the public to counteract the moral imperative contained

within the appeals” (Seu, 453). This excerpt can be applied to The Help in two ways: by

investigating the appeals presented within the film and the social context within which they are

delivered. The argument made in this film is that while the civil rights era was a major part of

history and racism was clearly still a social issue, American society has overcome this blemish in

American history and can look back on it today with a sense of nostalgia and celebration that a

national economic, political, and societal challenge has been overcome. This appeal would be

sound if it were correct. The Help omits significant civil rights events that occurred in addition to

those fictionally included in Kathryn Stockett’s novel, compromising the appearance of the

extent of racism then. For instance, the Civil Rights Movement saw several significant events in

the year 1963: the double bombing in Birmingham by members of the KKK and its associated

riots, the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, the March on Washington, and the 16th Street Baptist

Church bombing in Birmingham, not including countless other violent events in the mid-west.

The film also overlooks several key events from the novel: a maid’s son accidentally using a

designated white bathroom and getting beaten and blinded, and a man named Carl Roberts being

“found cattle-branded and hung from a pecan tree” (Stockett). The one violent incident included

in the movie is when a black man is shot while Aibileen is on the bus home. Yet even with this

one event, the filmmakers opt to only include its aftermath without explicitly showing any white
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people completing the act described. This places a degree of separation between the viewer and

the severity of the violence and implies that events such as these within the diegetic reality are

rarer than historical facts may indicate. Thus, the resulting environment presented within the film

is not nearly as harsh and oppressive towards black people as it actually was, and the actions of

white people in that period carry less weight. This, in addition to the cultural context within

which the film was released, makes it quite easy for the white viewer to believe that society

really has come quite far in resolving racism issues. The viewer sees on screen that white

socialites such as Hilly were mostly responsible for causing grief within the black population. In

society, the viewer sees a world where it is no longer the norm to segregate public facilities such

as restrooms, water fountains, and public transportation. A black man has been elected president.

Surely, that must mean that racism within America has been resolved. Because New Racism

quietly acts against black people through systems, the old racism is still the only kind of racism

that white people know. Since white people no longer see old racism occurring, they immediately

begin to believe that the issue has been resolved.

Selectively using the gaze as a means for appeal for a specific cause can be effective,

according to Seu. One of the major findings in her study is that “audiences’ relationships with

those who appeal to them through humanitarian communication seem to be crucial, not their

relationships with the ‘distant sufferer’” (Seu, 453). In other words, a white audience is more

likely to believe a claim about racism in society made by white filmmakers over that made by

black filmmakers, even though it is black people who have experienced the brunt of racial

disparities in the United States. Given this, Tate Taylor and Kathryn Stockett had a significant

amount of power in determining the amount of historical information that would reach their

white audiences, thus influencing what they believe to be true about the current state of race
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issues in America. Seeing as how both Taylor and Stockett are established in their respective

fields, it is safe to say that they were well aware of the potential influence they could have on

their audiences. Unfortunately, their ability to teach a worthwhile lesson and show an audience

the full truth about the black experience in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi falls short in The Help.

Instead, Taylor dilutes both the factual and fictional black experiences found in reality and in the

novel. As a middle-aged white man, Taylor has little personal stake in the accuracy of whatever

claim he makes; he simply does whatever he needs to do as director and writer to bring himself

as much income as possible from ticket sales. The system works strongly in his favor.

Some attention should also be directed to how The Help accommodates the gaze of black

spectators, especially that of black women, considering that it tells a story of their past in

American society. Bell Hooks and Manthia Diawara both describe a black female spectator that

is resistant to film subjects that are almost always meant for a white and/or male gaze. In “The

Oppositional Gaze,” Bell Hooks explains why this is so: “Given the context of class exploitation,

and racist and sexist domination, it has only been through resistance, struggle, reading, and

looking ‘against the grain,’ that black women have been able to value our process of looking

enough to publicly name it ... critical black female spectators construct a theory of looking

relations where cinematic visual delight is the pleasure of interrogation” (126). Black women are

only able to find active pleasure in viewing film through criticism of how it appeals to those who

are responsible for the oppression black women: white and male spectators. Unfortunately, this is

the case once again for The Help, a feel-good tale of how a young, fair-skinned white woman is

able to breathe new life and hope into a group of old maids, all while defeating the expectation

that she be married as soon as possible and instead earning her way to a writing career in New

York City. Skeeter is the hero of the story, and thus the subject of both a white gaze holding her
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as the ideal neighbor and friend, in addition to a black female gaze, holding her as the one who

capitalizes on their culture, experiences, and stories for personal gain. Both Hooks and Diawara

acknowledge that this is currently the only way of characterizing the black female gaze, and

argue that this has potential for future social criticism of film and increased spectator awareness.

Hooks explains: “Black female critical thinkers concerned with creating space for the

construction of radical black female subjectivity, and the way cultural production informs this

possibility, fully acknowledge the importance of mass media, film in particular, as a powerful

site for critical intervention” (Hooks, 128). Likewise, Diawara writes “On a more positive note,

however, resisting spectators are transforming the problem of passive identification into active

criticism which both informs and interrelates with contemporary oppositional film-making …

increase spectator awareness of the impossibility of an uncritical acceptance of Hollywood

products” (Diawara, 900). Considering the controversy surrounding The Help, perhaps this is an

indicator that “the oppositional gaze”—whether it be black females or other resistant spectators

—will become even more critical and acquire more of a voice in the discourse of film in the

upcoming years.

The most noteworthy criticisms of The Help are for its use of common modern film

devices known as the White Savior and the Magical Negro tropes. The White Savior is defined

as a white person who rescues people of color, sometimes with the intent to be self-serving, and

almost always learning something themselves in the process (Bell). In The Help, Skeeter is the

White Savior, helping Aibileen and Mindy confront the racism in their community by writing

“The Help.” However, Skeeter initially reached out to them only after she learned that a

publisher in New York was willing to consider her work. The project may have grown into

something more altruistic than what it originally was, but the fact that it existed for Skeeter’s
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personal gain at any point within the story is enough to question the role of her character in the

narrative. In one particular scene, Skeeter arrives at Aibileen’s house for their first interview for

the book. After Aibileen has quickly ushered her inside and the two have settled in the living

room, Aibileen voices her worries: “What if you don’t like what I got to say? About white

peoples?” to which Skeeter responds “This isn’t about me. It doesn’t matter how I feel.” After

Aibileen has opened up to Skeeter and their meeting is over, Skeeter turns to Aibileen, says “This

was just so great. You have no idea how much I appreciate your doing this with me,” and heads

back to her parents’ house for the night. To Skeeter, these illegal interactions with Aibileen and

the other maids is just another exciting writing project. It certainly is nowhere near as dangerous

for her as it is for the maids, who face the threat of white-on-black violence in their community

regularly and without reason. White Saviors are often enthusiastic about their experiences

helping people of color, and according to Katherine Bell, use their actions as a way to maintain

order, as they create and speak for an undifferentiated subject (Bell, 7), in which generalized

desires and interests are placed over the Other (in this case black maids) and are advocated for by

the White Savior. This Other is crucial for the White Savior, as Bell says: ““For the White

Saviour to exist, it must have the Other, in this case Africans as a singular timeless human

monoculture that bears little resemblance to ‘us’” (Bell, 15). Without this “monoculture,” it

would have been considerably harder for Skeeter to cater to the wants and needs of all the maids

she interviewed for the novel. Skeeter seems to know that they all want to speak up about their

experiences, and must simply find the one maid who is capable of convincing the rest of them to

volunteer. This also happens at the most convenient time for Skeeter, in which she has been told

to interview a dozen more maids before sending her draft to New York. It is clear that she

benefits more than any other character involve in the writing of this novel.
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The other common film trope used extensively in The Help is that of the Magical Negro.

Matthew Hughey defines the Magical Negro as “a stock character that often appears as a lower

class, uneducated black person who possesses supernatural or magical powers. These powers are

used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites into competent,

successful, and content people within the context of the American myth of redemption and

salvation…they may implicitly function to reify dominant racial discourses and narratives

concerning white identity" (Hughey, 544-545). In The Help, the powers exhibited by the

Aibileen, Minny, and Constantine include timeless wisdom, steadfast tenacity, and an

incomparable sense of perspective. Hughey goes on to explain:

Magical Negro films demonstrate a cinematic synthesis between two dynamics: (1) The

reproduction of violently stereotypical and racist black representations, and (2) the

normalization of white representations. What makes this form of racism distinctive and

semi-autonomous is that it occurs within a context in which racist representations are

obscured by the cinematic rhetoric of: (a) numerical increases in nonwhite

representations, (b) interracial cooperation, (c) the superficial empowerment of

historically marginalized subjects, and (d) movies themselves as a cultural phenomenon,

which audiences want to believe reflects progressive race relations within the larger

society. (551)

The Help is bursting with these interactions and characteristics. One particular demonstration of

stereotypical black representation can be seen in a flashback Skeeter has to a conversation with

Constantine when she was 15 years old. The script for The Help describes Constantine such that

she appears magical: “Constantine approaches the willow tree. Her skin is black as night. Her

eyes have a striking honey-colored hue.” In the conversation, Constantine dispenses sage advice
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to Skeeter, who didn’t get asked to her school dance and is doubting her worth based on her

appearance. Constantine predicts to Skeeter “You going to do something big with [your life]. You

wait and see.” They stand, and walk hand in hand down the garden path. Flash forward to the

present day, and Skeeter is beside herself when she finds out Constantine was fired for trivial

reasons, and passed away shortly after. This is a stark example of the superficial empowerment

Hughes describes. Constantine was held in a relatively high regard by Skeeter’s family, but was

dropped as soon as she became the slightest inconvenience to Skeeter’s mother. We see a similar

situation in Aibileen and Mae Mobley, who maintain a close relationship until Hilly fires her for

helping write the novel. Over and over again, we see the maids helping white people—especially

their employers—only to be banished away shortly after without any thanks. And while this may

have just been a sign of the times, the relationship between Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny did not

have to end for this narrative to be realistic. Hughes attributes this to another special quality of

the Magical Negro in which he or she is capable of “(dis)appearing.” He says, “Magical Negroes

are required to ‘walk off into the sunset’ because the black and white characters have become so

emotionally close that a continued friendship would unsettle the racial status quo. If the Magical

Negro does not disappear, a slew of unresolved questions and problems would emerge from their

interracial friendship … If such a resolution was tackled in these films, it would invariably lead

to their undesired designation as race movies." Even in The Help, the new friendship between

Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny had an expiration date. They had all worked so close together on

accomplishing one goal: publishing the novel, which inevitably became the expiration date for

the time they would spend together. Once the book was out, what purpose did they serve each

other? The one common interest was Aibileen and Skeeter’s love for writing. Even so, Skeeter

held a degree in journalism and Aibileen had dropped out of school at the age of 14. Skeeter was
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ambitious, and it was time for her to take the knowledge and wisdom bestowed upon her by the

maids somewhere bigger and better. She more or less leaves the maids in the dust. Aibileen is left

literally walking off into the sunset, unsure of what her future holds and continuing to face the

threat of violence that wasn’t the least bit resolved by the publishing of the novel.

Now that a thorough understanding of the White Savior and Magical Negro tropes has

been established as significant to the film, this raises the question: who is saving who? On one

hand, Skeeter has helped the maids achieve some degree of freedom by encouraging them to tell

their stories. On the other hand, the maids helped Skeeter establish a bold repertoire so that she

may be noticed by a New York City publisher and receive a job offer there. Because of this, it is

ultimately the maids who lift Skeeter up to her full potential, making her a better person while

losing their jobs in the process. This does not serve the label of a “race movie” justice, and

therefore exposes the faults within a society that believes it has racism completely figured out.

Sociology and critical race theory have proposed the idea of a “New Racism” for the last

three decades now. The danger with New Racism is that it is more subtle and indirect than that

which was experienced in the 1960s, depending heavily on manipulation in media to reproduce

the ideologies needed to justify it. The Help is an artifact of this New Racism. While it externally

appears to be an inspiring, heartwarming story about courage and civil rights, internally it is

simply a product of a newer systemic racism that has taken over society as of late. To ensure that

it does not propagate, spectators must approach all film—especially self-proclaimed race films—

with a critical gaze and refuse to hesitate in intervening with works they see as problematic. Only

then will society begin to proceed toward acknowledging and resolving racism in American

society.

[Text Body: 5166 words]

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Works Cited
The Help. Dir. Tate Taylor. Perf. Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison

abcdeJanney, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2011.

abcdeDVD.

Bell, Katherine. “Raising Africa: Celebrity and the Rhetoric of the White Saviour.” Journal of

Multidisciplinary International Studies 10.1 (2013): n. pag. Print.

Diawara, Manthia. “Black Spectatorship: Problems of Identification and Resistance.” Film

Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New

York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 892–900. Print.

France, Lisa Respers. “Cover Story: Is ‘The Help’ Heroic or Stereotyping? - CNN.com.” CNN.

N.p., 2011. Web. 7 June 2017.

Hooks, Bell. Ain’t I a Woman Black Women and Feminism. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1982.

Print.

“The Oppositional Gaze Black Female Spectators.” Black Looks: Race and Representation.

South End Press. Boston: N.p., 1992. 115–31. Print.

Hughey, Matthew W. “Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in

"Magical Negro" Films.” Social Problems 56.3 (2009): 543–577. Web.

Littlefield, Marci Bounds. “The Media as a System of Racialization: Exploring Image.”

American Behavioral Scientist 51.5 (2008): 675–685. Print.

Seu, Irene Bruna. “‘Doing Denial’: Audience Reaction to Human Rights Appeals.” Discourse &

Society 21.4 (2010): 438–457. Print.

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. New York: Amy Einhorn Books, 2009. Print.

“The Help (2011).” IMDb. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2017.