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Class:
1- The help film (informe)

The movie called “The help” is a very interesting story which has as main characters a young
woman writer named Skeeter Phelan, Aibileen and Minny who are friends. They are also black
maids. Skeeter decided to write about the racist attitutes that white and rich people have towards the
black maids, who feel very discriminated by different attitutes such as making them feel apart
because they can not eat in the same white people’s table or they can’t use the same bathrooms that
white people use. The historical setting is during the 1960s in Mississippi, in this period people
started to fight for their rights as human beings. Specially black people who were the most affected
because theur did not have opportunities to study, many of them lived in poor conditions and they
had to live a hard life. In relation to Chile and the movie, there are similiar cultural and social
aspects to discuss. For example, in Chile many people are discriminated because they come from
different countries to live here, and the majority of them are looking for better opportunities to
improve their living conditions. Immigrants are not only discriminated by their color, but also by
their way of speaking, their clothing and their customs. So, in the movie the same can be seen, the
people who have less money and have a different skin color suffered because they do not feel
accepted by society and they have to work as housekeepers, cook and others jobs that no one wants
to take.

Essay
Humans rights were violated in many situations that the movie presented. Despite the fact that the
whole movie were based in racism, many interesting points can be identified such as setting black
people apart from social events and the lack of freedom of expression that black people had.
Firstly, the maids had to do household chores and they played a many important role too; they
brought white children up as their own kids. Black maids did not go to important social events
because they were not even considered because of their lack of academic education and because
they were seen just as “blacks”. The fact that they could not attend to social events, represents that
black people could not choose where to go because they were not been welcome. Secondly, black
people could not give their opinion or make decisions in the houses they work because their ideas
were not considered. Black maids had to eat in the place they were assigned and they were seen as
inferior people. Many times, the maids had to be in silence and they kept for themselves what they
thought about certain situations.
Finally, the message that this movie gives me is that racism can bring hatred, hostility and suffering,
specially for the people who are dealing with this kind of situations everyday. Also, I can say that
not all people are equal, for example Celia, a white character, is very kind and nice with Minny, her
maid. Despite the fact that Minny did not notice the great heart that Celia had inmediately, she
started to feel comfortable and happy when Celia wants to eat with her in the same table, and when
she treats her as a human, as Minny and all the black maids deserve.