thread: Just watched the movie 'The Help'.....

  1. #1
    Registered User

    Jan 2009
    5,235

    Just watched the movie 'The Help'.....

    I still shake my head in disbelief that people were treated like that (and still are) and that it was a 'normal' way of thinking. I suppose growing up in a family where acceptance was normal, I just can't imagine that kind of ignorance did and still does exist.
    I just don't understand it.


    *wasn't entirely sure where to put this sorry.

  2. #2
    You were RAK'ed in 2015.
    Add beansbeans! on Facebook

    May 2008
    with the fairies and butterflies
    2,535

    hun, and I totally agree. It really disturbs me to think people were treated so badly and not that long ago either.

    On a side note, the movie was rather funny

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Aug 2010
    Albs, WA
    971

    I havent seen it yet, but it sounds really interesting.
    We've lived in a country where everyone has maids, and I found it a difficult concept to adjust to

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Jan 2009
    5,235

    I knew people who moved here from SA and they all still have maids. The teenage children were absolute pigs in their rooms as they had never needed to be responsible for anything - even making a bed.
    The mum said to me she walked down the hall of her house one day and there was paper lying on the floor, she later walked past it again and eventually it dawned on her, shehad to pick it up as there was no maid to do it anymore!

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Jul 2006
    Melbourne
    4,895

    I really enjoyed the movie - the acting and the story, not the abuse they suffered. I find it disturbing that this type of attitude and behaviour still exists too.

    @ that mum that had to pick up the piece of paper - OMG, are you kidding me?! Far out some people are unreal!

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Feb 2006
    Mornington Peninsula, Vic
    1,624

    Havnt seen the movies but have lived in SA twice and the whole 'world' of maids is mind boggling.....the stories I heard...

  7. #7
    Registered User

    Aug 2008
    Ouiinslano
    5,303

    I have lived in a country where everyone had maids and I found it pretty respectful. I'm sure there were horrible exceptions, but that goes for every society and every industry. I was an exchange student and I was waaaaay messier than the kids who'd grown up with a maid But I came good, eventually.

  8. #8
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    In Bankworld with Barbara
    14,222

    i have read the book and found myself getting really frustrated and angry at the injustice of it all at times. Brilliant book though

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Add Butterfly Dawn on Facebook

    Aug 2008
    Climbing Mt foldmore
    2,894

    Such an awesome movie.
    Strange to think they weren't allowed to use the loo but their ok to care for the children.
    My mum hit new Orleans on the 1st day integration took place and she was embarrassed by the attitudes of the white folk- many of them.
    She kept it quiet that before she had left new York she had had a black boyfriend lol

    Sent from my Galaxy with the barefoot princess covering me in kisses, so please forgive the mistakes

  10. #10
    Registered User

    Oct 2007
    Perth,WA
    2,942

    I'm going to look up what this is all about. I'm on another planet at the moment.

    We HAD a maid (helper) in Singapore, we loved her. some of the stories shed told me though....so awful.

    Off to investigate!

  11. #11
    Registered User

    Jan 2010
    1,975

    When I was a kid we lived in Asia. We had a maid, along with a cook, driver, nanny, gardener, guards and a 'house boy'. It was expected that because we were 'wealthy white people' that we would provide employment for the local community. I remember one particular Australian family who found it distasteful to employ staff and they refused to do so. They told people loud and clear that they felt it was demeaning to employ someone to wash their dirty underwear. Their house was burgled four times in their first two months in Jakarta. They soon provided employment for those who needed it.

    Our staff were always well treated, paid more than the measly minimum wage and spoken to with respect. It was great always having someone around to play table tennis with and we could field a couple of cricket teams if we recruited some of the locals! We, as kids, were expected to still take our glass to the kitchen and although the plan was to take our dirty linen to the laundry you would usually find that by the time you were out of the shower the dirty clothes, including knickers had already disappeared!!

    I don't think having staff, in itself, is demeaning or racist or in poor taste. I think the way that the staff are treated is what is relevant. And not all staff were treated as respectfully as ours.

    I really enjoyed The Help, but I found it disturbing not that people employed staff, but that they believed that those staff were 'different' or dirty just because of the colour of their skin.

  12. #12
    Registered User

    Jul 2008
    Home with my Son :)
    2,611

    I loved that movie.. It is so sad how they were treated.. Funny how they were looked upon as a lower class society but still good enough to look after the kids!! Strange concept..