Relative Something

I saw the movie “The Help” yesterday afternoon, with Cyndie. I came out of the theater feeling moved, entertained, and somewhat emotional over the experience. She had little to say. It was like it had poked her where she already hurts, but offered nothing beneficial for her. I wanted to explore some of my experience, but was sensing that she wasn’t interested in talking about the movie (or maybe, just wasn’t able). She does work as a racial equity leadership development specialist and transformational change consultant.

I got the feeling that there is a vast gorge between us regarding understanding complexities of racial inequity. The movie does a pretty obvious job of packaging the serious and dramatic situations of mistreatment of an entire race of humans, into a convenient parcel for popular consumption. It prods, to make people aware of the uncomfortable, without risking making them truly uncomfortable. I think it only served to make my wife feel like it sustains the damage of ongoing (unrecognized) inequity. By acknowledging a little of the problem, we satisfy ourselves that everything is okay now. It’s not. I think that made the experience of seeing the movie, entirely unsatisfying for Cyndie. It made the movie irritating for her. But that is my impression, speaking for her from my vantage point.

Afterward, I looked for some information about the movie, and when I read to her from this blog post: [Inconvenient Facts: The Whiteness of Memory in “The Help” Versus the Ugly Realities of Jim and Jane Crow America by Chauncey DeVega] she reported that the writer expressed pretty well what she was feeling, but couldn’t find the words to say.

Overall, I guess I would say that the movie is partially helpful. It does have people talking about the issues of racism and racial inequities. I don’t believe that it does much to inform on the actual realities experienced, nor on the extent of continuing institutionalized racism, and unacknowledged white privilege, that exists to this day. For that reason, in the long run, the movie may actually hurt, more than it helps.