WENNWhile grateful for the friendship that came from the 2011 film, the Hillary Walters Holbrook depicter would rather her followers to watch such movies as ‘Malcolm X’, ‘Selma’ and ‘Just Mercy’.
- Jun 9, 2020
AceShowbiz – Bryce Dallas Howard has urged fans not to watch “The Help” to educate themselves on racial equality – instead offering a selection of movies with more appropriate messages to take away.
Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of white police officers, and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests taking place around the world, the actress’ 2011 movie “The Help” has become the most-watched film on Netflix.
Based on the controversial book of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, the film is set during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, and tells the story of young journalist Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, played by Emma Stone, who decides to write a book about the racism encountered by black maids at that time.
Bryce stars in the movie as Hillary “Hilly” Walters Holbrook, and took to Instagram to tell her followers that while she remains proud of the friendships she forged on set, there are other films more appropriate to watch right now.
“I’ve heard that #TheHelp is the most viewed film on @netflix right now! I’m so grateful for the exquisite friendships that came from that film — our bond is something I treasure deeply and will last a lifetime,” she wrote. “This being said, The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers. We can all go further.”
“Stories are a gateway to radical empathy and the greatest ones are catalysts for action. If you are seeking ways to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, and all the ways in which those have an impact on us today, here are a handful of powerful, essential, masterful films and shows that center Black lives, stories, creators, and / or performers.”
Among the films Bryce suggested watching were “Malcolm X“, “Selma” and “Just Mercy“.
Bryce’s Instagram post comes after Viola Davis, who starred as Aibileen in the film, told The New York Times back in 2018 that appearing in the Oscar-winning film is one of her career regrets.
“I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard,” she explained. “I know Aibileen. I know Minny (Octavia Spencer). They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
Source: Movies - aceshowbiz.com
