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Examples Of Racism In The Help

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Examples Of Racism In The Help
GAB CORTES

Jackson, Mississippi is widely known as one of the most racist areas in America. The Help, directed by Tate Taylor, is set in 1964 Jackson, Mississippi and is based on the segregation and racism towards the African American maids in America. An idea in The Help that I thought was interesting was racism. I thought this was interesting because of how different it is to today’s society with the laws against racial discrimination. Taylor portrayed the idea of racism through the use of film techniques and dialogue.

The first scene that helped show the idea of racism was near the beginning of the movie. This scene is when Mae Mobley touched Abilene’s skin and then compared it to her own. This showed racism because it compared the African
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This helped show racism because of the dialogue and film techniques. Abilene told Skeeter ‘I ain’t ever had no white person in my house before.’ and that showed how the African American maids are always in the white homes to clean and cook, but the white people never go to their maid’s homes. A mid shot was used while Abilene told that to Skeeter, which also shows her expression. It also shows some of Abilene’s home which is dark with little lighting. This portrays racism because the sombre tone in Abilene’s house is completely the opposite of the white houses. The white houses are large, spacious and filled with natural lighting. Whereas, Abilene’s house is small, cramped and dull of light. This is because the white people have got much more money than the African Americans. Racism still happens in modern day society. One example is when a Pacific Island family went out to dinner and were asked to pay first with cash, when they saw that other ethnicities didn’t. They were also asked to show their cash before being served. The mother thinks that the restaurant was very racist and discriminative towards their race. This links to the film because it shows how certain races are discriminated against simply because of their skin

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