There are many great things about The Help, both the book and the movie: the topics explored, the emotions provoked, and the rich plot that seamlessly takes you to 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi. With all that oomph behind it, Kathryn Stockett could have just let the plot take its course, horrifying the reader with the travesties of America’s past; but she went beyond that , showing not only the human element but the female one as well.
While there are many things to take away from The Help’s story, for me what really stood out was the relationships between women, and how we can just as easily raise one another up as push one another other down. It seems that “The Mean Girl” is a phenomenon that women will never escape from. In The Help no one gets more mean than Hilly Holbrook, played to grotesque perfection by the otherwise seemingly lovely Bryce Dallas Howard. Hilly’s evil isn’t just for the maids of Jackson, it’s for anyone that doesn’t put her on her self-made pedestal. It’s the fear of her wrath and not admiration that allows Hilly to be the Queen Bee of Jackson at the story’s beginning.
Even the gawky smart girl Skeeter, played by the always charming Emma Stone, falls under her rule. Given Skeeter’s unruly hair, gangly stature and overall awkwardness, it’s surprising that Hilly would even consider a friendship with Skeeter. But Hilly has the wannabes of the town flocking around her without so much as Hilly having to crock her finger, and Skeeter is a challenge. She is a prize for Hilly, because Skeeter is a thinker, not a natural follower. In other words, if Hilly can keep Skeeter in her fold and even make Skeeter into something more like Hilly herself, then Hilly’s pedestal will rise that much higher over everyone else, Skeeter included.
In a society ruled by men, demeaning the women around her is the only way that Hilly can obtain any kind of power. But that kind of power, as Hilly learns by the end of the story, can be fleeting.
The only way to take down one power-hungry mean girl is to form an even more powerful collective of smart girls. Stockett’s smart girls are some of the most captivating characters in literature and in film, portrayed perfectly by the Oscar-nominated powerhouses Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain. With Skeeter providing the means, Aibileen, Minny and Celia, along with the other maids of Jackson, slowly unravel Hilly’s hold over the town. And it can be said, slowly unravel Hilly’s hold over herself.
The power of a mean girl is intense but it can not withstand the strength generated by a group of good women. The Help shows that while one woman can be powerful, nothing can beat the force of a sisterhood. As women, we just need a helping hand from one another to rise above all of the mean girls of this world.
defydemure 