I believe that some time or another I did a short (if not incoherent) blurb about just how much I loved Kathryn Stockett. But now that I think about it, my rave review was actually a long message sent to my friend who I felt would like the book (“live blogging,” frightening). Either the way, the novel follows the lives of three central characters from Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s.
Lazy girl’s blogging? I’ll just quote a synopsis.
The novel is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children, and who has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid whose back-talk towards her employers results in her having to frequently change jobs, exacerbating her desperate need for work as well as her family’s struggle with money; and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman and recent college graduate who, after moving back home, discovers that a maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her attempts to find her have been unsuccessful. The stories of the three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around “the help”, with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy tying together the white & black families of Jackson.
I know, a large chunk to get through. I’ll reward you all with some pictures. As you can see below, Skeeter is played by the fantastic Emma Stone. My girl crush for her knows no bounds. This girl is sass and sarcasm in a beautiful balance of female.
And Viola Clark and Octavia Spencer played Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, respectively. And let me tell you, these women got it down.
The trouble with book-to-movie adaptions (as I’ve previously touched on before) is the difficulty of translating character depth to the big screen. But these women, if I could get applause through the interwebs I would. You see, maids like Aibileen spend their lives raising the children of white families. Though she loves them with all her heart, they’re taught prejudices. In the end, after they’re all grown up they forget the love that people like Aibileen gave to them. But this character, she tries to end this chain when she raises her last child. She’s chubby and not very much loved by her parents. So everyday, Aibileen teaches her a mantra.
Honestly, this is just the truth.
I watched this movie the second week of its release. I knew that the movie wouldn’t appeal to all audiences but I was disappointed when I walked into a theater full of middle age and upper adults. I was the youngest person in the room by at least 8 years. Still, I wasn’t deterred. I read the book in a day, I sure as hell was going to enjoy the movie.
No surprise, I loved it.
Everything from cast, costume, music and production .. it just all worked. A few weeks later, the movie’s picked up steam. It stayed at number 1 for a full weeks, and I think it was just a fluke the first week that Hurricane Irene deterred moviegoers. In a rare case, I’d like to say that the movie is just as good as the book.
And if you don’t go out to read it book or watch the movie:
