Bryce Dallas-Howard denounces "The Help"

So we should be on the lookout for memoirs by maids? Got it, Bryce.

Having read the interview, I'd say it's a stretch to say she denounced the movie. She was talking more about who has the "right" to make certain movies, an equally tedious argument.

It’s on Netflix now, they better pull it and add a disclaimer.

Shouldn't Bryce be on the hunt for good roles instead of boarding the White Guilt Bullet Train to Cancellation? Dopey actress.

Viola, Octavia, Cicely, et al didn't seem to have a problem with it.

LOL, good one, R4.

Is she the one who ate Minnie's shit pie?

"The actors, I don't want to say we're props – we can be more than props. But the final decision is not ours. I know who has the power. And so right now, in this time, stories are going to play a crucial role in our ability to empathise and to be inspired into action."

Huh? Word salad. I think most viewers are likely to empathise with the black maids in this movie a lot more than their bosses.

She’s covering her ass.

Well, the cast, crew, studio, etc., can give back any awards, money stature and subsequent offers they received and gladly accepted as a result of "The Help."

[R9] Good point. She could always donate her salary and residuals from her appearance in THE HELP to BLM.

We all loved it when Minnie got her own back or Viola made her speech about hatred at the end. Whilst the story might have been a bit hokey I'm sure it helped some people understand a little better what a lot of black people faced in the recent past.

Don't understand why people needed the last few weeks to recognise how unfair our society still is to many people.

R9 don't even look at my fucking SAG award, sucker!

Loathe this movie simply for having Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain together in the same film and expecting us to tell them apart.

BDH has a real virtue signaling Instagram. She is even pushing T POCs.

R11 What I have gleaned recently as a white person is that point is that white people have not understood how maddening the “white savior” trope from Hollywood is to black people. That by and large, movies that depict injustice toward black people almost always are told from a white person’s perspective, almost always written and directed by white people, involving stories in which a white person has an epiphany that a black person is worth more than dog shit.

Reflect on everything from Driving Miss Daisy to The Green Book, and that’s mostly what we have.

It’s true and it’s a reasonable thing to complain about. It’s pretty fucked up.

As gay people, we should be able to relate. Everything that many gay people resent about Will and Grace also applies to black people’s frustrations about how they are shown in movies, with characters reduced to stereotypes held by people who see us as “other,” whether they get a kick out of the other’s novelty or resent the other for being different. It’s a fucking pain in the ass.

Viola has also said she regretted the movie.

Black people aren't burdened with white guilt, R5.

Oh but this is iconic.

R15 exactly.

R16 love her, but so think what she regretted most was not getting the Oscar for it.

Ma says if you puts a knife under the bed it cut the pain of social injustice in two.

R15 this was obvious back in 2011 when the movie came out and lots of reviews criticised that it was the popular white girl who was giving a voice to the downtrodden white folks. Why wouldn't anyone participating in this movie have realised this?

Even Viola said she was entirely comfortable with this aspect, but it was a better role than she generally got offered.

Downtrodden black folks*

[R21] You are the best!

Where did she say that, R16? I don't doubt you, but considering that shitty (pun intended) movie helped take her career to another level, it seems a little pious of her to shit on the movie (again, pun intended).

R25 Here

I wish one of these "socially conscious" actresses would drop their PC schtick - just one of them - for ONE SECOND and say something like, "Look - I'm an actress. I didn't create the world or its problems. If you don't like the movie, fine - I didn't think it was all that great myself. But it did pay well so there's always that."

I would respect that kind of attitude as opposed to Bryce - who just wants to apologize and apologize and apologize. It shows either bad judgement in repeatedly doing things one must apologize for, or weak character in apologizing for things one isn't guilty of because one is afraid of the implications of taking another position.

There's nothing brave about her - quite the opposite.

And here

The Help is a film made by white people for white people about white people, featuring some black actors in supporting roles.

The message itself is good but I'm trying to imagine a film about how we'd perceive a major movie about AIDS or the Holocaust made without the involvement of gays or Jews.

It's a decent film and there are some brilliant performances. Dallas Howard's performance was one of the best things in it. I actually think she was brave to take on the role of such an irredeemably unpleasant and nasty person.

She and her husband have gotten fat.

The Help tried, but ended up being too much of a white savior film.

The fuss over Moonlight was so intense because of what it is NOT: For once, black people weren't shown through the lens of the past fighting to justify their own existence, or shown as criminals.

There are great films out there that show interesting beats of the black experience. One of my favorites is Eve's Bayou.

I agree, R27. And all this self-flagellation is also just another way of making it about them. It's one thing for Viola Davis to say what she said, but Dallas-Howard is merely virtue signaling, and incoherently at that.

I hardly even remember the white actors in The Help. I remember being very impressed with Viola and Octavia.

Did she ask her daddy why there were no black people in Mayberry, North Carolina?

R15 gets it

[quote] I actually think she was brave to take on the role of such an irredeemably unpleasant and nasty person.

Are you kidding? She is brave for taking on a job in HW for which she is paid handsomely? And then gets to appear in expensive designer clothing at high end events like the Oscars? What?! Please watch the video below to get some perspective.

It's probably the white savior aspect that Bryce Dallas-Howard probably regrets, however she worded it. I don't think that this movie will stand up as more time passes. Even the Atticus Finch character (To Kill a Mockingbird) has been reevaluated as time passes.

R37 Actually, it was brave. She takes the risk that her Oscar in memoriam clip will be of her eating a shit pie with a giant grin on her face.

[quote]Are you kidding? She is brave for taking on a job in HW for which she is paid handsomely? And then gets to appear in expensive designer clothing at high end events like the Oscars? What?! Please watch the video below to get some perspective.

Brave in terms of career choices.

Of course being an actress isn't comparable with high risk jobs like being a firefighter, working in an abattoir, being a trans sex worker or as Naomi Campbell's personal assistant.

She was fine in "The Help" but I think Opie's daughter expected to be a big box-office star and a household name by now, and she isn't. She's just older, like everyone else, but an actresses' self-life in Hollywood is even shorter. Plus, yes, her character did eat that pie.

R39, white people problems...

When the movie first came out, I was wondering why it was highly praised (mostly by white folk, actually). I watched it again the other night on Netflix to see if, somehow, I had missed its "greatness". Nope!

I physically cringed when Viola Davis' character is telling the little girl: "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." It was in such poor taste (on the filmmaker's part).

I guess in a way she was "brave" playing that bitch character.

If anyone, shouldn't Emma be the one "embarrassed" since she was the one playing "White Saviour"?

It must have been harder being the racist one as the public will hate your character. Same with whichever actress played the racist bitch in "12 Years A Slave" who whacked poor Patsy.

Nothing Bryce Dallas-Howard has ever done in her life could constitute bravery.

R43 you mean DL’s own Sarah Paulson, professional crier?

Dallas Howard's role is 60s version of an All Lives Matter Karen.

There's nothing redeemable about her. 110% pure cunt.

Playing a role as unpleasant as that takes some commitment.

R45 thanks, that's the one! Has she apologised yet?

She sure loved those extra helpings of chocolate pie!

The Help is a great film and the wonderful Octavia Spencer won a well deserved Oscar for it. Tate Taylor is a fabulous director and a longtime friend of Spencer.

There’s nothing wrong with it.

The Help is very far from being even a good movie, much less a great one.

R50, You’re a hater. It was more entertaining than a lot of the Oscar bait race films I’ve seen.

But R50 it was nominated for Best Picture!

I'm a hater of that shit movie, yeah.

I remember wishing I was Chastain's character, getting fucked by this gorgeous stud..

R43, it is fiction

This and Driving Miss Daisy are two of my favorite movies. Just enjoy them for what they are. Loved seeing Sissy Spacek.

R56 What are they?

Outrage and hysteria over George Floyd is really driving people to overreactions everywhere.

How can you tell African-American political struggles WITHOUT white people?

Such naivete.

I love you @R15

R42 that science made me cringe when I watched it in 2011.

I had forgotten she existed until I saw her in Black Mirror, where she was superb. I think she's likable and well-intentioned but doesn't seem to be screamingly bright. Or at least she's not very good at communicating.

She's a privileged white chick with a guilt complex she likes to advertise for props.

Lars von Trier's Manderlay is far more problematic than The Help.

The Help is a well made and well acted movie and it did wonders for Octavia Spencer who, at that point, was a hard working character actress without much to show for it. After that, she has gotten some great roles and has carved out one of the more interesting careers for a black actress that we've ever seen. For that alone, I'm glad The Help exists.

Still, I acknowledge that it's a little tone deaf here and there. It never seems to be doing it intentionally though. The intentions of the filmmakers seemed noble and I know that in today's Twitter world, intentions and context don't mean anything, but I think it should count for something.

Wasn't The Help directed by some cute (white) homosexualist?

All this white savior BS.... I’m sure whites that are protesting will eventually it will come back to and bite them in the ass. Sick and tired of this bullshit

Did Bryce Dallas-Howard or any other participant in the movie not have any misgivings about agreeing to the movie when they did it? Didn't occur to anyone? It took George Floyd's murder to shake them? Let's move on, shall wee?

Sometimes, we just have to chalk it up to the era. And even a few years ago, movie like The Help were okay--even by the standards of the black participants. Do better the next time, but we can't regret everything. We can regret slavery and many other things and make amends, but we can't beat ourselves up for everything.

Sorry Bryce Dallas-Howard, but movies such as The Help was a good movie. And "Gone With The Wind" was the greatest of them all.

Bryce Dallas-Hasbeen

[quote]She was fine in "The Help" but I think Opie's daughter expected to be a big box-office star and a household name by now, and she isn't. She's just older, like everyone else, but an actresses' self-life in Hollywood is even shorter. Plus, yes, her character did eat that pie.

I agree with this. She should focus more on directing TV shows and movies.

R67 you said everything I wanted to say. Hear, hear x

"Driving Miss Daisy" is a "Magical Negro" trope film, not a "White Savior" film.

Get your hackneyed film tropes correct!

Too bad. It's probably some of the best work she's done.

[R71] Shit! So sorry - but aren't you on the wrong thread?

I think she’s brave for showing her moon pan hybrid face on screen

She has the Bonnie Franklin smells like dirty pantyhose look about her.

The only thing I saw of hers where she was brilliant was that episode of Black Mirror, opposite hottie James Norton (complete with an awful US accent)

"The Help" hardly requires this bitch's apology.

It's the director and writer who should apologize. The thing was schlocky, shallow and dull.

But the performances were great.

[quote]what would Vi and Octavia say?

Pie's coming!

Well, I loved both my mammies. Evelyn and Josie.

To answer questions about the demographics that drove the success of THE HELP, here's a 2011 Hollywood Reporter article on the subject - at least this provides some hard data. Weirdly, the HR didn't do a racial breakdown - only an age/gender one - which skewed remarkably to older females.

Opening-Night Demos

The Help: 74% women // 75% older than 25

I guess Bryce figures that, now that the older women who loved the movie and drove its/her success are dead, she can safely declare her superiority over them. They weren't as sensitive and discerning as she, who acted in the movie.

Who cares? She's fat.

Poor Viola.

It was kind of unrealistic that you could eat a pie with shit in it and not notice.

Maybe that’s a question Erna can answer r83

[quote]It was kind of unrealistic that you could eat a pie with shit in it and not notice.

Not if you make it with enough sugar and lard. Two of the four basic Southern food groups. The two others are salt and alcohol.

Who wants Bryce to appear in anything anyway?

She was last heard of as an international laughingstock for proudly announcing her decision to portray a character as outrunning dinosaurs in high heels was made to retain femininity.

Feminist = heels? Does she get her cues from RuPaul?

After reading this thread, I just rematched The Help last night for in case Netflix decides to cancel it. I really thought it was a good movie even today, just as I had before. The Help was wonderfully acted, especially by the black actresses. Octavia Spencer was fantastic and earned that Oscar. They showed a strength as well as a skeptical warmth when dealing with the white women. I always get emotional when I see how badly the white mother treats her overweight daughter and how kind Viola was to her. There was something uplifting watching the Emma Stone work together to help get the message out. I wish there was more working together these days. It doesn't really feel that way to me despite what we see happening with protests.

Bryce wants to cancel a gay director for being white and directing a good film that has black characters. So stupid.

Any number of actresses could have played Elton John's mother, I'll never understand how she got that part.

BDH really had a standout performance as the nasty racist. She's an actress, but based on what I've seen in other roles, it doesn't feel like this was a stretch for her playing at the very least, a spoiled bitch. I loved Sissy Spacek, who is always a joy to watch on screen.

Am I finally allowed not to like this movie? It was heavily implied only racists didn't LOVE it when it came out. Everyone in it deserved Oscars for being so brave. It's trite and it sucks.

Sissy wasn't given enough to do

She's a good actress, and she was genuinely pretty when she was younger, but she just wasn't "hungry" enough.

I liked this movie, but I also understand the criticism of it as a "white savior" film. You could make an argument that the character of Abilene saves herself at the end. Yes, she's fired from her job, but she gets the last laugh. And in the final shot, she walks off as a woman who has found her voice.

As gay men, we get straight saviors. The supposed breakout film was "Philadelphia," a story supposedly about the gay lawyer played by Tom Hanks, but it's really about his straight lawyer played by Denzel Washington. I'm still waiting for a mainstream Hollywood film centered on an openly gay, well-adjusted man as the lead, in a story centered on him, and depicting a gay relationship that goes beyond a shared hug.

R94 you didn't enjoy "A Single Man"

R95, forgot about that film. It's a good one, but it still doesn't meet the criteria I'm setting. The protagonist is a sad, closeted gay man who's contemplating suicide. He's saved by his student, whose sexuality is unknown. And it's a Pyrrhic victory.

No...I'm thinking of a movie like, say..."Silver Linings Playbook." Imagine if Bradley Cooper played that role as a gay man and Jennifer Lawrence's character is a man played by Chris Pine.

R96 I don't know if his character was anymore closeted than you needed to be in the 1950s. And it wasn't the student who convinced him not to kill himself.

R97, true. It's a period piece, and he's a victim. And that's what the criticism of "The Help" that I'm using to critique gay films.

[quote]I liked this movie, but I also understand the criticism of it as a "white savior" film. You could make an argument that the character of Abilene saves herself at the end. Yes, she's fired from her job, but she gets the last laugh. And in the final shot, she walks off as a woman who has found her voice.

I agree with your argument on Abilene saving herself at the end.

Another thing that bugs me is people label Emma Stone's character Skeeter being the white savior. But, Skeeter's actions didn't completely save the maids or make their lives a lot better. The book gave them a voice and called out the white employers for treating them so badly. But, those maids were always going to be working those jobs for the rest of their lives. The maid who was sent to jail for pawning the jewelry was never going to be saved as she would have a criminal record for the rest of her life.

R89 I wondered about that too. I remember right before Rocketman came out, some people on social media were wondering why a British actress wasn't given the role.

It was based off a novel set back decades. Of course it had to be told by a white lady. Context! Her heart is in the right place but her brain isn’t.

She's a shit actress that only has a career out of nepotisim, she also saidbthe word nigger in the film without her fighting to not use it.

Does anyone remember Sissy Spacek's other white saviour film, "The Long Walk Home." She saved Whoopi Goldberg in that one. The story is actually pretty damn similar to The Help.

R103 I remember that fired aired frequently on cable throughout the 90s and then the frequent airings stopped sometime in the early 2000s.

I have a feeling a lot of movies with the white savior aspect won't be aired too much on cable in the future. Freedom Writers has been constantly aired on basic cable channels for the past several years and people have been bitching about the movie lately. But, it seems others have forgotten about Dangerous Minds which is another white savior teacher type movie.

Bryce has an orange pussy?

Dear Bryce,

I've never watched this shitty movie. I never really got the whole "white's treating black people like shit" as a form of entertainment

NEVER, EVER. But I've read many history books. It disgusted me as a child to learn about this type of behavior. That's why I could never imagine slavery, injustice, pre-civil rights or holocaust movies as entertainment. And when you get an ounce of decency, you just might feel the same was as I do

And I felt the same way in Sunday School when they told us Jesus was nailed to a cross and had a crown of thorns put on his head. That was the last day of any religion for me

White Savior

They glammed up BDH's character in the movie. In the book she's described as dumpy and doesn't wear nice clothes.

Bryce's character in the Jurassic World movies could be played by a black woman. I think she should give up her spot in that franchise.

What the fuck is wrong with that movie? It does a great kid of showing how badly whites treated blacks. It’s irrelevant that it’s from the perspective of a white woman.

Her name is Bryce Dallas Howard, OP. her last name is Howard and her middle name is Dallas--for some reason Ron howard and his wife decided to give each of their children the name of the town they were conceived in, I guess so their children could grow up always thinking about their parents fucking. And Bryce included the middle name in her screen name so we could all think about Opie fucking her mom.

It's lucky she wasn't conceived of in Truth or Consequences, NM, or in Climax, MN.

Her sister Paige Howard (who is also an actress) has "Carlyle" as her middle name, because she was conceived of at the Carlyle Hotel.

She's the only non-Oscar winner (never even nominated!) among the main cast. That can make a person bitter.

I'm also a non-Oscar winner, M.

You said you were sick of me once r114 so I don't acknowledge your existence. But good luck on your career if you are still working.

Does this mean we're never getting a movie version of Clybourne Park?

Should it hand back its Tony?

[Quote]What the fuck is wrong with that movie? It does a great kid of showing how badly whites treated blacks. It’s irrelevant that it’s from the perspective of a white woman.

Helped me better understand the open daily racism and prejudice people experienced at that time, long before I was born and always reminds me to treat everyone with respect and to stand up to others who treat people horribly.

I saw an interesting documentary about racism on my local news station last weekend. A black man and a white man asked 20 random people for help and said they needed to make an important phone call. While 18 out of 20 people allowed the white man to use their phones, only 1 person was willing to help the black man. Most told the black man to fuck off or simply ignored him. Some later claimed they were afraid he would steal their phones or do shady stuff with them.

Not much has changed sadly.

I'm just waiting for all the fulsome, insincere apologies for something that a celeb did or said or appeared in literally the day before.

"I've evolved as a person since then..."

I find it difficult to understand, I must admit - I can completely understand that the whole 'white saviour' trope is complete bullshit and offensive when it's used time and time again in films without any kind of acknowledgement or context as to why it's problematic.

However what I don't quite get is that white people seem to be encouraged to support, elevate and champion black voices and black stories but when they do, they are still criticised. That's what I thought one of the whole themes of 'The Help' was - that the white girl actually acknowledged and used her privilege to give a voice to the black maids who at that time did not have that voice. To me, that seems like a positive so I am puzzled why it's now being so heavily criticised, even Viola Davis saying she regrets doing it. I mean, I know it still comes across as 'white saviour-esque' but isn't it worse if she was just like "Oh sucks to be you, I don't have those problems cos I'm white so you're own your own, bye!"

Am I completely bonkers or does anyone else get what I mean and can explain? I don't know how white people can be expected to be both supporters and champions for equality AND not be seen as white saviours, if this criticism is warranted. To me it seems to cancel each other out.

There are more hispanics in this country than blacks . Wheres the outrage for them ? What about when Dear Leader was calling them all criminals and rapists ? Why didnt the Libs scream then ? Also,this movie sucked .

Does she denounces all the homophobia her father works into his films ?

R121 that isn't the cause du jour so of course not.

R119 I completely get what you mean but cannot explain it

[quote] However what I don't quite get is that white people seem to be encouraged to support, elevate and champion black voices and black stories but when they do, they are still criticised.

That's exactly it. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

There are some black SJWs who want white people to be "allies" (which to them often means you have to do exactly what they tell you to do, no questions asked), and there are others who say you cannot be allies because you're white, and so you should just stay away from what they want to do.

You're best off not caring what other people think, and doing what you do because you think it's right. That doesn't mean you shouldn't read up on a subject, but 20something SJWs of any race are not always the most rational people, nor do they see ethical ambiguities.

If anyone reading this hasn't seen The Help, it's a great movie. Laugh out loud funny and heartwarming. Oscar winning and worthy performances. Watch it with some friends and then talk about it after, specifically regarding its place as a last gasp of a type of white centered story about the black subservience experience.

I get the point, except that faaaaaaaar fewer people would have seen a movie from the point of view of the black maids. That’s just the way of it. The maids came across 1000 times better than the white women including the star of the film. There was nothing wrong with that movie at all - it’s just posturing about how things aren’t “perfect” and totally politically correct. Tyler Perry has no problem filling the theaters with African Americans but there is not a huge white audience for him. So what? If Hollywood is making a movie for a WIDE audience, then for the time being it’s usually going to have white leads. This is when there may be some positive changes in that with more diversity but to “regret” a popular movie that harmed no one and had a good intention just seems stupid.

A Law-abiding, Black Woman Shares a Lifetime of Traumatic Run-Ins with Police

She was harassed by the police for being black just like the treatment of homosexuals before the Stonewall Riots.

[quote]Says she would never agree to be in it today and that these stories should be told by authentic people, not white folks.

Is she giving her salary back?

LOL - I just realized that Bryce Dallas Howard is Ron Howard's daughter.

I never connected the last name or red hair in my mind.

BDH should apologize for having used her family connections and name recognition to get an acting career. Nepotism personified. Her chubby butt would not be in films otherwise.