The Help Historical Discussion

First I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed The Help as a book and as a movie. Since I have been to The Help book discussions beforehand, I really wanted to see the movie, even though I have seen it before. Once again, I really liked the movie and the actresses/actors in the movie. I thought that they portrayed their given characters very well. My peers that sat beside me also liked the movie and the book as well. After watching the movie, however, the two "history" professors that came, "Bill Childs" and "Hassan Jefferies", I thought needed to improve on their public speaking skills because there is a way of putting things and getting an audience to listen to what you have to say. Me, trying to be respectful, did listen, but I disagreed with most of what they had to say. First off, Childs asked the audience if anyone was from the South. Me being from Kentucky raised my hand, since we do consider that the South. Another student said they were from New Orleans and another from a town in Texas. To Childs response, none of these places counted. But Houston, Texas, which is where he was from, counted. Already, did he start of on the wrong foot when he made that "I'm right and this is all wrong" complex. He then stated that he grew up in this time period yet he didn't know that any of these things had happened. His school wasn't segregated but he claims these things did happen, yet he didn't realize it. So stop right there. After that being said, he lost my interest immediately. From what I understood, was that his knowledge of racism back then was a blur yet he was arguing these facts in the movie. Continuing on, Childs let his friend Jefferies take the stand. They were trying to compare the movie A Long Walk Home, which I think I have seen, but I'm not sure. I would be sure if they tried to explain it more. They didn't even go into the movie so I had no idea of what they were trying to say. It seemed to me that they were going way of topic and trying to turn the tables. What really upset me was that Childs admitted to never even reading the book. He said he got through the first 10 pages and immediately hated it. Good job for giving the book a try. So throughout his arguments, he was saying I didn't understand this or that or the perspective of the film, blah blah blah. Every time he bashed the movie, I just felt like yelling out, "Well if you read the book, you would know" because a lot of the stuff that he didn't understand was in the book. The book goes more in depth. The movie was already like two hours long, so you can't stuff everything into that movie. The movie wasn't solely based on Civil Rights as well. They were so upset about how the film wasn't historically accurate but didn't really explain why. They also said that more stuff happened, particularly violent stuff happened in that time period. Once again, it is a MOVIE! Read the book and you would understand what it was about. It wasn't about all that violence and it didn't have to be. From all the years studying black history, I'm pretty sure most people know what happened back then and we can just imagine it in the book or movie if that would have made them happy. Also, Childs says that even 4 African American women protested against this movie and the book. It stopped there. One, who were these women and what group were they a part of. I would like to know. And two, really? 4 women. Not like 400 or something? How many people live in the United States, unless I heard wrong, and if so, mistake on my part. One last thing, he talked about how the actors were horrible for what reason, I don't know and how it's a shame that this movie is nominated for so many awards. Let me say this one last time. It is a MOVIE. The movie is not nominated on because of its historical accuracy. It's the acting, the emotion, and all that other stuff that others care about. I would never take a class given by these professors simply because of the performance they showed that night. It was really upsetting and I think it could have gone a better way. They were to close minded and they had not one strong piece of evidence. Without evidence, I wasn't buying it. I apologize for the long blog but I figured it had to be said.