Bad Feminist

Gay explains that she and her siblings refer to the 1997 movie Rosewood to describe when they have had a particularly trying day with white people. The anger she felt after seeing Rosewood and her need for a three-day voluntary segregation from white people pale in comparison to her emotional response to The Help. For Gay, watching white reinterpretations of the historical Black experience is painful, infuriating, and too close to home. She is troubled by the complacency with which the public consumes such revisionist histories. Even the trailer for The Help worked her into a rage, and she found herself even angrier after reading the book.

While the movie was billed as “inspirational, charming, and heartwarming” (209), Gay posits that such can only be true if one is warmed by racist and condescending images of Black people and glaring historical omissions. She notes Hollywood’s obsession with the “magical negro” trope, citing Matthew Hughey on the phenomenon of lower-class, uneducated Black characters who save or transform white characters. The Help relies heavily on this trope.

Gay describes her experience at the theater when she went to see the movie. The audience was mainly older white women who responded animatedly throughout the movie.