Intro
The themes of racism, gender inequality and social influence is explored in the novel The Help written by Kathryn Stockett and the film Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis. Stockett explores the idea of a social influence on a narrow minded society through the three main protagonists Aibileen, Skeeter, and Minny who take turns narrating the story. Zemeckis highlights that history is what has shaped the modern world. Both pieces are of a historical context, The Help’s context is that of the early 1960’s and is set in Jackson, Mississippi and Forrest Gump is the context of the early 1980’s set in Alabama. Both Stockett and Zemeckis use their characters and setting to convey their idea and themes.
Racism – paragraph one
The idea of social racism is explored via the characterisation in The Help by Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter who are all protagonists and Hilly, the antagonist. Stockett uses rotating narration of the three protagonists who describe the events of the book in first person, allowing readers to see through the characters eyes, this also allows readers to sympathize with each of the main characters equally. In contrast to the film Forrest Gump, which Zemeckis uses Forrest who is both physically and mentally challenged but also the protagonist himself to convey his idea. In the novel Stockett uses African-American dialect English when writing from the perspectives of Minny and Aibileen, by doing so this gives a unique voice to the characters. In contrast to the film Forrest Gump the maid the audience is shown in the scene sitting next to Forrest at the bus stop Zemeckis positions them on an equal level using a medium shot Forrest states “I bet those shoes are comfy” the camera angel switches to a up close downward shot of her shoes which look do look comfy to the audience however she replies “My feet hurt”, which indicates to the audience she still works hard long hours. The theme of racism is portrayed vividly in the novel when Hilly Holbrook suggests that “black people should have to use different bathrooms in white homes because she believes they carry disease”, and she says this while Aibileen is present. Miss Leefolt Aibileen’s boss installs a second bathroom for the 'colored help,' and when she tells Aibileen to try it out she says “I use my colored bathroom from now on. And then I go on and Clorox the white bathroom again real good”, this highlights and exemplifies to readers the paradoxical and contradictory nature of race relations at that time to readers because whites allowed black people to clean their homes and watch over their children, but are not fit to use the same bathroom. Stockett uses the bathrooms as symbols to emphasis to readers that everyone uses bathrooms every day, but few of us think very much about it. Furthermore Stockett demonstrates the fear that coloured people of that time felt to readers through Minny when she is asked to contribute to the book. Minny is excited about the idea, but she is also afraid to put herself and her family in danger by speaking out due to power that white people have over blacks especially if they became outspoken. However on the other hand the book about the maids impacted racial relationships in different ways for instance it aggravated racism as one woman fires her maid on Hilly's orders because of what she read in the book, But in a more positive way it results in a more equitable relationship between black and white women as a white woman starts to treat her maid better because she doesn't want her secrets to get out and another sits down with her maid and has a proper conversation with her for the first time ever. To readers this can be seen as a step forward in relation to equality. Zemeckis uses Forrest’s best friend Jenny in a scene early in the film which depicts Forrest being bullied because of the braces he wears on his legs and the fact that they deemed him not to be too smart, Jenny says “Run, Forrest, Run'. The scene follows on in slow motion close up showing Forrest running and his legs braces breaking away which can be seen as a symbol to the audience as escape of a variety of threats by literally running. Not running away from problems, but running as a way of breaking away from the obstructions creating the problems. The metaphor of “run, Forrest, run” is used the rest of his life Zemeckis presents this in a series of situations in which the act of running leads Forrest from disaster to triumph. Applying this scene to racism audience can see that by breaking past stereotypes and being strong can lead to success and the overcome of racism. Stockett suggest that racism was the key driving force down south and the key motivation of characters, additionally Zemeckis suggests that in time racism will get better if we choose to break away from the stigma.
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Gender inequality – paragraph two
Gender inequality is explored in the novel via Skeeter's mother who is concerned that her daughter has not gotten married yet even though she is twenty-three, her mother nags Skeeter to “do whatever you can to get a man”, highlighting to the audience that her mother’s mindset is ‘old fashioned’. Skeeter is more interested in finding a job where she can pursue her passion for writing she applies for an editor position at Harper & Row has not gotten back to her which tells readers this is because she is female and during those times women weren’t considered equal to men emphasising gender inequality. This is further highlighted when she notices that many jobs offer women lower pay than men for the same work in the local paper. Skeeter knows that marriage will mean the end of her professional ambitions and it will mean subordinating her intellect to that of her husband implying to readers men were smarter than women. But she tries to avoid marriage, her family, friends, and society remind is considered a failure until she marries, 'Even though I felt miserable, and knew that I was most likely ugly, it was the first time she had ever talked to me like I was something besides my mother's white child. All my life I'd been told what to believe about politics, coloured’s, being a girl. But with Constantine's thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice what I could believe.' Constantine tells her that true ugliness is being a mean and hurtful person, and that every day Skeeter must ask herself if she will choose to believe the nonsense that other people say about her She will not be blindly bigoted against colored people, she will not accept that a white woman's only role in life is to get married and have children. Telling readers that she will work to forge her own path and live by her own values and not cave into the gender norms. In a darker depth of gender inequality Zemeckis explore this in the film via Forrest’s voice-over narration when he recalls that Jenny’s father was a “lovin’ man, always kissing and hugging her and her sisters” it then cuts to the visual scene showing young Forrest arriving at Jenny’s home clearly suggesting to the audience he was a degenerate incestuous sexually abusive paedophile. As Jenny and Forrest run through the corn field away from her sexually abusive father who is looking for her Zemeckis uses dark toned music creating suspense to the audience that he may catch Jenny, Zemeckis also uses a high angle shot panning over the corn field but when Jenny falls to the ground she prays to God to “make me a bird so I can fly faraway” the camera angle becomes a close up on Jenny’s face showing a tear rolling down her cheek allowing the audience to feel sympathy for Jenny. The bird-related imagery Zemeckis uses in this scene is a dominate symbol which characterizes the character of Jenny throughout the film such as Jenny does die, her finally being laid to rest is accompanied by the sudden release of birds from a tree. Both pieces depict a different side of gender inequality, Stockett uses the more typical males are better than females viewpoint to readers where as Zemeckis conveys to the audience the extreme dark side that females are subjected to.
Social Influence - paragraph three
Both Stockett and Zemeckis explore the idea of social influence through some minor characters such as Celia, Minny is Celia’s maid. When Celia has a miscarriage, Minny takes care of her tenderly and cleans up the blood despite her dislike to the substance that she caught Celia drinking until she discovers it’s 'catch tonic,' a folk remedy for preventing miscarriage. However the readers see a development of trust between Minny and Celia when Celia she tells her “I been suffering from miscarriage after miscarriage and I’m hiding it from my husband”. In the novel this symbolises to the audience at this time women were expected to provide their husband children and if they couldn’t they would considered social outcasts, additionally allowing readers to sympathise with Celia. Stockett continues to emphases how social influence impacts those who are outcasts such as when Celia wears inappropriate clothing, gets unacceptably drunk, rips Hilly's dress, and vomits on the ground. Because of the reader's sympathy for Celia, this situation reflects more negatively on the social rules of the Jackson community than on Celia herself, who is just trying to conduct herself in an unfriendly environment. Additionally Stockett uses the mimosa tree as a symbol major turning point for Celia when she cuts it down it symbolizes the control that Celia takes over her own life in a similar way, she tries to ingratiate herself to Jackson society by smoothing over the rough edges in her own personality. In both cases, Celia is more concerned with what other people think than with her own opinions. Social influence is also conveyed in the antagonist Hilly who recognize the events and people described in the book and plots revenge against the maids, but she is also motivated to hide the fact that the book is about Jackson so that people do not realize she was the one to eat the feces pie 'Well, Hilly's that what you get, I guess. And I wouldn't go tattling on Minny either, or you'll be known all over town as the lady who ate two slices of Minny's shit.'', This highlights to readers she is caught in a paradox, torn between her desire to harm those who offend her and her wish to keep it a secret. On the other hand Zemeckis put the audience through Forrest eyes who sees the world though a perspective that is literal and not weighed down by metaphor or abstraction this is made clear in the scene when Forrest says “My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get” which implies to the audience that life offers us an enormous variety of possibilities in all aspects of society but if things do not go the way you want them to all you have to do is go back and pick another selection. Further highlighting to readers that when life hits Forrest with some unexpectedly bad-tasting pieces of chocolate and he just keeps going back and trying another selection.
Conclusion
Zemeckis and Stockett both explore the idea that history of the course of time has shaped social influence, racism and gender inequality in different ways. Zemeckis observes through Forrest that some people are oblivious to how these topics impact others, whereas Stockett tackles them head on. Both pieces draw a conclusion that history has shaped the way people think and act about topics that have also divided nations.
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