Author Kathryn Stockett brings The Help to the big screen

By Tribute on May 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

On September 11, 2001, a power surge—as a result of the terrorist attacks—left advertising consultant Kathryn Stockett’s New York apartment completely out of power. Stockett, who worked for the magazine industry, found herself in need of relief in the wake of such hopelessness, so she hearkened back to her childhood in Jackson, Mississippi and began writing a story in the voice of her late housekeeper, a stoic lady with a soothing voice named Demetrie.

Although the story is fiction and not autobiographical, Demetrie would ultimately inspire the character of Aibileen, a main character in what would later become her book, The Help. Stockett’s bestselling debut novel, about the fragmented relationships between entrenched Mississippi whites and their African-American housekeepers, catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in 2009 and stayed on it for more than two years—not bad for a novel that was rejected by more than 60 literary agents.

Since Stockett’s experiences were the basis of her story, she could relate to her book’s protagonist Skeeter Phelan, the curious, hard-working journalist who also serves as one of its three female narrators. Like Stockett, Skeeter witnesses an unprecedented reaction to her own story when it causes a stir in her segregated Mississippi town. In February—despite numerous assertions by the author that the character was inspired by Demetrie—Ablene Cooper, the longtime housekeeper for Stockett’s brother—sued the author for $75,000, alleging that Aibileen’s character was not only based on her name, but also her likeness and image. Cooper also found the racial remarks made by other characters in the book toward Aibileen to be insulting, and thus “embarrassing” to her own reputation.

All controversies aside, Stockett insists her novel is an accurate depiction of Mississippi race relations, even though she didn’t live through the same time period as her characters. She was born in 1969, as the civil rights movement was gaining traction in the southern U.S., although not without resistance from white authorities. “Some readers tell me, ‘We always treated our maid like she was a member of the family,’” Stockett told Time Magazine. “You know, that’s interesting, but I wonder what your maid’s perspective was on that. You look at all these rules in place in the ’60s—the separate bathroom, the separate plate and cup. That’s not how you treat a member of the family.”

The story focuses on recent Ole Miss graduate Skeeter, who, after her community proposes an initiative to install separate bathrooms for “the help” for fear maids would spread unwarranted diseases, decides to courageously pen a revealing book about everyday life in the homes of wealthy southern belles from the perspective of the black housekeepers. In order to successfully do this, she conducts her interviews in secret to avoid being scandalized by the white community. “It’s fiction, but some of the facts and the settings and the backdrops—sure, that was Southern life,” Stockett told NPR. “Having a separate bathroom for the black domestic was just the way things were done. It had faded out in new homes by the time [the] ’70s and ’80s rolled up. But certainly in my grandmother’s time—and when I was growing up, yeah, Demetrie’s bathroom was on the side of the house, it was a separate door. Still, to this day, I’ve never been in that room.”

Stockett was thrilled to have The Help hit the big screen and have Hollywood’s newest It Girl Emma Stone (Easy A, Superbad) cast as Skeeter. “The minute I met [Stone], I knew I couldn’t see whatever Skeeter looked in my head as a blonde because she was replaced by Emma,” she told People magazine. “And her mom is from Baton Rouge, so she got the [southern] accent.”

Amongst the cast are Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis, who stars as Aibileen, a strong women who helped raised 17 white children, and Octavia Spencer, who plays the formidable Minny—the brash maid whose big mouth gets her into trouble with her bosses. Spencer, who Stockett had met through childhood friend and director Tate Taylor, actually inspired the character due to her free spirit and no-nonsense attitude. Rounding out the cast is Allison Janney as Skeeter’s conservative mama and Bryce Dallas Howard as Skeeter’s snooty friend, Hilly.

Since The Help is a story of female perseverance from a first-time author, it is fitting that the film version comes from a relative newcomer also striving to make his mark. Newcomer Taylor took the writing and directorial duties for the film version, snatching up the movie rights after reading an early copy of the novel. Taylor’s black housekeeper from his childhood, a lady named Carol Lee, even landed a small role in the film. “It’s scary putting a part of your financial and professional future in the hands of a good friend, even if you believe in them, because he’s still on the cusp,” Stockett told the Telegraph. “He hasn’t had huge success yet, but he’s talented and I know he will.”

Stockett was by Taylor’s side during the shoot in the sticky Mississippi heat last summer, and recently gave the film her seal of approval after seeing a cut of the film (saying it was “fantastic”). But even with the locations true to the source material, there was something else bugging the director: being a white man telling a story about race relations that is primarily targeted toward women. “I just had to keep reminding people that for this movie… especially within the African American community… I needed to represent them and not sugarcoat it,” Taylor told the Los Angeles Times.

For fans of the book The Help, Stockett has revealed that she’s not done entirely with the characters. “I am not done with that story,” she told Atlanta magazine. “But I think it will be a prequel. It’s not going to be my second book, but maybe my third or fourth. I’d love to put together stories about what happened in these characters’ lives before they stepped into the pages of The Help. They didn’t all know each other, so I don’t think it’ll be a big, arcing story. It’ll be more like individual short stories. Maybe I can find a way to intertwine them.”

– By Jordan Adler (with files from Toni-Marie Ippolito)

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1. Liz • May 20, 2011 @ 11:18 PM

   Love the book, really looking forward to seeing the movie.

2. Donna • August 8, 2011 @ 7:12 PM

   Wow … what amazing things happen in a black-out! Congratulations, Kathryn; so enjoyed reading your book.

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