Something very interesting happened in class today. I have already seen The Help twice, so I thought there would be nothing that would be new or jump out at me. So I watched the film I tried to focus in on the dynamics of each of these women in relation to their children and especially the mothers/daughters. Yet as the movie progressed, it was a different relationship that really stuck out to me: the relationship between the wives and their husbands. What I noticed was that in the relationships where the wives were also mothers, the husbands treated them very indifferently or, in some cases, very rudely. They would be dismissive, abusive or in the very least unaffectionate. The one marriage that is used as a comparison is the marriage of Celia and Johnny. With no children, Celia and Johnny are extremely affectionate with each other and the movie heavily imply the strong sexual relationship between them.

I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but it seems to be a comment on the lack of sexuality given toward the mothers. As if they could not be the sexual beings like Celia is, and also be portrayed as mothers as well.