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Racism In The Help And A Time To Kill

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The 2011 film The Help set in 1960’s Mississippi centres around a young white author and her plans to write a novel from the point of view of the African American maids. The 1996 film A Time to Kill set in 1980’s Mississippi is about the trial of a black man who shot two white men after they raped his daughter and left her for dead. Both films represent the idea of racism as unjust and odious in different ways through the use of various conventions. The Help utilises setting and dialogue while A Time to Kill uses characterisation, music and dialogue to represent racism.
The Help represents the idea of racism as odious and unjust through the use of setting and dialogue. The film is set in Jackson Mississippi, which at the time was extremely segregated and white dominated. As the movie is set here it shows how unjustly African Americans were treated and how they were regarded as lesser people. This is evident in the scene where Skeeter is proposing writing a book from the point of view of the help. Miss Stein states that “No maid in her right mind is ever going to tell the truth, as it’s a hell of a risk to take in a …show more content…

The Help represents how racism was a regular part of daily life in 1660’s America. The film coveys how African American maids were treated as a lower class of people with minimal human rights. A Time to Kill represents how racism affects and endangers the lives of African Americans. The film uses conventions such as characterisation, music and dialogue to demonstrate how racist and unjust the law system is, that Carl Lee shot Billy Ray and Pete because he knew they wouldn’t be charged for the rape and attempted murder of his daughter because she was black and they were white. This film uses intense and shocking conventions to represent racism, conveying to the audience how extreme and appalling the acts against African Americans

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