Bryce Dallas Howard has advised people not to watch her film The Help, as it is told through the “perspective” of a white character and created by white storytellers.
The 2011 civil rights drama, which also stars Emma Stone and Viola Davis, has become the most viewed film on Netflix in recent weeks – likely as a response to international protests against racism and police brutality.
Even on its release, the film faced criticism for telling the story of black domestic workers in 1960s Mississippi from the perspective of a journalist played by Stone.
Others have also highlighted that the film was directed by a white man, Tate Taylor, and adapted from a book by a white novelist, Kathryn Stockett. Howard took a supporting role in the film as a racist white woman who unsuspectingly eats a pie filled with human faeces.
Writing on her official Facebook page, Howard said: “I’m so grateful for the exquisite friendships that came from that film … This being said, The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers. We can all go further.”
She continued: “Stories are a gateway to radical empathy and the greatest ones are catalysts for action. If you are seeking ways to learn about the civil rights movement, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, and all the ways in which those have an impact on us today, here are a handful of powerful, essential, masterful films and shows that centre black lives, stories, creators, and/or performers.”
Howard then listed a number of films, including Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X and the TV mini-series Watchmen, while calling on others to make suggestions in the comments section beneath her post.
Davis, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work in The Help, explained in 2018 that there were elements of the film that she regretted.
“I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard,” she said.
