The Help...movie Versus Book

well geez, "I" thought the toilets in the yard was funny. I could see how some might not enjoy the pie scene, although i did laugh at that in the book, it was a little different seeing someone actually eat it, though.

i agree the book was better, but i do think as far as lot of movies go, this was a good one. and if you just judge it on that it was lots better than most of the "s^&*" out there.

One of my favorite books! The book was so much better, I always visulize better in my mind when reading a book. The movie was ok, not bad. But Its never as good as the book.

The book is almost always better than the movie.
But I DO think this particular movie was done really well (as well as you can in 90 or so minutes.)
I remember laughing aloud a few times while reading the book. even though the subject matter was serious there was humor in there as well. And of course a movie audience naturally comes together to cheer on the good guys and hoot when the bad guys get what's coming to them (I especially loved Sissy Spacek's character, she was SO funny!)
Isn't this the nature of a well told story?
I'm sorry you didn't seem to get it.

The movie made me want to read the book.
The history was good.
I can only imagine what it must have been like back in that day.... emotions vs slavery, and the rich thinking they HAD to have a maid and the maid actually RAISED the children... omg, it was horribly confusing for the children and mothers I'm sure.

I read the book and I saw the movie. However, I saw the movie first.

I loved the mother's movie character, the one with cancer. And I love how she took Hilly to task at the end of the movie. (Of course, that actress is such a good actress.)

I understand what you are saying about the difference in the movie and the book, and I'm a Southerner who did NOT grow up in the deep South. I too cheer for the villians to be "told off". There really were women like Hilly who would castigate others for not bowing to their demands to treat the blacks like 3/5th's of a person. And there really were people who refused to do it, like the gal who got the book published.

Hilly's personality is still here today. Perhaps she isn't championing white domination of the black race, but she is still here. Most of us know the type. I for one LIKE that the movie shows her getting her due. It didn't feel fake to me, especially when the mom let her have it on the porch. I understand people saying they laughed in the movie - at that point I cheered. Hilly needed her comeuppance.

What I think about is, what did the Hilly types think of when they were old and gray, and colored bathrooms and fountains and sitting at the back of the bus and all the other Jim Crow inequities were a thing of the past? Were they ever ashamed of themselves? Did they ever really understand what they did, or how they looked? Did they ever realize that pulling us ALL up as human beings, economically and socially, helps everyone? I'd like to think so, but the point of Miss Hilly is probably that some people NEVER get it. They are too busy subjugating someone else in order to make themselves feel important.

I know some Miss Hilly types, and I know people who won't put up with them, so I don't think telling off the villians is fake at all.

So there ya go!

Dawn

I enjoyed the movie, however I thought the book was better. You tend to get a picture in your mind what the characters are like when you read, then when you see the movie you get someone elses idea of what the characters are like.

I always feel the same way after seeing a movie based on a book that I have read. a little disappointed.

Usually, the movies made from books pale by comparison. The Help was no exception. I thought the same thing about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, another recent example.

I always try to read the books first.

I do, however, believe that there are people as O. dimensional as Miss Hilly!

I loved the movie but never read the book. I think I will read it now though :)

The movie made me read the book. I adored it. I do agree that their were so many details that weren't included in the movie, and that was disappointing. Overall I loved both Movie and book. I have to tell you that Hilly, I found was quite what I imagined her to be. I knew many girls in high school that acted like her. It made me want to cheer for anyone who stood up to her.

didnt read the book, my mom did and said she loved the book more then the movie. I loved the movie.

Read Secret Life Of bees !!!! wow, this was an excellent book, afraid to see the movie and be disappointed... HA !

The book will ALWAYS be better than the movie, because while reading the book, your imagination is making up its characters, the settings and the tone.
Also in movies the budgets and the time constraints are part of the editing process, so you lose a lot of the extra bits of the characters and settings.

I did love the book, loved the movie too.

I loved that the author wrote the story based on stories she had been told, that she had been raised by her maid and she wrote one of the main characters for her friend that is an actress..

Also her best friend was the director, so he did his best to do the movie as close to the book as possible.

And yes, there are still women like Hilly.. If it is not African Americans, they are exclusive to their own and do not want others to get ahead or to be a part of her controlled little world. They are jealous of others and judgmental of what they do not understand or want to put an effort into.

Believe me, I know people that will practically break their backs to keep others out of their inner circles.. Of course those that play along are just as guilty.

I LOVED this book. The movie was good, but still very disappointing compared to the book. I found myself wanting to explain more and more about characters and details that were left out when I watched the movie with my husband.

OMG I thought the movie was so abominable I didn't even finish it. I could not get past the bad casting (young white actresses-I couldn't get past the one that was in Superbad), terrible overdone unrealistic wardrobe, corny, blatant non-subtle screenplay. I was curious to see if they changed the story, which was why I rented it, but just couldn't hang in there. SCARY!!!!

I too loved the book and didn't want to see it destroyed..but no such luck. Even the book with the actors on the cover disturbs me when I see it in stores it looks so bad. I'm dying to know how the author felt about what the movie people did to it. I mean, people DO MAKE good movies from books (Swedish Girl With Tattoo movies were excellent-didn't see American one). Sometimes they don't but it is possible. This movie was a HUGE botch job and disservice to the novel. Unless it got better half-way through after I turned it off :)

The book was much, much better. Like everyone says it usually is. I loved the book, one of my favs. The movie wasn't horrible by any means. It was different than the book in many ways but I still liked it. The toilets in the yard part was funny! It had it's moments!

Now, if you want to talk about horrible movie vs book, I'd say the Hunger Games movie was HORRIBLE! But that is my opinion. I felt that they went wayyyy off base from the book. The books were amazing, and the movie was terrible.

But that is something else ;)

For many years with my kids the rule has been you need to read the book before seeing the movie. We received both (book and movie) as x-mas gifts, and I finally got around to reading the book early this summer and loved it. So did my 15yo daughter.

As usual, the book was much better than the movie. I agree the movie was very disappointing. I did laugh at the toilet sceen.