“The Help” Most Viewed Movie On Netflix Amid Protests

Octavia Spencer (left) and Viola Davis (right) in The Help (2011)

The Help Is Now The Most Viewed Movie On Netflix Amid Black Lives Matter Protests

The 2011 film The Help, which earned Octavia Spencer an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson, is now reportedly the most viewed film on Netflix.

Martha Southgate

Amidst the current Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, many people are turning to Netflix. The company announced that the 2011 film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel of the same name became the most viewed movie on Netflix, according to their metrics. However, many black activists and writers are not happy with the film’s recent popularity and are urging viewers to watch more accurate films to such as  Ava Duvernay’s films “When They See Us ,”13th”, and “Selma”.

This is not the first time that The Help has gotten criticism for its content, as novelist Martha Southgate wrote an in depth op-ed:

“Implicit in The Help and a number of other popular works that deal with the civil rights era is the notion that a white character is somehow crucial or even necessary to tell this particular tale of black liberation.”

Viola Davis

Even Viola Davis, who starred alongside Octavia Spencer in the film, reflected on being in The Help and admitting that she regretted taking part in the movie. Back in 2018, Viola Davis stated,

“It wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”

The Help was released on August 10, 2011 and was directed by Tate Taylor, who is the friend of the author Kathryn Stockett. The film focuses on the lives of black maids during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 and a journalist decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids, exposing the racism that they face as they work for white families.

What are your thoughts on The Help becoming the most watched movie on Netflix? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below?