I have been a lurker here for a long time, and I decided I will write my first submission on "Roma" and "The Help"! It is going to be long, so if you need a tl;dr, the last and second to the last paragraphs should be enough for what I wanted to convey.
I was inspired to write this post after watching The Take’s video on “white savior” trope (which I personally really recommend!) and I didn’t notice anyone comparing “Roma” and “The Help” to each other. It surprised me, as it seems that they have very similar concepts – with the protagonist belonging to an oppressed racial minority, working as a domestic help for white people, belonging to a higher social class, and their stories are used to show the racial and class inequality that are prevailing in societies portrayed in these movies – that are also focused on women and patriarchal theme. Their major differences lie within “The Help” being focused on struggling with racial prejudice and fighting against it, while also using the infamous “white savior” trope, whereas “Roma” simply portrays scenes from a life of an indigenous Mexican worker, that showcase the economic power and class imbalance in much subtler ways. “Roma” is, I could say, an answer to the “white savior” narrative in “The Help”, that points out nuances and systemic unfairness in society that this trope omits.
Disclaimers: Spoilers for "Roma" and "The Help" ahead and English is not my first language so forgive me for my mistakes and not so rich vocabulary! If I made any mistakes, regarding the movies or the historical backgrounds, do not hesitate to correct me on them - I would love to see more discussions on this subject.
The protagonists of “The Help” and “Roma” happen to be in similar circumstances. Both Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) are responsible for bearing the physical and emotional burden of families they work for. They both deal with substituting mothers in raising children, when it comes to “uglier” aspects of it, which makes them earn love from these children (there is a very strong parallel between Aibileen and Cleo when it comes to their relationship with kids), both witness conflicts in their families and they both are on the shorter end of power imbalances. Comparing these movies, you could however see, that the discrepancy between them starts when it comes to portraying the societies.
In “The Help” white people aren’t as fleshed out
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I see 3 possibilities:
-
Khepi!Taylor = R.I.P. Melromarc
-
Canon!Taylor (bathroom scene), while played straight would be effectively Crack due to how OP bug control is in a world with Insect Monsters that can 'Level Up".
-
Locker!Taylor (actually died) with no additional powers except her Munchkin potential, her jaded world view (like post betrayal Naofuni), and her potent distrust of red heads!
Per ESPN’s very own Brett McMurphy:
>Heisman odds via @BovadaLV:
>Bryce Love 7/1
>Johnathan Taylor 8/1
>Khalil Tate 9/1
>Tua Tagovailoa 10/1
>J.K. Dobbins, Jake Fromm, Jarrett Stidham & Will Grier 12/1
>Justin Herbert & Kelly Bryant 15/1
>Trace McSorley & McKenzie Milton 18/1
>Cam Akers & Jake Browning 22/1
Tweet: https://twitter.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/955864890790555650
