Social rebellion and mistreatments toward American Black People as portrayed in The Help (2011) movie by Tate Taylor based on Marxian perspective

Abstract

Racial discrimination against Black Americans remains a persistent social issue rooted in the legacy of slavery and segregation, and it continues to be represented in literary works such as film. Previous studies on The Help (2011) mostly examined individual and institutional racism, prejudice, the sympathy of white characters, intersectional discrimination, and maxim flouting, leaving the specific factors of social rebellion underexplored. Marx's social conflict theory treats society as an arena of struggle between groups occupying unequal positions relative to economic production, power, and resources not as a smoothly functioning system where everyone's role serves the collective good. That framing suits The Help especially well because the film's central relationship This study aimed to explore the factors of social rebellion portrayed in the movie and to analyze the mistreatments of American Black people shown within it. Using a qualitative, descriptive method grounded in a sociological approach highlighting Karl Marx's social conflict theory, the researchers repeatedly watched the movie, took notes on primary data (dialogues and acts) and secondary data from related literature, categorized the data thematically, and analyzed selected scenes. The findings showed that social rebellion appeared through both individual acts, such as Aibileen and Minny's growing defiance and Celia's rejection of racial boundaries, and collective acts, such as the maids' participation in and publication of Skeeter's book. Mistreatment was found at institutional and interpersonal levels, including bathroom segregation, wrongful dismissals, denied education, and racially motivated fear and violence. This study concludes that rebellion in the film emerges directly from sustained mistreatment, reflecting the unequal competition for social and material resources central to social conflict theory, and contributes to a deeper understanding of how race, class, and gender intersect in shaping resistance within American cinema.