Racism In ‘No Sugar’ and ‘The Help’ (Analysis Essay)

Racism it’s something that’s been around our whole lives, some take advantage of it and use it in a bad way, others suffer from it on a daily basis. Jack Davies writer of screenplay ‘No Sugar’ and Tate Taylor director of film ‘The Help’. Both texts have displayed how racism affects the African Americans (the help) and the Aboriginals (no sugar) every day. Going into details, Davies and Taylor shows the reader how racism is shown by their living conditions, the perspectives that the white people have on the African Americans or Aboriginals throughout both texts. 

Throughout ‘No sugar’ and ‘The help’ the audience could tell that the living conditions for both the Aboriginals and African Americans were completely different compared to people that lived in the white society. In the help, the African Americans live in small houses that only had the basic needs like kitchen, bedroom etc. they had to live in a certain section of town, that is nowhere near where the white people live, when their houses are in the scene the colour of the scene turns duller compared to the white people’s houses are shown in the scene it is all bright and sunny. Meanwhile, the white people live in large, fancy houses with way more then just the basic needs of a house. Similarly, in ‘No Sugar’ the constable and sergeant force the Aboriginals to move away from the town as the white people don’t want to live near them, at first they struggled to find a place to move them to because residents that live nearby didn’t feel safe if the Aboriginals moved to that particular campers ground, but eventually they did get forced to move to a different camper’s ground. Both these texts are similar as they aren’t allowed to live anywhere near the white people, so they lose their freedom to choose where they live. This type of racism, affects the Aboriginals and African Americans by making them feel unwanted based on the colour of their skin, its like the white people know exactly who they are and decide everything for them. Linking back to the introduction, this clearly states that the Aboriginals and African Americans are the people that suffer racism on a daily basis even when it comes to their living situations.

Not all white people are racist, these people are in the film ‘the help’ while there is a lot more people who are racist in the screenplay ‘no sugar’. All through the movie, Skeeter she always believed that the African Americans should be treated equally, Skeeter wanted to get her point across that the colour of someone’s skin doesn’t illustrate who they are as a person and people shouldn’t take needs away from them. Aibileen is a maid who is trying to encourage the future generation of white people that they shouldn’t be racist as she is tired and doesn’t want the children to follow their parents’ action. “I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty aint a color, disease aint the negro side of town. I want to stop that moment from coming- and it come in every white child’s life- when they start to think that colored folks are not as good as white” while on the other hand, “you might think you’re doin’ ‘em a good turn, but you’re not. Take it from me, I been dealin’ with ‘em for years. I got nothin’ against ‘em but I know exactly what they’re like” this quote explains what the Sergeant is like as he is setting a tone he believes he knows enough about the Aboriginal people and there is nothing to change his mind, not even persuasion which shows the bitter plight of the Aboriginals; they are at the point where people tell them what they are and who insists that they can’t aspire to anything. (loss of freedom and people already think they know who they are). You can see the difference how some people in the white society are trying to fight for equality in ‘the help’ but the story is completely different for the Aboriginals in ‘no sugar’ since apparently everyone knows enough about them to change their minds to find peace and stop being racist to them. 

Throughout the film and screenplay, there are symbols throughout both texts that help illustrate how racism affects the people who suffer from it. In the screenplay ‘no sugar’, the symbol of what the white government deny the Aboriginals. Sugar is a tiny ingredient that can be found in a variety of meals and dishes, taking it away limits the ways in which some dishes can be made delightful. Taking something as easy as sugar out of their diet has far-reaching consequences for them. When one right is taken away it becomes simpler to take away the next. This explains how the authorities have all the power in the world to even take away the essentials that they need. Another example of racism that is in relation to food is “old tony the ding always sells us little shriveled ones and them wetjala (white person) kids big fat ones” this quote clearly states that the natives get taken advantage of even with food they barely get nothing and then the white people get a lot more food even when they both pay the same amount of money, this is clearly racism and is unfair on the native children. In ‘the help’, “its something about that word truth, I’ve been trying to tell white women the truth about working for them since I was fourteen years old… truth. It feels cool, like water washing over my sticky-hot body. Cooling a heat that’s been burning me up all my life. Truth, I say inside my head again, just for that feeling” this quote illustrates how Minny was feeling about being a maid her whole life and how she has been treated. She eventually got sick of being treated unfairly and she decided to take control of the situation and give Hilly revenge by making a pie out of her poo to show that no one can run over her like she isn’t a person. In this case the symbol was the poo pie. Both of these examples can affect the African Americans and Aboriginals deeply as even simple things like taking away basic needs can be a result of racism, so not only does the person take away an important thing they need in life, but they offend them and knock their confidence and sense of belonging. 

In conclusion, there is quite a lot of similarities throughout both of these texts that they illustrate how people are affect by the act of racism. They are similar by how freedom of choice gets stripped away from them to how living conditions are different with black people compared to white people to how symbols through both screenplay and film show an outline on what racism can look like. This essay clearly states how Davies and Taylor both used racism as a key theme in the screenplay and film, they also showed the audience how different and sometimes unnoticeable racism can be.