She had a project early on to help raise money to help poor disadvantaged people, I think in Africa? Also, she was crying at the end, did that mean she felt remorse for how she behaved and became a better person? I felt kind of bad for her.
shareThe project to help the "poor blacks in Africa" just showed what a nasty hypocrite she was when you look at how she treated the "poor blacks" that worked for her or that she came across. All she cared about was being top dog and being in charge with everyone answering to her.
As for completely evil? Well, Skeeter must have liked something about her at some time and she was a loving mother to her kids. I guess even Hitler possibly had a few positives.
Actually If I remember right she gave her children almost nothing in the way of attention or affection and had black servants raising and taking care of them, the same servants who had to eat in a separate room and use separate restroom facilities.
But at the end did she learn her lesson and become a better person? Were those tears of remorse or just unhappy that things were not going her way?
There is another thing I cannot figure out about her. When her maid asked for a loan or advancement and she refused to give it she said someday the maid would THANK her for that, like refusing her was for her own good. In some situations that might be true since people need to learn responsibility but that maid worked very hard and was struggling and was not asking for that much money.
Why not just give her a raise? Wasn't this woman pretty well off financially?
No, it was the other friend who was cold and mean to her little girl. Hilary was shown to be a good and loving mother if a controlling bitch to everyone else, according to the book anyway which I read recently. It might not have been so clear in the movie.
shareI was just gonna say that. You clearly see her carrying Billy (her son) everywhere with her. Remember I'm the kitchen when she walks in on Skeeter and Yule Mae talking? The maid immediately excuses herself saying she was gonna take Billy for his nap, takes him from Hilly's arms who then kisses him gently on the face before she gives him to Yule Mae.
In everyday life, you'd be hard pressed to find someone as black as white as that to write them off in a single word description, even if it's true. A person is more than that. In Hilly's case she was a spoiled, racist, xenophobic, mean, controlling, narcissistic, ambitious, class obsessed, bigot, caring mother, dutiful wife, organized, fashion sensitive with good taste, humorless, driven, arrogant, domineering, self absorbed, a matchmaker, materialistic, old fashioned, sense of value, a good friend and with a great appetite for good food, especially chocolate pie ;)
And, truthfully, Bryce Dallas Howard did a beautiful job at showing all these different sides of a character that could very easily be written off simply as 'evil'.
There is another thing I cannot figure out about her. When her maid asked for a loan or advancement and she refused to give it she said someday the maid would THANK her for that, like refusing her was for her own good. In some situations that might be true since people need to learn responsibility but that maid worked very hard and was struggling and was not asking for that much money.
Why not just give her a raise? Wasn't this woman pretty well off financially?
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The project would not have 'helped' the poor blacks bc of climate differences. It was done to make herself feel good and promote herself. It was an effort which would have little real impact on the needs of others.
She was not even concerned with apartheid in South Africa--which yes then existed It's a pretty safe bet she supported this too.
She was crying in the end bc she had been hurt by an incident--not bc she had actually learned or grown from the incident. Really critical difference.