Racism in Films The Green Mile, Hidden Figures, and 42

The films that used I to research my significant connections of racism were 42 by Brian Helgeland, Hidden Figures by Theodore Melfi, and The Green Mile by Frank Darabont. To focus my connections, I used 3 questions: Who is being mistreated? What are the consequences of their behavior? And, What does the depiction of racism uncover about society? I expect to find racism more prevalent in the older movies like The Green Mile and 42 rather than the modern-day movie, Hidden figures, it will be less prevailing because of how we, as a nation portray racism to be a bad thing.

In the films that I have studied, the significant factor that I found was racism. Racism occurred from outsiders in society. In The Green Mile, Burt Hammersmith (one of the guards) mistreats John Coffey (the big black guy) just because he is big and black. He consistently beats and uses derogatory and racial slurs towards him. Paul (one of the other guards) says to a reporter that comes into the prison, “He kept calling them your Negroes, as if they were still property” “Paul aims to show that Hammersmith’s attitude is deeply hypocritical, and that it reflects a mentality that was prevalent in the American South at the time, a racism so entrenched and ordinary that it becomes almost difficult to notice.

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” this quote from the movie shows how Burt thinks of John as his property and doesn't respect as a human being. The next part that I quoted was from “litcharts.

com”, I think that it sums up what Burt thinks from another guard's point of view and that is that he doesn't respect the only black man on The Green Mile.

Hidden Figures motion picture cites give the exchange for the film around the brilliant female African-American mathematicians who made a difference NASA and the mission for the primary American man circling Soil. The personal dramatization, which was based on genuine occasions, was adjusted into a screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi based off of the book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly. Theodore Melfi coordinated Hidden Figures, which opened in theaters on December 25, 2016.Racism plays a huge part in Hidden Figures as I have said. Where the three black women are discriminated against in their workplace, at NASA, for their race and color. They are always frowned upon when entering the workplace and are constantly bombarded with looks of disgust and cheeky snarls when other staff walk past. The racism gets so bad that when Katherine has to go to the bathroom, she has to walk to the other side of the NASA campus to get to the coloured bathrooms. When she gets back from the bathroom she is asked by Al Harrison “Where the hell do you go everyday?”. In which she replies “Excuse me if i have to go to the bathroom a few times a day, sir.”. She also adds “there are no bathroom for me here... “ “ there are no coloured bathrooms in this building, I have to walk to timbuktu just to relieve myself.” This quote shows that there are no bathrooms for coloured people in the building she works in and she has to walk half a mile (800m) to get to the nearest coloured bathroom just to relieve herself. And she isn't allowed to use the bikes that are there because only the white people are allowed to use them so she has to walk 800m everytime she needs to go to the toilet no matter what the weather is. This is disgusting behaviour and after Katherine has her rant about it Harrsion ends up putting toilets for coloured people in the building and all the other buildings around the NASA campus. This is a monumental part in the film because it symbolizes that the coloured people are starting to get noticed and respected more, as it should be.

The new film 42 tells the story of Jackie Robinson’s gallant exertion to coordinated Major Alliance Baseball. Marked by Brooklyn Dodgers common chief Department Rickey (Harrison Passage), Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) perseveres resistance from partners, insulting from contradicting players and fans, and unnerving dangers of viciousness against his family and himself by breaking baseball’s color barrier. His adoring spouse Rachel Robinson (Nicole Beharie), herself a decided warrior within the battle for racial correspondence, serves as his grapple amid this crucial time of his life. Jackie Robinson’s mettle rouses Americans, both white and dark, and makes a difference to touch off the developing civil rights movement. 42 could be a blending film that outlines the brutality of racism and the courage of those people who sought to overcome the foremost alarming characteristic of American society within the twentieth century. One scene that jumps out to me is when Jackie is going up to the plate to receive a pitch and he is consistently heckled by the opposing teams coach. The coach keeps calling him a “Negro” and says “negros like you don't belong in this league.”. He goes on for minutes at jackie but i cant repeat those words because they are too harsh. Jackie's coach then walks up and confronts the opposing coach and tells him to stop, meanwhile Jackie is staying composed and ignoring all of the chatter going on behind him. Jackie then goes on to hit a home run and on the way back to his dugout he steers down the coach and gives him a cheeky smirk as if to say “in your face.” Throughout the whole movie Jackie is consistently hated on and frowned upon for being the the MLB even though he's black. Jackie definitely has the right skillset to be in the MLB but always get racial slurs thrown his way just because of the colour of his skin, and that not ok.