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In the early 1960’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was taking over the world with its travel to space (Lewin, 2017). People like Neil Armstrong and Gus Grissom were the Kardashians of that era. Many strong and intelligent men put in their best efforts to let people like them to space and one would never be able to guess that it was one group of women who did the calculations that led those men successfully on the moon (Staff, 2016). Among them were black women who played a major role in them (Staff, 2016).
The movie “Hidden figures” was inspired by this. “Hidden figures” is an American biopic film directed by Theodore Melfi (Spitzak, 2019). It is slightly connected with a non-fiction book written by Margot Lee Shetterly (Spitzak, 2019). Both of which have the same title. The movie was released in 2016 and made a box office of two hundred and thirty-six million dollars (Spitzak, 2019). This movie was also nominated for various awards including the “Oscars” (Spitzak, 2019).
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The movie revolves around three black characters namely, Katherine Johnson (portrayed by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (portrayed by Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (portrayed by Janelle Monae). The main theme that the movie takes on is racism, inequality, and hard work. The movie addresses several socio-political issues which happen in reality such as institutional discrimination, oppression, social disparities, intersectionality, and stereotype threats.
The movie set is in NASA during the United States ‘Space War’ with Russia. All three characters work at NASA as colored computers (Mathematicians). Katherine is the main character of the movie who has a quiet demeanor.
On the other hand, Dorothy is portrayed as a strong woman who works as the supervisor (although she is not paid as a supervisor). Mary is the feisty one. All of the three women are brilliants but they are constantly discriminated against due to their race and gender in the Space Task Force. Despite the problems the three women face, the movie ends on a happy note.
One of the many problems that the movie depicts is institutional discrimination, not only based on race but also gender. For example, there is a huge difference in how the bathrooms for colored and white people are maintained, and also during one of the moments of the movie Katherine is told that she is not allowed to attend a meeting, not because she is black but because she is a woman by Paul Stafford (played by Jim Parsons). In the movie, even in the library, there is a section for “White people” and a section for “Colored People” where there is only a little variety of books for the colored people.
The film also sheds light on the various disparities that black people face such as health, economy, and criminal disparities. The movie shows how even the most necessary amenities such as a drinking water fountain are separated. It would not have been that bad if these facilities were separated only but the mere difference between the same things used by the two kinds of races is what makes the issue intolerable. There is a scene at the beginning where the three characters have a car that is not working, there is a clear sense of criminal disparity shown by the policeman, as he immediately treats them as criminals just because they are black. Although arguments can be made that the movie was made in a time period where the wounds of the Civil war were still fresh, it does not explain the fact that these disparities are still happening.
The intersectionality of the three characters of the movie is another socio-political issue that the movie tackles. One of the main features that really stand out from the movie is the fact that its characters are shown as middle-aged strong and independent black women. There are so many factors that build up the personalities of these women, let’s take Katherine as an example, she is black which means she is stereotyped as violent, she is a widowed mother of three children which means she is expected to stay home and look after her kids. Even with all of these huge factors, she is working as a computer (Mathematician) for NASA.
The movie “Hidden figures” is a movie that shows how discrimination and segregation of people based on color was a reality that happened in real life but it also shows the values of simpler and wonderful things like friendship and family. Although one might think that the situation right now in the U.S is a huge improvement compared to about 50 years ago, it is important to know that there are still many ways that we can reduce things that were addressed in the film such as institutional discrimination, oppression, social disparities, intersectionality and stereotype threats. All of these can be improved not only at a workplace but from the grassroots level itself such as elementary school or homes. As Dorothy says in the film just because things are happening in a certain way everywhere does not make it right.
Representation Of The Problem Of Segregation In Hidden Figures. (2024, Feb 20). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/representation-of-the-problem-of-segregation-in-hidden-figures-essay
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