Hidden figures - racism, sexism and NASA
Index
click on the desired section to move there directly
Introduction
I have to thank @lezra for talking to me about this movie. I am an Aerospace Engineer and I work as a researcher at the University of Bologna, working on space exploration missions, collaborating with space agencies such as ESA and NASA itself, so it is a very close environment for me.
For those who don't know, Hidden Figures is a film about 3 brilliant African-American women from NASA - Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were the masterminds behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, an extraordinary feat that restored the nation's confidence, turned the space race around and galvanized the world.
I start from the premise that regardless of my proximity to this environment, I enjoyed the film and found it very interesting. I have no idea if the movie is accurate, historically, or if it has been crafted ad hoc to make it inspirational. What I think is essential in this case it is that it gives these 3 women the right exposure and the credit they deserve.
press here to scroll back to the index
Sexism
This film focuses on two topics in particular: sexism and racism. Not only do the protagonists have to fight against discrimination due to the color of their skin, they also have to deal with a purely macho environment as NASA (Aerospace Engineering more generally) was at the time. In one of the scenes of the film, Dorothy asks to be allowed access to the mission debriefing in order to get all the information live and to be able to update her calculations, but it is explained to her that women are not usually admitted to certain types of activities (it will only be the intervention of Al Harrison, head of the space task, that will allow her to enter).
I remember that when I started my studies in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, the number of male students compared to women was definitely higher (I would say 1 in 8 more or less). Lately, I see things changing, in the sense that many more women are approaching this world, but I feel that there is still a lot of progress that can be made because I believe that still, the Engineering way has remained a still slightly masculine environment.
Watching these films, I always think about how many women throughout history could have contributed to the technological progress of mankind if only they had been given the same means and resources as men. The other thought that comes to mind is also how many women's contributions to science over the years were not taken into account enough or even 'stolen' because the society of the time allowed it.
press here to scroll back to the index
Racism
The other hot topic in the film is of course racism. In the film, we see very well how society in the 1960s, where there were separate bathrooms for whites and 'colored' people, where black people had to sit in the last seats, and where their credibility in certain areas was quite discredited because they were considered less intelligent. This story shows us how in reality skin color does not make one person dumber than another, but geniuses, the real ones, knows no race or color.
Unfortunately, the sad thing is that there are still racist people today, and frankly I find this quite ridiculous in itself, as I find that those who consider themselves superior to someone else simply because of the color of their skin, merely prove by this reasoning, that they have nothing superior at all.
The thing that heartens me by seeing a film like this is that even in a profoundly racist environment, as America was in those years, there are people who do not look at the color of their skin, but in the name of teleological progress, judge people by their abilities and skills. Kevin Kostner's character, i.e. Al Harrison, in this sense is very powerful, it shows that even when everything and everyone seems to say that a certain belief is correct, we still have a choice and can still make a difference in our own small way. I am convinced that 100 years from now, new societies will look at ours the same way we look at the racist and sexist society of 100 years ago now... Everything that is deemed to be right or socially acceptable now, will not necessarily be right in the future, and maybe in our own small way, we can be the ones to make a difference and bring progress forward.
press here to scroll back to the index
Memorable moment
The scene that I found most powerful in the film, even if it is a bit obvious since it is also in the film's trailer, is the bathroom scene... Dorothy comes back to the office all wet with her paperwork in hand, while her boss, Al Harrison, was looking for her. The latter confronts her, asking her why she disappears every day for more than 40 min without saying anything, and the young woman, exasperated, bursts out, and almost screaming tells him that for her there are no toilets there, the only toilets available to black people, are in another building, which is about 30 min walk away, and that she has to walk that distance every day every time she wants to go to the toilet. In the next scene, Al, destroys the sign for toilets for colored people, saying that no such distinctions are admitted anymore and that everyone pees the same color at NASA.
Plot
The movie tells the true story of African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), who worked on NASA's space program during the space race alongside Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer). They were able to help John Glenn complete the first full orbit of the Earth by planning the paths for the Apollo 11 mission and the Mercury Program.
press here to scroll back to the index
Conclusion
The story of these three women is an incredible source of inspiration for all those who want to pursue their dreams, regardless of race or gender.
The cast does a fantastic job acting out the plot, which develops between the characters' personal and professional life. It is a tale of genius that is never self-serving or greedy, and it is made stronger by the cooperation of three powerful women who, at a time when it was virtually the norm, fought against discrimination based on gender and race.
Not everything is flawless, though: the lack of creativity in the narration, the overly casual treatment of some subjects, and the overly predictable nature of the events may irritate more attentive viewers. But I still would like to strongly recommend you the movie, cause these three ladies deserve much more knowledge and credit than history has given them!!!
press here to scroll back to the index
Rating
My personal vote is:
7.5/10
press here to scroll back to the index
Farewell image and text separators, created by me with Canva
Maybe I can talk you into reading the book next :P hahaha
Well that can be interesting too, why not 😊
This is an inspiring film that celebrates the story of three brilliant African American women at NASA and their contribution to one of the most important moments in space exploration. The review highlights the importance of the struggle against sexism and racism that these women faced in their careers and how their determination and skills overcame the barriers imposed by the society of the time. I really liked this movie. Your review is great, thanks for sharing it.
Very creative post @aurzeq! Always a pleasure to read your detailed movie reviews!
What do you think about schools putting 'colored' and 'non colored' bathrooms in 2022? Do you think that the experience of these real signs help the students sympathize with the time period? Is it worth creating animosity between them to do so?
That's a very tough question, I think it is difficult to answer because, as always is difficult to generalize... I think that in order for such a thing to work, the children should have already some sensibilization on the subject itself, otherwise you risk creating animosity as you said... I think there are some tests that tried to do something similar, like creating two fractions in a class of kids to compete in a game, and two fractions started fighting against each other so that the only solution to bring everything to normal was to add a common "enemy" (maybe another class for example) and that brought them back to cooperate
Also the movie "The Experiment" is a sort of example, have you seen it?
My conclusion is that I don't know if it is a good thing or not, to many variable to take into consideration 😅
No, I have not seen it. I think there probably are real experiments done with real students. In fact, I remember seeing signs and report of this being used in a U.S. school on Twitter. I guess it could have been made up. I could easily manipulate an image and put a "black's bathroom" and "white's bathroom" sign over the bathroom doors. I remember jumping to the conclusion that this will only create hostility between students.
I remember how it was when I was full of hormones in my immature growing body and also impressionable at the same time. I feel our tribal instincts can easily get exploited. There are various examples when one group is treated differently than the other by an authority, and instead of doing something against the authority, they attack the better treated group. Surely, there is a study like this somewhere where this is well proven and quantified. Yes, it is an unscientific opinion that I say this, so it would be interesting to see evidence that disproves it.
Yeah maybe there is, I am not an expert in the filled so I have no idea, I just know some stuff from random articles and courses I followed online for fun... But I think these kind of things need to be treated by experts also because everyone, even within the same experiment can react in a different way
Hard Words with a lot of truth, the humanity only take aproximately the halve of theyre power because in the history Mans dont let woman contribuite with the advance of human race. I take that line you say because is powerfull, maybe the humanity it could have a step of centurys forward if we let them do theyre job because they do it realy great and better than us.
Is hard because is the NASA, is a Science place where the knowedge of space is the priority and we see this happen too against very inteligent womans that love astrnomy like we do.
Do you know of a community that handle Astrnomy, i love that and i want to talk of that topic too :D
I am an Electric Engineer and in my university we have few womans there... Two jaja.... We Need Womans My Friend, with them THE LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL 😍😍 jajaja
Ahahahah yeah, Engineering is not exactly full of women, but I think that things are changing, which is a very good thing for research and progress in general... I don't know about a community on Astronomy, but I find one I will write it to you my friend
Have a wonderful day
A very impressive movie that shows us how bad society is, and it is sad that even today there are still racist people either in the field of skin color or the morons who humiliate others for economic position.
Very good review, thanks for sharing :D
That is also another form of discrimination that a lot of people don't consider, the economic position, I totally agree.
My friend, excellent review as always, I loved the way you structured it, very neat and concise.
About the movie, what can I tell you, I studied an engineering and discrimination is real and it hurts quite a lot, I can't imagine what it must have been like at that time and more for women of color.
That scene you highlight is excellent, it was also one of my favorites, the ones at the end, when they accomplish the mission, are also good, but as you say, predictable, but I still liked them.
Cheers 🤗
Thank you for the comment 😊. I am an optimist and I think that things will get better, I see a lot of women doing scientific activities now and also being involved in very important positions, so maybe it will take still a little bit of time but I want to belive in the future
I agree with you: the bathroom scene is the best, so powerful, the script, the scene, the performances and the emotional factor in that sequence...marvelous. We all like to see movies about a minority because they tend to highlight the injustices that some have had to go through and that we hope will not happen again and in this case we're talking about a doubly minority group since they were underestimated both for their gender and for their color of skin. These types of stories serve to understand others and to stand up against the injustices and ill-treatment that no one should receive.
Thank you for sharing.
Yeah, I agree they help to raise awareness of these kinds of situations. The problem is that most people feel these kinds of emotions only for a short time after the movie and then they tend to forget it... usually, if you have not been a victim of this kind of thing yourself, even slightly, you usually tend to not be too involved yourself...
That is sadly true, how can we add those people to our cause, to this awareness? I mean, those who haven't suffer this kind of treatment, which would be an effective way for them to feel commited with this?
that's a very good question... I think the best way is to expose them to the experience of people that have suffered this kind of reality, even to simply talk with them and get to know this kind of issue and problem, to know their story... I don't know if this is enough but at least it is a beginning
More information on a problem brings more awareness
Intersante todo lo que describes.
Vivo en un país donde es raro ver gente racista, muy raro, porque sin importar el color de tu piel, léase bien: SIN IMPORTAR EL COLOR DE TU PIEL, acá te pueden llamar negro para llamar tu atención.
Ahora lo de la discriminación sexual, si se aprecia un tanto o mas que la de color que es prácticamente inexistente (desde mi punto de vista). Pero nuestras universidades (hasta 2016 que trabajé en una) estaban plenas de mujeres formándose como ingenieros en: Mecánica, Electricidad, Electrónica, Metalúrgica e Industrial; sin mencionar las carreras cortas (técnicas); solo por mencionar algunas carreras.
Gracias por compartir tus apreciaciones y permitirme conocer de esta película.
I live in a country where it is rare to see racist people, very rare, because no matter the color of your skin, read well: NO MATTER THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN, here they can call you black to get your attention.
Now about sexual discrimination, if it is appreciated as much or more than that of color that is practically nonexistent (from my point of view). But our universities (until 2016 that I worked in one) were full of women training as engineers in: Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Metallurgical and Industrial; not to mention short (technical) careers; just to mention a few careers.
Thank you for sharing your insights and allowing me to learn about this film.
thanks to you for sharing your opinion. I think that it is cool that in your country the word in itself doesn't mean anything depreciative but is just referred to call people... I think we are the ones giving a word a certain meaning by using it in that way
look how nice your presentation, nice to read and certainly very original, I would like to learn how to do it or if you have a tutorial base on it would be great.
With respect to the film I like it, because even if it is fictional where the Americans are always super heroes it is clear to me that the issue of racism and sexism is real, just look at the struggles that continue to wage to affirm such an issue,
Thank you for sharing it.
Hi, in order to make a clickable link on hive you can use the following lines of code (I will put the first < between $$ otherwise it will be compiled and you will not see the code, but of course, you don't need to put them, so your code will start with <a ref etc... and close with </a...):
$<$a href="#identifier">Choose a name for the chapter$<$/a>
$<$ id="same identifier as before">You can use the same name to recall the chapter$<$/a>
example:
$<$a href="#intro">Introduction$<$/a>
write your content here
$<$a id="intro">Introduction$<$/a>
N.B. just remember to remove all the $ from the code I wrote
Thanks for the comment and sorry for the late response 😊
Thank you very much!
At first, I had to reread to understand, but I did it
I hope to continue to see your creations
Greetings from Venezuela
ahahah happy to hear you could make it work 😊