Revealing from Past, Stays with Present

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2018)

Revealing from Past, Stays with Present
Movie Review of Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi
Hidden Figures, a movie based off of a book that is written by Margot Lee Shetterly, is about three black women who helped America, or NASA, travel into space around 1935. The three women, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson, helped NASA in many different ways by excelling in math and engineering. Hollywood over dramatized many of the movie's scenes to make it more "movie-worthy," but is spot on in how these women helped history. Hidden Figures, though not entirely accurate, was exciting to watch because it touches upon subjects that relate to modern times, such as racism, sexism, and technology.
The movie, Hidden Figures, has hints of racism throughout. One example is when there were different bathrooms labeled colored and white. These signs played a significant part in the movie because one of our protagonists, Katherine Johnson, had to travel nearly four blocks to merely use the bathroom at her job, at NASA. Near the end of the movie a man who was fed up with the racism, Al Harrison, broke down the white bathroom sign in that building. Another example was when Dorothy Vaughan was unable to get head of the office, only because she was colored. One last example was when Katherine Johnson was mistaken for a janitor because she was in one of the highest math departments at NASA. None of these same things happen in society today, but we still have racism.
Sexism is also a common theme throughout the movie, Hidden Figures. The fact that Katherine Johnson was not allowed into essential business meetings at NASA only because of her gender was one example. She was also kept away from court hearings just because she was a woman, and these hearings were crucial to her job. Sexism was also an issue when Mary Jackson had a difficult time enrolling in an engineering class, not because of her intelligence, but her gender. Eventually, after taking legal action, Mary Jackson became the first black female engineer. Again, these examples aren't the norm in modern times. However, there are women "firsts" all the time.
There were issues with technology throughout Hidden Figures. The technology was used in many different ways long ago, just as it is now. The black women that worked at NASA were so incredibly intelligent; they were often called computers. At that time, technology was not up to par and Dorothy Vaughan, being so remarkable with computers, fixed a part of the computer which made the first calculator. This action worked against Katherine Johnson because many believed that this calculator was superior to the human "computers". In modern times, technology is often more superior and without human error. Also, technology has a vast presence in everyone's lives in recent times.
Hidden figures is a powerful movie because a few of the themes link the past to the present, specifically racism, sexism, and technology. There are many examples of racism throughout the movie and racism is still an issue in our world today. There are several problems that the main characters have in the movie just because they are women. Women still often have this problem today. Finally, technology was present and helpful, however, caused many complications in the movie, just as it does today.