60s Remembrances: "Hidden Figures (2017)"

The 60s remembrance piece I wanted to talk about in this blog post was the movie "Hidden Figures (2016)" directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Allison Schroeder. The movie takes place in Hampton, Virginia in the year 1961 and follows the journey of 3 black women, Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary, through their struggles and success in working at NASA during the space race between the United States and Russia and the launch of the spaceship "Friendship 7". "Hidden Figures" is a piece that shows the inspirational battle against unfair treatment of women and people of color through the achievements of 3 women. 

(Movie poster showing Mary, Katherine, & Dorothy from left to right)

The main protagonist, Katherine, works in a computing group at NASA, where there are 20 other black women who have the job of being a human computer, a job where they complete calculations. Katherine, for her exceptional work, was promoted to calculating trajectories for NASA missions. Her peers were all white men, some of whom looked down on her and underestimated her simply for being a black woman. 

During and prior to the 60s, women were not treated equally with men, which was apparent in many scenes throughout the movie. When at a church celebration event, the man who would later become Katherine's husband reacted to her job of calculation rocket trajectories with the question "They let women handle that kinda stuff?" Another example of how men did not respect women in the 60s shown in the movie was the constant disappointed demeanor of a colleague, Paul Stanford, whenever Katherine did anything, whether it be positive or negative. When given a promotion, Stanford tries to talk to the supervisor to change his mind about putting Katherine and him on an equal work station. Throughout the movie, Stanford, and the established rules that prevent Katherine from being successful at her job act as antagonists to her upward trajectory at NASA, displaying how both established rules and the people of the time were both roadblocks that needed to be overcome by those seeking racial and gender equality.

In addition to the gap in respect between men and women, segregation practices were still prevalent, which resulted in colored people and non-colored people being treated and respected differently. Many times throughout the movie, the 3 women faced the consequences of these segregation practices. Due to there being no colored bathrooms within the vicinity of the NASA buildings, Katherine has to walk half a mile every time she needs to use the restroom. She had an outburst at the director which resulted in him getting rid of the separation of colored and noncolored bathrooms at the facility.  Another instance of segregation practices holding back colored people was the separation of libraries restricting what kind of books one of the women, Dorothy, could obtain. She was escorted out by the police for simply wanting to check out a book, as the colored library's selection of books was nowhere near as extensive as the non-colored library. Mary has to get permission from a court judge to attend an all-white high school, which is necessary for her to remain in her NASA program. She gives to him a speech about the many people who were the first to achieve something in a particular area, which results in the judge allowing her to be the first colored woman to attend an all-white high school. 

                           (Abolishment of bathrooms separated by sex and race in the movie)
                                            

The way the film looks back at the 60s seems to be like that of a period-piece, in which the events are seen through a historical lens with a bit of added dialogue and style to make it more entertaining as a movie. The film does not necessarily portray the 60s as an amazing time or a horrible time like some other media about the 60s would. Instead, it shows a mix of negative and positive aspects of the time period. The unequal treatment that women get from the men in the movie and the segregation issues that are presented to the 3 main characters are portrayed as being negative aspects of the time, since the protagonists have issue with these aspects of society and work to overcome them. I think the movie portrays the battle against segregation and sexism in a hopeful light by the way the women in this movie overcome these issues and break down barriers that would inspire women and blacks in any future endeavors against these societal issues. Though the movie was based on real events, it is very likely that the movie glosses over or omits some of the other hardships these women had to go through during their battles against segregation and sexism for the sake of the movie, but it seems that the most crucial events and details were included. 

The movie does a fantastic job at showing how the battle for civil rights and gender equality is not simple; it shows that there are different forms of battles, especially with how these women nonviolently broke down established barriers that limited both women and blacks in ways other than protests, marches, and acts of civil disobedience. Not to say that one particular method of fighting for equality is best, but every act or breakthrough done to further this fight plays its part and has had its contribution on society. The movie portrays the 60s as a time where unequal treatment based on sex and race was common, but highlights and celebrates the women who fought against these issues and opened the doors for many others after them through their own persistence and achievements. The portrayal of the civil rights and women's rights issues of the 60s shown in the movie are an important reminder of the issues we once faced as a society and the importance of the people that contributed to the ending of this unequal treatment. It is important to remember the different ways people fought against these issues and the impact these battles had on society since then, so that we can better understand a past that we may or may not have been able to experience in order to better understand the impact and influence these events have on the present.