Blog: ‘Hidden Figures’
My mind is particularly gooey right now. Reasonably so I’d like to think, but let’s hop to it. Due to infamous recent events, I’ve been discussing movies and books that revolve around Black history with my fellow podcast co-hosts. After I spoke about having watched 13th, When They See Us and Just Mercy, one of my friends urged me to check out the movie Hidden Figures. I’d never heard of it but the way she spoke of it, hey, it was persuasive enough for me.
Hidden Figures is a 2016 Oscar-nominated film that tells the stories of three Black women mathematicians and their vital roles at NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program in the 60s. The movie focuses slightly more on Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) as she is assigned to the Space Task Group because of her expertise in analytical geometry. Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is fighting her way to becoming the first woman engineer at NASA despite having the odds stacked against her — she not only is a woman but a woman of color. During this time, we watch Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) teach herself and her entire team the workings of a new piece of technology that could ultimately leave the Black female computing team out of work. All the while, she is continuously denied a promotion that she rightfully deserves. These women are fighting uphill battles but you sure as hell are rooting for them from start to finish.
This film is a handful. You’re not only viewing continued acts of racism but also acts of sexism. Although we’re not quite over the discrimination hump in our current day and age, it’s appalling to see what life was like for Black women in the 1960s. Hidden Figures is not just a great piece of powerful storytelling but it’s also a notable educational piece. If you were to ask me anything about NASA and the Space Race before this film, I couldn’t tell you squat. History is not my forte y’all. It just isn’t. I’m now familiar with the behind-the-scenes workings that went into launching astronaut John Glenn into orbit — a vital accomplishment that turned around the Space Race for the United States. Of course, there will always be elements of fiction in movies based on true events. It doesn’t take away from the fact that badass Black women were the reason for NASA’s success during this time.
Arguably the most powerful scene in this film is when Katherine’s boss Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) publicly confronts her about where she disappears to for long periods of time throughout the day. Little does he know, Katherine has to trek all the way across the grounds to use the colored restrooms. And boy does she let him know. Henson delivers a moving monologue about the discrimination she faces which ultimately leads to Al tearing down the bathroom signs. He tells those watching him that “here at NASA, we all pee the same color.” What a line. While some argue that the actions of Al dance on a fine line of white saviorism, I have to disagree. Katherine made that happen by her own actions. One could also argue that Al’s motivation for tearing down the signs was to increase the productivity of the Space Task Group and not for trying to be some sort of hero.
I actually watched Hidden Figures twice. It’s one of those films that you can pick up on more details the more times you watch it. I wanted to really grasp the context because like I said, history is not my forte and sometimes it takes me re-watching a film like this to fully understand the terminology and chain of events. With the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, I really wanted to dive into movies and documentaries that highlighted the lives of Blacks throughout history. I think a movie like this is important to watch. Not only for it being a fantastic movie but because of what I learned from it. And like I’ve said before, all I ever really want from watching all these movies and shows is to learn something and share what I learned with the world. Or, the five of you who are reading this. That’s good enough for me.
Hidden Figures is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
