Text Review- Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is a movie that came out in 2016 that was inspiring for women and minority communities across the country. Hidden Figures is about a true story of three black women who were engineers for NASA that helped out with the space race during the cold war. The ladies women were called the computers because they would use spread sheets to do calculations, and throughout the movie they moved up their work status and broke the glass ceiling. This movie showed the true power of these women that was hidden for so long. In the cold war, women in stem received lower wages and had lower status. Black women also were treated poorly which was showed in the movie as the women had to walk to a different building to use the bathroom. This movie is inspiring because it shows that women are more then just their looks and are their minds are extremely valuable and capable for coming up with advances in science and technology. This is similar to Persepolis when Marj’s body was sexualized and not taken seriously for being a women, which Ortiz Cofer experienced in school as a minority and as a woman in Story of my Body. The theme of minority women not being taken seriously is common theme in this course, and this movie does a good job challenging this idea. Hidden Figures shows these women in a positive light doing complicated work that no one else was able to do at the time. There has not been a lot of representation of strong black women in the media, and this movie depicted a narrative that anyone is capable of being smart, regardless of what ethnicity or gender you are. One thing that was a bit trouble some in the film was the white savior syndrome. There was a white male in the film that helped the women move up in the work place that never existed in real life. This is a problem because white people are not needed to help or save minorities, and that they are strong enough to make power moves of their own. The biggest take away from Hidden Figures is showing a story that wasn’t shared because of norms at the time that brings representation to a community that experiences lots of discrimination.

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