Hidden Figures, an incredible true story based on three African American women who served a fundamental role behind one of history’s greatest operations of NASA, including John Glenn’s successful orbit of the Earth, is cinematics that accurately depicts the following concepts behind power and injustice. This empowering movie illustrates a glimpse into the systemic injustices encompassing themes of women’s roles such as racism, segregated rules, and norms, racial issues in terms of systemic injustices, and ultimately power. One of the main systemic injustices portrayed in the movie is the inequalities the African American women had to face in their daily lives. These injustices were rooted behind the hidden racism of the segregation of rules these women had to obey. For example, some instances of inequalities were separate workplaces, bathrooms, drinking fountains, and lunchrooms. There was an assigned “colored” room that only was used by African American women for their work as they were segregated away from the whites. Another instance from the movie was the example where the African American woman was marginalized in the all-white man’s office by being assigned a designated coffee pot labeled “colored”. As a result of these injustices, the woman had to use the separate building for the bathroom which caused them to run 40 minutes back and forth each day. Additionally, African American women had to petition the court to be able to take classes at an all-white school to be able to further their careers due to the reality of segregated schools. Relation to how this work relates to the concept of power is further illustrated by the abuse of power of a police officer. In this specific scene, the cop was being disrespectful to African American women when they broke down on the side of the road. The cop made snarky remarks as this scene emerged the establishment of the thread of white leadership. In addition, all of these specific scenes from the movie further evaluate the concepts of systemic injustices as well as illustrate the concept of power.
This movie exhibits De Beauvoir’s concept of the “One” vs the “Other” that can be illustrated in evaluating these systemic injustices. De Beauvoir’s explanation by “Other” indicates a group of individuals that are defined as inferior in regards to the “Ones” command and authority. This can be clearly seen as an inferiority complex of classification between African Americas and white individuals. The specific example of the cop scene clearly displays this concept of the “One” vs the “Other” in terms of authority and rules/regulations.
www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/movies/theodore-melfi-narrates-a-scene-from-hidden-figures.html
I believe that the creator wanted the audience to perceive a deeper comprehension of the injustices these women had faced. Therefore, the message behind this work depicts the injustices faced by not only African American women but women in general who had to overcome many obstacles. This movie does indeed inspire a tough conversation behind the hidden racism as well as how these women’s lives were affected by the systemic injustices presented in the movie.
As a review, I believe this movie demonstrated an amazing performance of three women who conquered segregation, racism, and the systemic injustices they had to face in order to achieve one of the greatest operations in history. This film accurately portrayed a despicable period of enforced segregation and unjust power over African Americans. At the end of the movie, the three women have achieved success throughout their contributions towards NASA and being recognized for their work. Mary, one of the main characters, is seen as obtaining her degree to become an engineer which she had endlessly fought for. Dorothy, another main character, is seen as advancing in her computer programming skills. To sum up, everything that has been stated, Hidden Figures, unravels the concepts behind systemic injustices and power surrounding race and gender, and the barriers these women had to face.
www.abqjournal.com/928264/struggle-in-hidden-figures-still-resonates.html