The movie I selected to do my historical movie review on is “Hidden Figures”, directed by Theodore Melfi, and story was from Margot Lee Shetterly. The reason I chose this particular movie is because it is based on a team of women fighting for equal rights, while working for NASA, a U.S space program. This […]
Based on the New York Times bestseller, Hidden Figures challenged the vision and interpretation of the audience through a forced raw reflection on our history; both as an individual and society as a whole. The book and the film depict visions of race, ethnicity, and gender issues and how they intersect throughout the times in […]
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Get startedThe movie Hidden Figures highlights the life of three African-American women who held prominent positions within NASA during an era when America was racially segregated. These three women began their journey from the bottom, serving in menial administrative positions, inferior to both the Caucasian male and female alike. This movie was reviewed by many people […]
The movie “The Hidden Figures” was talking about in the 1960s, there were some black women who work in the NASA. At the beginning of it, nobody likes them because they think black people cannot work for NASA or any of those scientific research fields, and they were women as well. People who work in […]
Throughout the film, Hidden Figures, director Theodore Melfi employs the use of many characters and appeals to illustrate the racism and the authority shift that Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary experienced during their time working at NASA. All three characters are developed and strengthened their relationships, enabling them to grow and stand up for themselves. In […]
The person’s life from prenatal development through childhood nature/nurture influences Human development is a process, which needs to be well considered especially when there is a need to ensure that the lives of individuals are well engaged. Parenting and social interaction influence an individual development process. This means that there is a need to ensure […]
I chose to write about drama films. Drama films are productions or stories lines with settings or life situations that represent realistic characters in conflict with either themselves or others. Drama films are produced more than any genre. Drama films illustrate how society conforms to what the larger population requests. They also represent how society […]
The fabulous forties in America was an era filled with Frank Sinatra, luxury cars, WWII, and lastly, racism. In the 2016 movie Hidden Figures. Three brave women persevere against the white patriarchy of the 1940’s. Fighting to show their intelligence and right to be on the NASA team. This movie is based on a true […]
Margot Lee Shetterly was born in 1969 and grew up in Hampton, Virginia. She is an alumnus of the University of Virginia, where she studied business. After finishing college, she worked several years in investment banking, and ventured into other career moves. Her career paths included the media and tourism industry; she was a writer […]
Human Nature is the general psychological traits, feelings, and behavioral characteristics of humanity, considered to be shared by all human beings. The novel ‘Hidden Figures’ explores the course inquiry of ‘What Makes Us Humans’ through the use these traits possessed by some of the characters (Katherine Johnson, John Glenn, and Dorothy Vaughan). These traits include […]
Three African-American women that were a crucial part of the success of the first moon landing have been overlooked for over fifty years until now. The movie “Hidden Figures” highlight the importance of mathematicians Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. The year is 1961 and segregation is very prominent but three intelligent African-American […]
While Katherine talks to Al Harisson and asks if she can go with him in the briefings and Al Harisson includes Katherine in his meetings. Katherine makes Al Harisson’s subordinates impressed as she explains how the capsule re-entry is possible. As the final arrangements for John Glenn’s launch, Katherine is informed that she is no […]
While live and culture is full of overlapping stories, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk narrates a story that informs of how she found her authentic cultural voice. As the story progresses, she warns that if an individual heard of only a single story regarding another person or country, this positioned an individual to the risk of a critical misunderstanding. On the other hand, the movie Hidden Figures is a drama movie that is directed by Theodore Melfi. The film, therefore, provides the story of a brilliant concerning struggle as well as willpower.
Established in the 1960s, the film concentrates on three groundbreaking African-American females including Katherine, Mary Jackson and Dorothy (Vaughan & Brownface 41). Therefore, this paper strives to make available information regarding how the movie of Hidden Figures perpetuates or defies a single story. Additionally, the article will provide on why this is significant or why it’s not.According to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her TED talks defines a single story as creating and maintaining stereotypes. However, the main problem with them is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. Therefore, single stories become the only story. Hidden figures in providing information related to the three recognized African-American women mathematicians destroys or defies the single story. Upon consideration from a single story lens, this analysis offers why the film destroys the single story.First, a single story spearheads issues that lack multiplicity. The film provides alternatives from the mainstream depictions since mainstream feminism movies are far and few between, and when they do make it to Hollywood, they commonly feature the white women in addition to their struggles.
This has been the case since the third-wave feminism commenced until it became prominent in the early 1990s. The society collectively expects that white women appear to be virtually anything they aspire (Lieway et al. 608). However, for the case of the hidden figures, the three women had a unique perspective since they were gifted mathematicians as well as engineers. This implies the characters that operate in a world or sector which the general society is not yet ready to expect them again. Therefore, this narrative outshines single story which the story is used to and in turn provides an analysis that defies by providing an alternative of the standard black woman different from the one we are used to in the western media. The film defies a single story since it fails to adhere to the expectation that black women fall into two categories. Ideally, women are expected to be classified as follows in Hollywood.
First, the wise but unthreatening maid and secondly, the aggressive, bubble-gum popping girl. However, in the film, the characters, Janelle Monae, Taraji P. Henson in addition to Octavia Spencer play three unquestionably bright NASA workforces. In doing so, they set a precedent for the Hollywood movies through the provision that Black women can exist beyond the two stereotyped and pre-determined categories that the society has bestowed upon the females. Additionally, they portray to live as Black women as the human having diverse talents and interests, personalities which in effect erases the institutionalized picture which the society has prior painted. This is especially with the consideration that this forms the dominant concept of the single story that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie refers to in her TEDx talk (Davies & Carole 234). From the discussion, single story characterized by a successful dictation and reflection of black women as impoverished, to the future generation, hence influencing the way children perceive the world (Lieway et al. 608).
Therefore, a single narrative from the explanation of Chimamanda represents a total demographic fuel that powers a detrimental cycle of prejudice. However, the film successfully combats this by broadening the stories that we focus or feature in mainstream media. However, despite the film employing aspects that defies on the single story and which makes it a pretty fantastic all around and to stand out from the rest, the film lacks La La Land’s catchy soundtrack hence was snubbed for victories. The film is featuring the three characters follows their personal as well as the professional struggles which encompass marriage, misogyny, and motherhood while highlighting the underlying racism which permeated every interaction they had. Additionally, despite the battle for the film to incorporate deviance for the single story concept, the film also portrays women as struggling for success. For instance, the film connects women to slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement. First, the film fails defies to incorporate the concept of a single story since it exceeds everyone’s expectations.
Unique story expects poor performance. However, the film experience unanticipated success which direct a perfect message to the producers in Hollywood. The message delivered is that the public can and will be interested in the multiple narratives of the black women as well as any other group that is being ignored by the film industry. This will be contrary to the expectation of many directors, there exists a place in society for diverse stories, and many people aspire to hear them and in effect will laugh, cry or empathize in the way that any other movie would. Secondly, the introduction of the movie featuring three African-American and who maintains non-conformity put the Academy into a position for recognizing its ability to end the diversity problem challenge especially during the time of Oscar night.
Therefore, the film was essential for maintaining non-conformity since the directors will depend on it for the expansion of stories about the black women or in other words all the minority women for that matter. Thirdly, the production of this film is significant since it proves that black women can perform as they are endowed with unique talents and skills (Lieway et al. 608). This is affirmed by the fact that the three women work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. The issue about feminism emerges as the significant and broader issue yet applicable call for action.The paper in considering how the movie, Hidden Figures defies a single story since it fails to create stereotypes. Therefore, the film’s application of non-conformity inputs power to the film. This is because it provides a unique style which makes the viewers interested. Additionally, it attracts international limelight which in effect may result in the film being used to encounter the Hollywood challenges.
