Written in Spring 2017
Hidden Figures is a film that tells the story of three forgotten women in Langley, VA, that helped astronaut John Glenn orbit the earth in 1962, effectively changing the tide of the race for space and giving the United States enough momentum to get two men on the moon. These women were Katherine G. Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn, three black women that worked in the “colored computer” department of NASA.
At the beginning of the film, Katherine G. Johnson, who was the main focus of the movie, was assigned to the Space Task Group in order to check calculations for the scientists there, while Mary Jackson was assigned to a group of engineers working with the space capsule. Dorothy Vaughn stayed in the computer department working as an informal supervisor and trying to achieve the official title and compensation for the work she was doing. Throughout the film, all three women face both racism and sexism while trying to achieve their goals, but through a combination of determination, skill, and activism, all three of them achieve what they sought to do. Mary Jackson wins a court case that prohibited her from taking engineering classes at an all-white high school, Dorothy Vaughn becomes the overseer of a team of women working on the IBM 7090 computer, and Katherine G. Johnson is given a chance to show off her mathematical prowess and help develop an equation to bring John Glenn safely back into the atmosphere, is also finally allowed to attend an all-white, all-male meeting about the launch, and is allowed to write her name on the reports she was previously not allowed to do so on, despite the fact that she was involved with many of the calculations. While these three women did not achieve complete equality for women, specifically women of color, in NASA, they certainly broke many barriers that allowed equality to begin to develop, something that is still being worked on today. Drawing from this, I believe the main purpose of the film was to bring to light the lives of three women who were crucial to the space program, and illuminate the racism and sexism in a profession (STEM) that is so important for the future of humanity.
While the film portrayed most of their time in the space program, it also discussed their personal lives, and their roles as mothers and wives. This portrayal allowed the women to be viewed as “real”, something that is often denied to career-oriented women in films. Usually women are given two roles, the caretaker or the businesswoman. The caretaker stays at home, or has an “unimportant” job, and serves as a source of emotional support for the men and children in her life. The businesswoman is usually tough, cold, and excellent at what she does. However, she is usually not liked, and has a very poor relationship with her children and partner, if she even has one. By showing both the working lives and the home lives of the three women in this movie, it breaks these stereotypes and gives the audience the idea that women can love their job, and be great at it, but also have a loving relationship with their family.
In the context of our class, I believe this movie relates to our discussion on the first day, where we gave examples of women who have inspired us. While we gave a plethora of different examples, from our mothers to women in politics or literature, I do not remember many examples of women in STEM. This movie was able to give us three examples of women in this field, while also reminding us that these women were forgotten, but not anymore. Hopefully throughout our time in this class we can discover and discuss more important women in STEM.
This brings me to two main themes I saw in the film- femininity and invisibility. Femininity is brought up many times throughout the film, as something that both aids and prohibits them. Femininity was able to aid the women in their home lives, allowing them to be kind and understanding of each other and their loved ones. One particular scene that brought this to light for me was the first time we are introduced to Johnson’s children. She had just come back from a particularly long shift at work, and discovered her children fighting in their room when they should have been asleep. She allowed herself to keep a level head in the situation, and calmly, rationally mediated the quarrel before settling them down and affectionately speaking with them. In this sense, her femininity, or at least what is perceived as “feminine” i.e. being kind and taking care of children, allowed her to take control of a situation and achieve a peace with her children. However, this femininity that gave these women power at home did not help them as much at work.
The scene that gave me this idea was when Mary Jackson first arrived at her new assignment. They were about to test some new fans on the capsule when she walked in, and she was instructed to walk into the control room where she would be safe from the fan. However, as she was walking towards the door, her heel got stuck in a grate, and she eventually had to run to the control room with only one shoe on. This particular scene stuck with me because of its symbolism. Jackson’s high heeled shoe, something usually associated with femininity, trapped her, and she was forced to abandon it for her own safety. The film was essentially saying that in order for these women to succeed and be safe in their workplace, they had to abandon their femininity. This was something that I personally had an issue with. I know that it was a fact back then, and sometimes still is today, but it is not something I believe should be true. Regardless of that, I admired the cleverness with which the film presented that metaphor.
The second theme that I noticed in the film was invisibility. These three women, and all women of color in their field, were invisible when passive, and extremely visible when active. When they were not “involved” with their white male counterparts, they were forgotten about. Most of the white workers did not know where the “colored” bathroom was, and many of them did not even know that NASA hired black women as computers. However, once women began to enter their space, they became extremely visible. For instance, when Johnson first walked into the Space Task Group room, people’s eyes were immediately drawn to her because she was different, she was an “other.” One man recognized her as an other and immediately assumed she couldn’t be here doing the same work he was, so he assumed she was a cleaning woman and gave her some trash to take out. All of her movements and actions were under scrutiny during her time in the Space Task Group. However, throughout history, she and the other women around her were invisible. It’s safe to say that a majority of the population had no idea who Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn were before this movie came out (I know I certainly did not). Even the title, Hidden Figures, lends itself to this theme of invisibility. It refers to both the hidden mathematical figures that Katherine discovered, but also the hidden figures that were these women, forgotten by our white, male-centric historians. This is why I believe this film is so important for young people to watch, especially young people interested in STEM. For white, male individuals interested in STEM, it is a reminder of the diversity of the history of STEM. For women of color, it is a hopeful message, and a story that tells them that they’re a part of history, and that they themselves are capable of making history.
