Sexism And Sexism In Hidden Figures Directed By Theodore Melfi

Edna takes the brunt of the sexism in the movie. Multiple men try to take advantage of her at every turn. They assume she is clueless. The banker tries to manipulate her into selling her property for his own benefit. When she refuses and decides to plant cotton to support herself he becomes angry and calls her ignorant. We see men trying to take advantage of her again when the seed supplier attempts to give her the wrong seed because he thinks she won’t notice and he’ll make a tidy profit. These men try to take advantage of her lack of farm experience as she steps out of her traditional gender role for the first time. When she stops their tactics, thanks at first to help from Moze, they become angry. Edna’s quick transition to a more masculine role makes them feel threatened and angry. It was unheard of for a woman in the 1930s to do what Edna does and the men try to stop it at every chance they get. Usually in a way that benefits them.

The film ‘Hidden Figures’, directed by Theodore Melfi, follows the story of Katherine and Mary, two African American women who work at NASA, but are stopped from achieving their goals because they are ‘coloured’. Melfi uses props, dialogue and music to manipulate the audience to think that racism takes effort to resolve and that we are all human. Melfi does this to influence us to change the way we think and feel about people.

Adapted from the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures is a film based on the true stories of three black women (Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, & Katherine Johnson) working for NASA in 1960’s. Dorothy Vaughan, played by Octavia Spencer in the film, was a programmer and Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae in the film, was an engineer. Dorothy passed away in 2008 and Mary in 2005. Katherine Johnson, a mathematician played by Taraji P. Henson, is now 98 years old and still resides with her husband Corporal Jim Johnson in Hampton, Virginia where the film is set. These women collectively played a pivotal role in sending the first American into space and eventually to the moon. A critical analysis of the film reveals the history and dynamics of racial domination institutionally and interpersonally as well as prejudices and challenges faced by women in particular.

1. What are the main themes, politically and socially, that are portrayed in the film?

Hidden Figures, an extraordinary film that shines light on women existence and their intelligence. The women, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan used the power of their intelligence to decipher complex math calculations, computer language to build rockets that other could not see. Throughout the movie racial descrepancies were vividly clear, but these eager women had something to stand for. They dared not let the words of bitterness deter them of their worth.

The 2016 historical / drama film, Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi explores the themes of racism and sexism in America during the 1960’s. These themes expresses Theodore Melfi’s intention of this film is displaying that sexism and racism is hard to abolish. Melfi uses visual and verbal features of dialogue, costume and symbolism to contribute to the director’s intention.

Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi, is a movie set in the 1960’s which follows the story of three African-American women who face discrimination amongst their society. Furthermore, Twelve Angry Men, set in the 1950’s, written by Reginald Rose, creates an injustice against a poor slum boy who is discriminated and face prejudices due to his low social class. Through these texts were able to see the prejudices society has placed among us and in order to improve this we need to speak up and fight these discriminatory concepts to create change. Both texts are set in a time of segregation and discrimination which causes a regression against the underprivileged, so we need to demolish these prejudices in order to advance and progress as a society. Minorities need to speak up for change as their voices are better suited to help other minorities fight for a change rather than the majority fight for them all the time. For a change to be created we need to be firm and unnerving about the change we want to create, to construct progression, because, to devise change in society we need to create it ourselves and declare the change we want in society.

Third, it challenges people to examine White women’s role in privilege, race, and complacency in America. It was a heavy scene that challenged stereotypes and ideologies.

Hidden Figures is a 2016 film that recounts the story of three incredible black women in NASA history: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. The film largely sheds light on the experiences of these three women working as computers for NASA during 1960s segregated America. Public restrooms are separated between the whites and coloreds, the white male patriarchy dominates the field, and as always, racism is alive and well. During the film, the political unrest of the country is present and very much of conversation, and as these three women navigate their way throughout society with positions no one expects them to hold, they quite literally make history through their groundbreaking work, history

Picture a child sitting in front of a television watching the Wizard of Oz. To them, it is an assortment of magical beings, a land filled with wonderful places, with varieties of different colors. They do not picture it as something with far more meaning than just a plain fairytale. On the other hand, gender/feminist critics have been able to analyze the Wizard of Oz as well as Wicked, in order to find a more elaborate meaning behind the story itself. They have discussed what lies behind the story when it comes to the issue of sexism and masculinity towards the book itself as well as the characters. There are many concepts as well that help to further explain feminism and gender criticism. The four concepts that will be discussed

Discrimination has shown up tremendously in this movie, but one of the few incidents that stood out the most to me was when the women decided to give separate bathrooms to the maids because they carried too many “diseases” that would harm others if anyone made contact with. This was very ridiculous because the bathrooms were placed outside and some were even miles away from the house, so if it was a storm the maids would have to

Traditional gender roles as the first theme I will exploring. In the movie there are a

However, they cannot gain the respects and positions without their strong character-traits. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan are three of the strongest women ever with brave, kind, adroit and so on. They know how to catch their opportunities, in the movie, after receiving the denying from her partner, Paul, she still tries to ask permission from the boss, and gives him the clearest explanation for her troubles with all the respects. Similarly, Mary Jackson does not give up her dream to be an engineer even though she does not have the encouragement from her husband, the one who suppose to believe her in any circumstance. In addition, Dorothy Vaughan shows to her children that everything should be equal that disregard their race or their gender. They always keep the fire inside them to fight for their rights, their family and their future that become the biggest self-motivations. In my opinion, it is so impressive for women who have truly reasons to keep the fire in their mind, they don’t want to see their children live under the inequalities society that the people has more rights because their gender and their race. There is a lesson that you should never give up your works and your dream even it is impossible to

The men and women in Hidden Figures led very differently. They did not lead differently due to their gender alone; they lead differently based on their positions of power and socializations. According to Wren, “the focus on masculinity and femininity suggests significant innate or ingrained socialized differences between the sexes. Research does show some differences between males and females; however, there are far fewer differences than is commonly believed.” This movie takes place in a time when there was an even greater disparity between men and women and between white people and black people. Just because someone is not in power does not mean they cannot be a leader. That is what the women in Hidden Figures displayed. They lead through action and inspiration rather than power. Some of the white men that are in power in Hidden Figures are not great leaders despite the fact that they are in power. Gender definitely effected power in our society in the 60’s and still does today. It is important and necessary to examine how this gendered power effects leadership so we can learn to be better leaders no matter how much power we are in.

Through the use of cinematic techniques, Hidden figures, a movie directed by Theodore Melfi and Bend it like Beckham by Gurinder Chadha both explore the dangers that are inherent in a marginalised society. Each text demonstrates that hope for change is needed in society as it can build the momentum for an individual to strive. Through these texts, we see that people have no conscience about harming others until they learn the truth about their circumstances. This is depicted by the way in which Jess’ coach Joe behaves after learning about her cultural expectations in Bend it like Beckham. Similarly, this is shown in Hidden Figures by Mr. Harrison. Both directors emphasise that the abuse of power leads to corruption and this can be seen through the segregation between the black and white people in Hidden Figures and the way in which cultural values overrule the lives of the Bhamra’s in Bend it like Beckham. Both characters highlight the importance of creating opportunities rather than seeking it, this is shown when Mary Jackson goes to court for educational rights in Hidden Figures and in Bend it like Beckham when Jess stands up to her father who appears to be patriotic about his cultural values. The resolutions to both texts justify that determination comes from within and that though many factors can outweigh a person’s ability to triumph, consistency can lead to rewarding results. As an audience we are able to further increase our understanding of perseverance through