Film Analysis: Hidden Figures

Analytical Thesis: Get Out is a psychological thriller that analyzes the racial issues in modern America through the use of visual rhetoric: such as film noir, symbolism and metaphors.

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.

Sixteen candles was written by John Hughes, this movie was his first 1980s teen movies. Hughes was inspired by Molly Ringwald, to write the screenplay. As, he was finishing up writing the screenplay for Mr. Mom and National Lampoon’s Vacation, Hughes' agents at ICM gave him a stack of photos of young actors. When he was going through the stack he noticed Molly Ringwald, then began write the screenplay for the Sixteen Candles. John Hughes finished the script over a single Fourth of July weekend. Hughes also was so impressed with Anthony Michael Hall's performance in National Lampoon's Vacation that he created the role of Ted “The Geek” just for him. Michael Schoeffling got the role of Jake Ryan, as the leading male because of his good

What I also found to be quite interesting and perhaps a weakness of the film, was the sense of performative racism that four of the main white characters utilize and how the makers of the film appeal to such a phenomenon through symbolisms as well. In the movie, there seems to be two main kinds of racism the characters exhibit, one of them being blatant racism and another being subtle racism through microaggressions. For example, Katherine experiences blatantly racist and misogynistic behavior from her coworkers, especially from Paul Stafford, the lead engineer (making groupthink much easier) and Ruth, the only other woman working in the office. On the other hand, Al Harrison and John Glenn appeal to the subtler sides of racism and performative white pity, Glenn going out of his way to shake the hands of the computers as the film attempted to paint a positive, “not-all-whites” picture of inclusion, acceptance and tolerance, a kind of racism that almost all of the white people in the film come to, by its end. Examples of this can be seen in scenes like the one in which Al Harrison smashes down the “coloreds” and “whites” restroom signs as if implying that doing so will abolish all racial inequalities with a couple of blows of blunt force. One could infer it seems, that paired with the groundbreaking stories of these three women, white people being decent human

Katherine was hired as one of the women for the tedious and precise work of measuring and calculating the results of the wind tunnel test in 1935. During WW2, the NACA expanded this effect to include African-American women. They were so pleased by the women's results that they kept the women's computer work. By 1953, demands of the space research meant there were openings for African-American computer at Langley Research Center’s Guidance and Navigation Department and Katherine found her place to put her extraordinary mathematical skills to work. As a computer, she calculated to trajectory for Alan shepard the first American in space. Even after NASA began using electronic computers, John Glenn requested that she personally recheck the calculations

The Frontline film Separate and Unequal discussed about creating a new school system; however, there are opposition by others who wants to maintain the current school system. If we look at the perspectives of the two groups, it is understandable in why there is support and opposition from the people of the city. The supporters of the new system wants a system that can provide better opportunities for their children without any violence. As the film claimed “the school was not teaching and were only babysitting the children”, which was likely a reason why there was a need for a new school system. With the chaotic and uncontrollable situation in the current system, many supporters have push forward the idea of a new system in a new city. From

This has been said because, all of the black mathematicians were segregated in their own office and were added to places as needed ("Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson", 2007). This shows that the white men they worked for told the African Americans what needs to be done and what they would do, and does not convey racial equality. Eventually Katherine’s time came to contribute on this evolving idea of racial equality for everyone ("Katherine Johnson", 2017). As a African American woman she broke through many racial and gender barriers that stood in her way during the process (González, E.,

The Serial is an interesting audio podcast that is hosted by a journalist named Sarah Koenig. Sarah tells the story in a form of a reporter, in which she explains the murder case that occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1999, Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, was disappeared after school one day. After six weeks, a jury convicted Adnan Syed, Hae’s ex-boyfriend, for her murder. Adnan stands firm on the fact that he is innocent and he has nothing to do with Hae’s murder case. Due to the lack of true evidence people are starting to question whether Adnan was falsely accused of the murder. I personally think Adnan is innocent.

In a ground breaking documentary, that gained rotten tomatoes of 93%, The Hunting Ground, displays a monumental depiction of the rape culture on college campuses. This film spread like while fire and was highly talked about among college campuses. The documentary captures real life survivors known as “degraduates” because they are seeking not only their degree but justice (Dick et. al., 2016, p. 4). Some of the victims feel that justice still has not been served, which brings upon devastation on not only the victim but the victim’s families.

The text, or more so the movie about the text, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, does a good job of portraying race, class and gender. During the setting of the book, many people looked at white Americans to be superior to the Black, African American race. With this being said, the successful white families hired in the African American women to cook, clean, and in most cases, take care of the children. They were known as the help. Throughout both the book and the movie, the African American women experienced many forms of gender, race and class inequality.

This paper is about the movie Hidden Figures. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson all faced racial injustice in their careers as NASA. They were looked down upon as African American women, thus depriving them of attending school necessary to become an engineer as well as attend meetings that presented data essential to calculating the mathematics required for Katherine to compute the landing point of the rocket. They received everything from glares to spiteful comments by opposite sexes and races. They were stuck in a world filled with segregation and unequal treatment.

The Graduate is a coming of age story focused on the confusion and fear that many young adults feel as they try to strike out and make a life for their own. The film focuses on Ben Braddock as he tries to figure out what do with his life, which is further complicated by an unfortunate love triangle involving Ben and two women who happen to be mother and daughter. The opening scenes of the film serve to introduce the audience to Ben and the hopelessness, emptiness, and angst that he feels as he struggles to find his path in life.

After watching the movie Hidden Figures from Humanities class. The way how three African American women, who were Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan gain the respect of the white men in NASA was admirable. They did excellent jobs to make white people changed their mind about giving respect to African American people. They dared to think and dare to do what they have thoughts. They used their gray matter to contribute to the space race of the United States vs. Russia at that moment, and also they changed the white men thoughts about colored people.

This movie is amazing and inspirational to other young black women, it shows that you many struggle but if you keep going your dreams and hard work will be recognize. This film touch on the gender norms and racial norms, which has strong connection to the four reading I choice to critical review this blog. This movie has strong connection to the Gaga Feminism theory, the concept is “a set of wholesale changes that may be most obvious in the realm of gender norms but that also stretch too many other realms of everyday experience and that call for improvisational feminism that keeps pace with the winds of political change.” Hidden-figures proved that Black women can do whatever they want if they put their mind to it. This is breaking down what society has deem as the normal way of doing this.

Freedom and equalities are the undeniable rights of a person that were confirmed by God and the humanities. However, there is no easy way to have those rights , they are only deserved for the people who fight for it. Let’s take the film Hidden Figures as a good illustration for this point. The movie describes the three brilliant black women--Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan-- who worked in NASA and their fights to gain the respects from the white men with two factors: their talents and their character-traits.