Hidden Figures

In today's entry I'll give a quick overview of my thoughts on the movie Hidden Figures. Overall, it's pretty good and I really liked the cinematography, as well as the well-executed "Old-timey" vibe. The movie takes place during the mid 20th century, focusing on three African-American women who work at NASA. During the movie, we get to witness the struggles they must face while trying to work and being a female minority. At the time, racial segregation was somewhat on it's way out, but there were still separate bathrooms, separate...coffee machines? Yeah, turns out there is still a large stigma, and out 3 protagonists must fight it in order to accomplish the success they desire. One of these women, Catherine Johnson, must deal with racism to prove that she is a highly skilled mathematician, capable of calculating rocket trajectories for space launches. Dorothy Vaughn,  a computer expert, must deal with racism to obtain a higher position in the workforce, and Mary Jackson must deal with racism to study more at a University in order to keep her job.

I guess, putting it bluntly, it's racism, but in more detail, it's some sort of legal trickery. You see, these women had "rights". but those rights had a huge asterisk. These women could work at NASA, but the positions were limited. If they wanted a higher position, there were limitations. Maybe a higher education, only granted to men, or white people. 

Despite these limitations, the passion these women had to stand out in their field made them challenge said limitations and find a way to achieve what they wanted.

The sad part is that this is still prevalent, even in other countries such as ours, limitations based on class, gender or race are still present and plaguing most industries.

The main takeaway for me is to, as MLK said, Judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin (or gender).

I rate this movie 4/5.

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