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Film Analysis: Hidden Figures

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Hidden Figures displays three African American women who defied the odds by aiding in the launch of John Glenn into orbit. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson are all women who worked for NACA and NASA and played a vital role in his launch by providing the calculations necessary for both his launch and landing. The film takes place Hampton, Virginia during the 1960s, a prominent time of segregation amongst the community despite Brown v. Board of Education. The women face various challenges regarding their race and gender throughout the movie, however, they manage to achieve “the impossible” of the time. Katherine continued to work for NASA as a key person for space launch, Dorothy Vaughan became a supervisor at NACA and a manager at NASA which makes her the first African American to do so, and Mary Jackson became the first African American female engineer of NASA. Throughout the movie, it is made apparent that without these women, America would have had an even harder time trying to reach for the stars. …show more content…
They continuously speak on the issues of race and equality as well as mathematics and their place of employment. There is even an instance where Katherine is stood up for by her boss, a white male, who continuously supports her and sees her as a colleague rather than just another worker. There are instances where Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy speak about helping Katherine pursue a new man at their church, however, Katherine is a widow and this is to be expected especially during the time. Both Mary and Dorothy have husbands that help hold their fort down at home while Katherine must rely on her mother and oldest daughter of three to do so as their father is deceased. Romance is only a small instance of the movie as the main focus continues to be the three women making

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