A hero is defined as a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities (Oxford, 2019) However this definition doesn’t characterize a hero by their skin or gender, yet since the beginning of time the heroes in our stories have been depicted as supreme white men. These are the stories of superior white European men being the natural masters of the world, showing strength, bravery and skillfulness in order to overcome the dangers of nature to save some poor distressed damsel (Margery Hourihane, 1997, p.1.) Despite our media records there are a lot of outstanding women who have accomplished amazing feats alongside our courageous men. Unfortunately, those women who too have shaped our history haven’t had their own fair share of storytelling. However, over the last decade the faces of heroes in our media have been challenged. Starting with the introduction of Wonder Woman to our comic books in the 1940’s to more recently the cinematic production of films such as ‘Hidden Figures’. ‘Hidden Figures’ is an excellent example of how modern media is transforming in order to convey these untold stories. And the best part is, these stories are in fact a part of our history and are actually true! Rather than being based on superhuman powers and unnatural beauty standards. Throughout this paper I will talk about how modern media reinterprets heroes through the lens of ‘Hidden Figures’, a modern biopic about an old story.
‘Hidden Figures’ conveys a quintessentially American story about Katherine, Mary and Dorthey, three African American women who worked for NASA during the time of the Space Race between America and Russia. Throughout the film each of these women encounter their own battles as they navigate through the white majority and very male dominant industry of engineering and mathematics. The film is set in the Hamptons during 1961, where women and especially African American’s received great discrimination in and out of the workplace.
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Katherine, a human calculator for NASA experiences great discrimination in her field when she is assigned a new position at the Langley Research Centre. Her new job requires her to check over all of the calculations used for the launch into space…a very important task if you ask me!
However, when she is transferred across to the East Building of the center, she is faced with a major setback within the first few hours. When asking her colleague – the only other female in the building – where the bathrooms in the building were. The woman pretentiously stated, “I have no idea where your bathrooms is”. This meant that Katherine would have to journey back to the West Building where she knew there were ‘colored bathrooms’. A simple 5-minute task for any of her white colleagues would take her over half an hour.
Loaded with stacks of calculations Katherine is seen running across the center to the tune of Pharrell William’s ‘Runnin’, the perfect juxtaposition to reinforce the absurdity this scene truly is. All of these scenes of Katherine’s trip to the bathroom are shot in short and fasted passed snippets to build up tension and momentum that lead the audience into a fiery argument with Al Harrison.
Another distinctive feature in this scene is Katherine’s costuming. When handed the assignment to work in the East Building, a much higher-class facility than where she had previously been working. Katherine was also told that she must wear a pair of heels, that her skirt must be at least knee length, only simple make-up and no jewelry should be worn except a simple string of pearls.
Uniformity is a key feature throughout the film. It is used to mirror racism in a slightly less confronting way and is expressed through the characters costuming. As viewers we are invited to the cast’s wardrobe, through a range of wide angled shots of the office. All of the white employees are dressed in either black or white, representing purity and X. More specifically the men in the office wear pristine white button-down business shirts tucked into black straight leg pants with polished black dress shoes. And for the white, rarely spoken receptionist, bar a racist comment. The only other woman who works in the building, wears a black skirt and blazer that displays her equally as harsh persona.
Katherine, however, is always dressed in a dull colored skirt suit or dress that hits just below her knees. Interestingly she doesn’t wear a string of pearls like she was recommended to do, like the receptionist does. This is because - “I don’t own pearls. You don’t pay colored’s enough to afford pearls” – part of her breakdown speech in front of the office. This highlights the continuous isolation that Katherine would have felt. One thing after another Katherine is yet again pushed back and forced to take the back seat in her attempt to make history.
Films such as ‘Hidden Figures’ helps to shape our modern definitions of heroes. Like these women had a crucial impact on NASA developing the science to successfully launch their first manned orbit into space. It really does make you question what other events in history have been shaped by women? The film industry as a whole, tells these stories as a tool to reconstruct our history and to provide better role models for our younger generations. Films like ‘Hidden Figures’ are a revelation to those heroes who have been previously unrecognized and marginalized, especially women and indigenous cultures.
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