Hidden Figures (2016) - Aileen Cha
The 2016 film Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi tells the true story of three Black female mathematicians working during a period of time characterized by strict segregation of race, as well as sex. I argue that Hidden Figures is one of the best representations of misogynoir in film history. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan all worked at the Langley Research Center in the West Area Computing division in Hampton, Virginia in 1961, where they were assigned to be computers and do arithmetic for NASA by hand. Each woman is more than capable of contributing more to NASA than just performing calculations, such as Mary who obviously has the talent and skills to be an engineer, but is not allowed to become one due to the fact that she is a Negro woman who can not attend an engineering program that only admits non colored students. Additionally, Dorothy is not allowed to be promoted to be the official supervisor of her division because there is supposedly not a need for a supervisor of the colored group. In one of the opening scenes of the film that show Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy stranded on the side of the road after their car breaks down, the police officer who pulls up comments how he did not know that NASA hired people like Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy, implying that it was rare for Black women to have opportunities to work at high institutions like NASA. Later in the film, Katherine (played by Taraji P. Henson) is assigned one day by her boss to join the Space Task Group as a “computer” to do analytic geometry as she is the best of her group. Before Katherine enters the new Flight Research Division on their work campus, she is reminded of the dress code for women to wear skirts below the knee and have no jewelry on except pearls. She is told that she is not allowed to address Mr. Al Harrison, the head of the department, directly and is reminded that she is the first colored person and colored woman in the department. Upon arrival, Katherine is given an enormous stack of redacted information that is difficult to calculate, but is required of her. As a woman in 1961, Katherine is already subjected to the trials and tribulations of sexism in her workplace as she must adhere to certain rules and guidelines, such as a dress code, that her male coworkers do not have to deal with. Furthermore, when Katherine realizes she needs to use the restroom during the workday, she asks the only other woman in the department, who is White, and finds out that there are no colored women’s bathroom in the building for her to use. So, she resorts to running half a mile to the colored women’s bathroom in the Langley Research Center where she previously worked every time she needs to use the restroom. Hidden Figures is a biographical drama, so the events in the film are closely related to what actually happened in real life. I argue that the film highlights Katherine as not only a victim of sexism, but also misogynoir more specifically due to her being a Black woman. The male dominated working culture of NASA is heavily emphasized in the film, but it is important to point out that among the White men who are working at the Space Task Group, there are some other women in the film who are White. These women, one being Mrs. Mitchell, who is Dorothy’s boss and the woman who preps Katherine about working in the Space Task Group, are depicted as having less important positions than the men working in that division. But in addition to the stricter guidelines, less opportunities, and lower working positions, Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy also face racism along with the sexist culture present in their workplaces throughout the film when they have to deal with segregated bathrooms to the point where Katherine has to run across campus whenever she needs to use a bathroom, or Mary can not become an engineer because there are no engineering programs that accepts Black people. This is the definition of misogynoir: anti-Black racist misogyny. However, what makes the film so powerful and uplifting to watch is the fact that it portrays these brilliant Black women rising above the misogynoir and succeeding regardless. For example, already from the start of the film, the audience of the film is shown that these women are incredibly gifted and intelligent, but Katherine is able to show out and prove her worth when she gets all of her calculations done, even from redacted reports. Arguably, one of the most powerful scenes in the entire film is when Katherine even stands up for herself against Mr. Harrison in a captivating performance by Taraji P. Henson. After Mr. Harrison questions why Katherine always leaves her desk for long periods of time, Katherine lectures to everyone in that room about how she has to run across campus because there is no space for her, a Black woman, to use the restroom in their building. She talks about how she is not allowed to drink coffee from the same pot everyone else drinks from because she is the only colored person in the room, and she adds that she is not allowed to wear any jewelry than pearls, but she does not even own pearls in the first place because NASA does not pay colored women working as computers as well as other positions taken by White people. These problems that Katherine is facing are deep rooted in misogynoir as she is the only one in the room who deals with it every day because she is one of two women in the room, but also the only Black woman in the room. The film does an excellent job pointing out how misogynoir manifests itself in a workplace, but it also does a great job of emphasizing how Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary are able to rise above it.
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