Evarle, Maria Jeaness B.

A52 – Gender and Society

Film Analysis: Hidden Figures

1. Who are the 3 main characters in the film? Give their profile and in your own words, describe their
personalities.

The main characters are Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. They are friends
who work at NASA and experience discrimination for being black women. Katherine has been a math
genius since childhood, and she is a widow with three daughters. She's intelligent and later on met a man
in their church and became Katherine Johnson. Dorothy is the acting supervisor of the calculation team
but never gets paid for the position because it wasn't official. She is intelligent, strong-willed, and knows
what's right or wrong in the rules of the colored and white. Mary is a brave woman who wanted to be an
engineer and would have been if she was a white man. Her colleague encouraged her to pursue
engineering, for it was for her. She went with it and fought for her rights in the court, making her the first
black woman to study in an all-white school. These three women are strong and intelligent, and they know
it. They know the rules are not fair, but people go along with it because that's just the way it is. However,
Mary is the one who constantly challenges those rules. They all have loving families, and each has a fair
contribution to the successful launch of John Glenn.

2. What are the struggles of these main characters in their respective jobs? Enumerate all of these, and
please narrate this in your own words.

Katherine was assigned to be in the research division, where the head of NASA is their boss, Mr.
Harrison. There gathered the most intelligent men engineers, led by Paul Stafford. But Katherine is much
more. Paul and Harrison give her loads of paper to solve, all must be done within the day, and after it's
done, they show it to her face that it's no longer needed because the case they're working on has changed.
Because of her heavy workload, she has to carry it to the bathroom, where it is located to their calculation
team because that's the only bathroom for colored women. The distance is more or less than a kilometer,
so she wished not to waste any time and solve the papers while in the bathroom. She faces this struggle
every day, which upsets Harrison, and he asks her why she is gone for 40 minutes a day. Katherine told
him there was no bathroom for her there. Also, everyone in the room looked at her when she poured herself
a coffee from the coffee maker like it was forbidden for her to use it. There's a pot for colored people
beside it the following day, barely usable. Paul doesn't like her, despite knowing her genius. Even though
she did the math, Paul doesn't want her name on the paper and asks her to do it again. He also flatly rejects
Katherine's request to join the meeting, wherein she has to know the latest updates to do the math right.
Later on, Harrison made way for her. Since the job at the research division is temporary, she was later
asked to return to her last position.

Dorothy is the acting supervisor of the calculation team but doesn't receive the salary for the
position because it's not officially assigned to her. Although she asked their head, Mrs. Mitchell, for the
position constantly, yet she was constantly denied, saying that it's not needed. There was a time she went
up to Mitchell's office to hand paperwork, but Mitchell was surprised she was there and made her feel she
wasn't supposed to be there. Mitchell ordered her to carry the paperwork in boxes and had to be in a trolly
to move when she returned. Even though it's not her job, Dorothy still did. Dorothy was with her sons in
a normal day and went to the library. A white woman dismissed them there because they were in the white
section. The woman even called the security. Dorothy still got the book and told her sons there was nothing
wrong with what they did because they pay taxes, and that library was funded by tax. She tries to make
the machine for calculation work at work, and when the engineers saw her, they dismissed her. But later
on asked for her name, because the machine finally worked.

Mary was assigned to spaceship maintenance and was encouraged by her colleague to pursue
engineering. There are no black women engineers in NASA. Despite her having the credentials and
educational background, they turned down her application, saying she must take classes from an all-white
school. This was unfair, but she fought for that in court. Her point was something like there's a first for
everything, and that she's bravely facing to be the first black woman engineer, that later on will help the
future generations. She was accepted, but only for night classes. She was happy already, and her husband
gave his full support despite disagreeing with the idea. She entered the class, and the professor asked her
why she was there, but she had a pass. Since there were no colored seats, she sat at the front.

3. What do you think are the factors that affect or influence these struggles? Are these factors still present
in our society today? Support your claims using facts.

The struggles that Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary faced were racial discrimination. Discrimination
is still present in our society, and many are still receiving unfair treatment because of it. Although people
are much more open and welcoming now, the norm of white superiority is still there. There was a case of
George Floyd, a man murdered by a white police officer by strangling him to death using a knee. He was
under arrest at the time, yet he was just suspected. This case is discrimination. It tarnishes the voice of the
victims, and they accept it as if it has always been like that.

4. How did these women handle their struggles? If you were in their shoes, would you also do what they
did? Please elaborate.

Katherine stood up for herself when everyone looked at her in disapproval and told Harrison her
reason for being away for 40 minutes every day. She boldly said there was no bathroom for her, how the
people inside that office didn't want her to use the coffee maker. This stunned everyone and Harrison
broke all the colored and white signs inside NASA. Katherine also stood out in the meeting, giving
astronaut Glenn a good impression of her. She surpassed Paul, the head engineer, in many ways. She
solved the unsolved equations that led the launch to success. Honestly, I could never have the same bravery
as Katherine. I used to just go with the flow, despite my suffering. Although I'm sure that I would also say
may concern, the bathroom, if my boss asked for it. Just not like how bold Katherine did it, but I would.
Dorothy studied how the machine works because their jobs would be pointless the moment it works. So
she did her best to teach her team the mechanics, and she was the one who fixed the error in the machine.
This led to her being the supervisor and having her whole team assigned to the calculation team. If I were
her, I would do the same thing. I know the struggles of being discriminated against, and I don't want my
team to be left behind because that machine won't work without them. Mary fought for her right in court
and started to study engineering. She bravely faced the discrimination in front of her and did her thing. I
admired her for this, and honestly, I could have just given up with that all-white school, but she didn't.
And that made her the first black woman engineer in NASA.

5. Assuming that gender inequality in the workplace is still happening in the present time, what do you
think should be done in order to fight it? Give concrete plans and measures to alleviate this situation.

Everyone follows the rules, so I believe rules should be implemented or rules should be changed.
Norms shouldn't be a norm. In a workplace, the head should be aware of unjust circumstances and should
be a listener to her employees' concerns. Like Harrison, he listens to Katherine, and he understands her,
and since he has the authority to change the rules, he bends them if he knows it needs to be. Overall, a
workplace should be a safe space for everyone, so I think there should be a regular talk with the boss and
its employees, which aims to hear their concerns.
6. What are your 3 learning insights after watching the film. Please start your answers with 'Before
watching the film, I used to think that (insert thought). After watching the film and reading, I now think
that (insert thought).

• Before watching the film, I used to think that women are much more capable of what is expected
of them. After watching the film and reading, I now think that indeed, they could do more. They
could surpass the norm of men superiority, and skirts and heels are not the basis of their capability,
but their glasses (intelligence) are.
• Before watching the film, I used to think that change comes naturally. After watching the film and
reading, I now think that change comes when there is a first to break the norm. A start that could
lead to an evolution that would welfare future generations.
• Before watching the film, I used to think that love was the start of a good relationship. After
watching the film and reading, I now think that respect is more important for a start. Like the
second husband of Katherine, their first conversation wasn't a good start because he
underestimated women and turned Katherine off. But later on, he realized his mistake, and his
respect for Katherine grew more, and she felt his sincerity afterward. Respect follows love, and
love won't work without respect.