When comparing my film Hidden Figures, to the others listed in the prompt, I feel as though my movie relates only to two of them, 12 Years a Slave and Glory. With both the movies just mentioned, they both have to do with slavery and segregation, just like Hidden Figures. Not so much of the slavery part, Hidden Figures was a movie about three African-American women, fighting to maintain their jobs at NASA as they are in the middle of the well known Space Race.
In the movie, Hidden Figures, three women, Katherine G. Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan were all African-American women and working at NASA. Located in Hampton, Virginia, all three worked at the Langley Research Center, in the West Computing Group. With all three women dealt with segregation at this time, 1961, many obstacles came about when they tried to get ahead. With problems including being a woman and a woman of color, these ladies had a hard time moving up but an easy time falling down. Being connected to the movie, 12 Years a Slave, the movie Hidden Figures was also about an autobiography of the main character Katherine G. Johnson. Even though the movie also focuses on Mary and Dorothy, Katherine obtained most of the spotlight. This movie also consisted of bringing to life the actual experiences that this historical figure experienced. In both movies, being a man or woman of a different color/race. But with Solomon's story coming from himself, and autobiography, Katherine's came from interviews and a book written about her and her colleagues. Hidden Figures, was both a "feel good" movie and a "not so feel good" movie, when Katherine finally moves up to the Space Task Group, you feel happy for her, but then you see the way people treated her and then you feel bad for her. Throughout the entire movie, it consisted of a lot of ups and downs the African-American women faced during the time of segregation. Not only do they experience the hate at work, but the women are also seen sitting in the "colored" section of the bus, getting books from the "colored" section of the library and drinking from the "colored" water fountain out in town. When Dorothy is in town with her two sons, they actually witness a protest in the middle of the town. The young African-American people were participating, holding up signs and chanting and you also see the police officers with their police dogs trying to stop them. This really reminded me of the Children's March in Birmingham that we went to see. We all know what was going on in this time era, the 1950s-1960s, but we tend to look away and not think about how awfully we treated these African-American people. I would say that yes the director is trying to teach us the hard truth about slavery and segregation because we were lucky enough to not experience it. We being the "children of the future", weren't treated like these men and women were during this time period. I would most definitely say that this movie was a HUGE success and that this movie was also a work of art too.
Trying to find the similarities between Hidden Figures and Glory was a little more challenging. Glory, a movie from the point of view from a white commander during the Civil War, did not have the same problems as the African-American men did during the Civil War. With some of the men being former slaves and even some being free men, it didn't really make connections with Hidden Figures as 12 Years a Slave did. But in some areas, the movies did have similarities, for example they used an event to draw people into the film, they both told a story about overcoming their differences and working together and also both movies tugged at the heart strings provoking emotional responses. In Hidden Figures, the director used one of America's proudest moment to draw an audience in, the Space Race. During the Cold War, the Russians had just launched their spy satellite and America needed to respond! They needed to put a man in space! With the help of Katherine G. Johnson, Col. John Glenn was able to orbit the earth three times and successfully make it back to earth. With Katherine working everyday in a room full of white men, it was hard for her to work with them as all the men underestimated her. They even had a "colored" coffee dispenser made only for her because she drank out of theirs one day. But in the end, Katherine did successfully calculate the trajectories for Friendship 7, John Glenn's space shuttle, and with her help the mission was a success! The men of the Space Task Group finally started to appreciate Katherine and felt as if she was just like them. Overcoming their different skin colors and genders wasn't easy for the men, but the eventually did it and after the success of Friendship 7 they again worked together on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The "tugging at the heart strings" moments consisted of Katherine's speech about having to use the colored bathroom across campus and having to drink from an old coffee dispenser that no one wanted to touch. This movie was in no way relatable to the young audience watching it, at least I realized that I was lucky enough not to be born during this era and that I was never treated the way that not only these women were but all the African-Americans were.
The historical accuracy of this movie was spot on after my research proved all the events were true events. For example, when John Glenn was about to go up into space he said, "Get the girl to do it. I want this human computer to check the output of electronic computer and if she says they're good, you know, I'm good to go as part of my pre-flight checklists." (Shetterly) Glenn actually said this not only in the movie but in real life as the real Katherine G. Johnson says. She was in the room when Glenn called and she successfully calculated the trajectories for him, as he had requested. Not only did Glenn say that but according to the newspaper that had a step-by-step recording of all Glenn's moves that day. On February 20, 1962, John Glenn woke up and he knew he was going to make history today. When he was up in space, and talking with the Space Task Group, Glenn experienced some very high temperature, 3000 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact. He said to the Space Task Group, "Boy that was a real fireball" (Historical) this quote was not only captured in the newspaper that day but also in the movie as well. In the newspaper, it also stated that Glenn successfully completed "3 orbits" (Historical) as it did in the movie. One more quote that I found to be true in real life and said in the movie is when John Glenn and some of his fellow astronauts were being interviews. An interviewer asked the men who wanted to go to go into space next and all of the men raised their arms telling the interviewer that all of them wanted to go next. In a newspaper, published in May of 1961, the interview was recorded and then put in this newspaper "Shepard was requested to ask his fellow astronaut which one of them wanted to take the next flight. 'How about it fellows?' Shepard asked, and all the astronauts raised their hands." (Historical) This movie I believe was extremely accurate with not only the events happening with the Space Race, but also on how the African-Americans were treated. We were told at the beginning of the movie "Based on True Events" and I believe it 100%.
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