![]() Kirstin Dunst’s character (not in the book) comes out looking like a grumpy “my hands are tied” passive racist. Many women are removed from the film, to consolidate characters I would image. While the film would suggest Vaughan, Jackson, and Johnson were best friends and rode to work everyday, the truth is they had other best friends, both black and white women. Henson), Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monae), and Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer) Left to Right: Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. However, they don’t work together (to be fair, Johnson works for Vaughan for 2-3 weeks before she’s relocated). Basically Dorothy is older, so she got to NACA first, thus opened the door for women like Jackson and Johnson. ![]() These women are few and far between, and the book rarely demonstrates a clear connection between them. Long passages about various scientists and mathematicians make my eyes play a game of Where’s Waldo, except instead of searching for a little man in a stripped shirt, I was looking for the stories of the three main characters I had seen in the film: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson. I had trouble staying engaged while I was reading. Shetterly’s words come in an awkward order at times:Īs Dorothy learned - the West Area Computers received many assignments from the lab’s Flight Research Division - it was not good enough to say that a plane flew well or badly….”Ī simple rewrite would make the sentence clearer: The West Area Computers received many assignments from the lab’s Flight Research Division, and Dorothy learned that it was not good enough to say that a plane flew well or badly…. The first thing I noticed is the writing is unclear at times. While the film is delightful, honors the lives of three black female mathematicians, and clearly has an agenda, the book is scattered, confusing, and wants to be both science and narrative. The book, however, looks at decades of scientists and mathematicians at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) with the three women from the film tenuously holding the book together to create some “story.” There are dozens of employees at NACA who are featured, and it’s difficult to know who to remember and who’s just “passing through.” I kept highlighting the names of folks who never appeared on the pages again. The film follows the lives of three black female mathematicians at NASA in 1961-1962. The movie was based on a nonfiction work of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly. If you’re from the United States, you know someone who has seen Hidden Figures and raved over the performances of leads Octavia Butler, Taraji P. Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi ![]() “Review/Comparison of #HiddenFigures film and book.” Grab the Lapels, 11 Feb. You may cite this blog post in your paper using the following MLA citation: Page, Melanie. Dear students: If you are here because your teacher asked you to write a comparison of the Hidden Figures movie and book, please be aware that using any part of this review - quotes, paraphrases, summaries, or taking my ideas - without proper credit constitutes plagiarism (which is illegal).
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