Romanticism In Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures

Often movies about the history are more romantic than reality to create a more interesting or daring plot. By creating a more romantic plot the story can become to romantic and leaving the truth somewhere in-between. Like happens in war movies the stories are made more ideal, more romantic or more heroic to create a story that entertains the viewer. Like in war movies, romanticizing is what happens in Theodore melfi’s Hidden Figures. While the story that Hidden Figures presents creates attention to the works of the three women, it does not give the actual story of the women.
Hidden Figures is based on the book by the same title written by Margot Lee Shetterly. The book is based on the true story of Katherine Goble (later Johnson), Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. These three women were working at NASA in the sixties and were as what is known as “computers”. Computers are often women who calculate the numbers for NASA before there were real computers which could do so. As the movie progresses the women become crucial in the space race, which is the competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to get the first person on the moon. While they were indeed important to the space race, they were not the only ones who were crucial to the space race.
While the women …show more content…
In reality Al Harrison is a combination of three historical characters and thus this event did not happen in reality. Besides it is said that Katherine Goble did not take great notice in the rules about colored toilets. However, the toilet usage shows how the idea of fighting against these injustices is romanticized. In the book it is said that Mary Jackson did have troubles finding a colored toilet, yet it was not on the other end of campus. Which again makes the problem a romanticized