henna day post

[gwynnega]

It is Henna Day, on the warmest, sunniest day we've had in awhile. (We're supposed to get more rain and cool temps this week.)

Yesterday I saw the long-awaited Hidden Figures at my local movie theater. It made me cry a few times. As Lisa Bolekaja said on Twitter, the film "shows how racism (plus sexism sprinkled in) holds America back. Although a historical drama, it's really talking to 2017." The film seems more necessary than ever just now, with Trump's inauguration (I can barely type the words) less than two weeks away.

Comments

[sovay]

Yesterday I saw the long-awaited Hidden Figures at my local movie theater. It made me cry a few times.

Can I ask for more detail? (About the movie, not necessarily the crying.)

[gwynnega]

The story exemplifies the best and worst of this country--the best (the scientific achievement and creative thinking that led to space exploration) undercut at every turn by the worst (racism and sexism, etc., which has made it incredibly difficult for some of the most gifted to make their contribution). Thinking back, I'm wondering why I teared up when Janelle Monae's aspiring engineer won the battle to take night classes at a segregated school--because she won, or because she shouldn't have had to fight that battle in the first place? Both, I suppose.

I agree with a lot of handful_ofdust's critique of the film--it's a contemporary Hollywood film, with all the lack of subtlety that tends to go with that. (And I definitely plan to read the book.) But it worked for me, even in the moments when I was thinking, "Yeah, that line of dialogue was awfully on-the-nose." Watching the film at this precise historical moment felt painful to me in a way it wouldn't have if Hillary had won the election--not only because of the powers of reaction that would like to replicate the circumstances the protagonists of the film were dealing with, but because of the devaluation of science that Trump's win implies.

[sovay]

Watching the film at this precise historical moment felt painful to me in a way it wouldn't have if Hillary had won the election--not only because of the powers of reaction that would like to replicate the circumstances the protagonists of the film were dealing with, but because of the devaluation of science that Trump's win implies.

I understand crying for science.