#celina writes

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FAN FICTION

Unspoken Words - Marc Spector

Two Secrets One Truth - Jake Lockley

Under construction, more to come!

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Hidden Figures: Why it matters

A trailer for Hidden Figures, the movie adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race was released earlier this week. The film, slated for release in 2017, will star Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monáe. Hidden Figures focuses on the women NASA employed to do the jobs of computers before there were computers. The trailer opens with young Katherine Johnson proving to have a gifted mind. There is a scene that is particularly striking at the beginning of the trailer. It is of a still young Katherine completing an equation at the blackboard in a room full of much older students. The scene is a classic and brings to mind other scenes with the same composition in cinematic history. Alexander Hartdegen, in the 2002 movie The Time Machine, was established as a genius through multiple scenes showcasing his devotion at the chalkboard. Will Hunting has an iconic scene writing equations on a mirror. Fred Tate, the child prodigy in a 1991 drama, sat in a room full of university students, cementing his genius in the eyes of the audience. It is so important for Katherine to star in a scene we have seen so many times in so many other movies about geniuses. She is given that iconic moment that countless white males in handfuls of other movies have been afforded before her. The difference is that unlike them, she is black, she is a woman, and she is so undeniably real. I truly believe that the importance of this movie cannot be overstated. It promises to portray black women playing pivotal roles in the Space Race - which captivated an entire generation and continues to inspire people even now - during a time when both their gender and race were seen as disadvantages. With the trailer as evidence, the film does not seem content to stop there either. There is a lighthearted air about the women in the film. There is a scene in the trailer where Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, the two women who complete the trio, scheme in order to introduce Katherine to a man. Later on, we then see Katherine as a loving mother. The women are more than competent in their roles at NASA, but they are also shown to be much more than just their careers. There are many reasons why I will be among those impatiently waiting to see the film debut on January 17th. One is the fact that it will finally bring to light the importance of the work these women did for NASA. Anyone can argue for the importance of how black women are written in film and there are examples, nowhere near enough, of that done well. It is, however, a whole different matter to be able to watch the story of women who truly made an impact in history. It is a story as enduring as Rosa Parks' and Martin Luther King's. It's a tribute to the previously uncelebrated black women who helped carry the American flag to the moon. There are simple truths about the events of this film: they happened and they helped shaped the world as we know it today.