Essay Example on Stereotypes Hidden Figures

Demi Dang Special Topics Comm 1 7 18 Stereotypes Hidden Figures According to google a stereotype is a a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing Stereotypes affect people and how they are perceived because it is a term that is used to define you because of a certain belief into a mostly negative category that may only reflect a selected few of the racial demographics All people of all nationalities have been victims of being stereotyped even those who have made most of the stereotypes of other people Most stereotypes are involuntarily lived out by a small segment of who they are made to offend There are only very few stereotypes that are considered to be good Like how asians are smart Although it sounds good at first it is actually a very damaging stereotype From first hand experience as an Asian American this stereotype paints the picture that Asians are the model minority and yet if we make a mistake it is really looked down upon which causes a very great amount of stress I simply do not think that stereotypes are not true or good Just generalizations The movie that I decided to watch was Hidden Figures I actually have been wanting to watch this movie and it was added to my queue 

The three main stereotypes I observed while watching this film would be the stereotype of how women are not smart or capable enough compared to men the stereotype that women of color not good enough due to their ethnicity and the white savior stereotype that Kevin Costner's character played I see these stereotypes are prevalent in American society back then and in the modern day today as well Gender and racial stereotypes often deter women and people of color from studying computer science and from pursuing careers in the tech industry Google says One of the problems The perception that coding is the province of white nerdy men Google has worked with Hollywood to change how computer science is portrayed on television and in film There was one scene where Janelle Monae s character Mary goes to high school and the professor says This curriculum is not designed for a woman And she says Well you teach it just like you teach a man That happened to me in my studies in economics so I was able to put in my own experiences as a woman in math There wasn't a lot known about Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan so it was trickier to come up with their scenes 

One example would be when in one scene where one of the main characters named Katherine has an intense interaction with her white colleagues for ostracizing her and explains how far she has to walk to use the bathroom a colored womens restroom to scientists look like Google goes to Oakland Harlem to reach black Latino youth It's such a phenomenal story of these incredible women said Lauren Baum who works for Google s Made with Code program that teaches basic coding to girls When you see it and when you see their energy and their passion and the fact that they actually were the people behind launching John Glenn into space that is something that students everywhere will really aspire to Women and people of color are frequently hidden figures in the tech industry too The film is being released as Silicon Valley faces growing pressure to bring greater diversity to the ranks of those building technology and working for tech companies Seven out of 10 Google employees are men the status quo for major Silicon Valley technology companies Also largely unrepresented in the tech sector are African Americans and Latinos particularly in technical and leadership roles another building to use a colored bathroom Where did the inspiration for those words come from What lessons can be learned from viewing this movie We need more diversity we need more African Americans on screen Latinos Asians different religions We have to be better about reflecting what our world looks like African American mathematicians Katherine Johnson Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson who overcame racism to play critical roles in NASA's space program in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s 

It's adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly book by the same title The women in the film are called computers for calculating the math that launches shuttles and rockets into space Google is showing Hidden Figures to students across the country and it has created a coding project around the film s uplifting message to change popular perception about what computer science is and what computer GIRLS CAN CODE TOO I think that hollywood filmmakers and studios do in fact have the responsibility to create truthful portrayals of characters in film and television Why Because that is what their audience is now made out of A diverse audience in a shape colors and forms that want to see themselves represented on screen because that is real life For example watching the new Star Wars movie The Last Jedi was very exciting and emotional for me Personally seeing a Vietnamese American actress Kelly Marie Tran play somewhat of a main character was a profound moment for me Audiences of all ages and races are going to see this In a lot of movies African Americans are either maids or slaves but that's not all they were We need to show that And we can t keep erasing history So seeing them as mathematicians and scientists diverts the stereotype so much Movies do not do enough to reflect our society and culture I ve had cultural differences with people a lot throughout my life but one that occurs most often is having my non asian friends over my place and having to ask them nicely to take their shoes off before entering my home