Thesis Defense

Black Women Oppression in "Hidden Figures (2016) Movie". A

Feminist Study

Lalas Setiani
5031611022
Background of
the study
oppression as a social condition of inhuman treatment of
individuals or groups. Oppression does not occur in an open
and democratic society, but in an oppressive free, and
democratic society.

Hidden Figures A movie adapted from the best-selling

novel in New York, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and
The Untold Story of Black Woman by Margot Lee Shetterly.
It focuses on the daily life of three black women in the
United States who work at NASA as computer workers.

Source: Add your references here.

Formulation of The Poblem

What form of oppression do Katherine, Mary, and

Dorothy face in Hidden Figures Movie?

How are the ideas of womanism related through

black woman Hidden Figures?
Purpose of The Study

To explain the form of oppression that happens to

Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy in Hidden Figures
Movie.

To see how are the ideas of womanism are related

through black woman dealing with racial and
gender discriminations toward.
 Theoretically
This research aims to increase and broaden the knowledge of
English Department students dealing with black feminism and
how to apply the theory in a literary work.

Significance
of The Study Practically
This research is expected to provide many benefits to
readers about oppression and the rights of black women.
By understanding this problem, it is hoped that readers can
avoid behaviors that lead to discrimination toward women.
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Theoretical Framework

Feminism Literary Women Oppression The Form of Oppression

Cricism (Frye, 1998: 148) states that Frye Young (2011) divides oppression
(Sugihastuti & Suharto, 2005) explained that oppression of into five forms :
states that feminist literary women cannot be seen only from Exploitation
criticism refers to sexual existence one aspect. That's because Marginalization
related to culture, literature, and oppression is built on several
Powerlesness
human life when criticizing aspects.
Cultural Imperalism
literature Violences
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Theoretical Framework
Theory of Womanism
Walker argues that feminization has characteristics that express the struggles of black women.
(1) Women appreciate and prefer female culture, pink is synonymous with women, and brown is
synonymous with men. In other words, women value and like women's things, the same things
women do. (2) Women want to assert their own identity, independence, and strength in their own
way, which means that they pride themselves on and respect themselves. In other words,
women have high self-esteem
 Focused on Focused on
·point out several determine the
points related to forms of
discrimination oppression that

Previous occur in the

three main

Studies
characters in the
Hidden Figures
Movie and
analyzing how
1. . Listiana Ikawati (2018) entitled womanism
Afro-American Women
related to black
Discrimination on Hidden Figures
women
Movie: A critical discourse analysis
(CDA).
 Focused on Focused on
Discrimination determine the
experienced by forms of
African- oppression that
American occur in the
Previous women in Hidden
Figures and the
three main
characters in the
Studies struggle of
African-
Hidden Figures
Movie and
American
women against analyzing how
2. Tiara Ika Putri Christianingrum
double womanism
(2018) entitled the struggle of
African-American Women Against the discrimination in related to black
Double Discrimination Revealed in Hidden Figures. women
Hidden Figures.
 Focused on Focused on
describe the determine the
characteristics of forms of
the main oppression that
Previous characters in the
Hidden Figures
occur in the
three main
Studies Movie. characters in the
Hidden Figures
Movie and
3. Pasaribu Bertha 2019) with the title analyzing how
"The Struggle against Multiple
womanism
Discrimination in Hidden Figures Movie".
related to black
women
 Focused on Focused on
attention to the determine the

Previous author of the

novel "Hidden
forms of
oppression that

Studies Figures" and the

true story behind
occur in the
three main
the creation of characters in the
4 Journal article by Jenna P. Carpenter the novel Hidden Figures
(2017) entitled Hidden Figures. Light Up Movie and
Screen: Black Women Who Helped analyzing how
America Win the Space Race. womanism
related to black
women
 Focused on ·how Focused on
Christianity and determine the
the era of forms of

Previous segregation are

shown in the
Hidden Figures
oppression that
occur in the
three main
Studies Movie characters in the
Hidden Figures
Movie and
5. Journal article by Carol Miles(2017)
analyzing how
with the title Hidden Figures.from
Journal of Religion and Movie. womanism
related to black
women
Methodology

Descriptive Qualitative Method

Creswell (2014:32) “qualitative research is an approach for exploring and
understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human
problem”.
 Data Collection Data Analysis

1. Watching 1. Identify the selected data

2. Focusing watching 2. Presentation of data from some of the data

3. focusing on the scenes 3. Drawing conclusions

4. Collecting all data

5. Arranging the data

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 Hidden Figures Movie
Study Overview
Hidden Figures is a 2017 Movie adaptation
of Margot Shetterly's novel of the same
name, directed by Theodore Melfi. This
Movie shows the oppression of black
women as an interesting issue as its main
problem, played by Taraji P. Henson
(Katherine Johnson), Octavia Spencer
(Dorothy Vaughan), and Janelle Monáe
(Mary Jackson) as brilliant black female
mathematicians.

Back to Overview
 1. Exploitation
BACK TO OVERVIEW
Datum 2
(Katherine can't take it anymore, then raises her voice)

Finding “There are no bathrooms here, there are no COLOR

The Oppression Experienced by Ktherine,
Mary, and Dorothy
bathrooms in this building or ANY building off the
west campus building. Which is half a mile away. Did
you know that I have to walk to Timbuktu just to pee?
And I can't take a useful bicycle. A picture that, in my
uniform: a skirt below my knees and heels. And let's
not get started on the "simple pearl necklace" I
couldn't afford. God knows you didn't pay enough for
that. Enough for that color. And I work like a dog day
and night, living on coffee from a coffee pot that half
of you don't want me to touch! So viewers if I have to
go to the restroom several times a day!” Voice-over of
Katherine, (01:01:17-01.02.45)

Through this sentence, Katherine seemed to think

that white people would treat her as a poor black
person who deserved a low salary, even though she
had a high education, and then felt exploited. Here,
Katherine's exploitation is supported by Young's
statement – anything can be considered an
oppressive condition if the victim says so (Young,
2011).
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2. Marginalization

Datum 5

Finding Dialogue performance at (00:49:41-00:49:50)

(He pulls it off the shelf. A white librarian in the next
aisle stares at him.)
White librarian : We don't want any trouble here.
Dorothy : I'm not here for any trouble.
White librarian : What are you here for?
Dorothy : A book.

In the Movie or script for Hidden Figures, the white

librarian is a white woman. Separation of facilities is
demonstrated when the white woman utters. He
shows how the representation between blacks and
whites. Even when Dorothy couldn't find a book she
wanted "black in the section", then later looking for "in
the white section" without causing any problems, it
was still considered wrong.
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3. Powerlesness

Finding Datum 9
Dialogue Performance at (00:46:44-00:47:04)
(Vivian sees the women. B-lines over. She drops the
file in front of Mary)
Vivian : NASA doesn’t commission females for the
Engineer Trainin’ program.
(Mary Ruffles up)
Mary : That position is open to any qualified
applicant.
Vivian : Right.you don't have the educational
requirements.
Mary : I have Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and
Physical Sciences. Same degree as most engineers
around here.
(Vivian does not like to be challenged)

Through the conversation above, we can find out why

Mary could not be a black female engineer. Because
the position also required an advanced existence
course at the University of Virginia which was a
segregated school for whites. So, it can be seen that
Mary did not have the opportunity to get that position
even though she has a higher education as she stated
that.
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Finding 4. Cultural Imperalism

Datum 11
Dialogue performances at (33:58-34:10)
(Mary steps in, and replaces the greens with mac and
cheese)
Mary : Try this baby.
Levi Jackson : He’s gonna eat the greens too.
(Levi pushes the greens back on his son's plate)
Levi Jackson: Kids need to eat vegetables. You would
know that if you were home.
(Mary has heard enough)

The quote above is a complaint that Mary works

outside the home all the time. So, she doesn't know
important things for her children, which should be her
duty as a mother. This case shows that Mary as a
woman can experience stereotypes within the same
race, let alone through different races.
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Finding 1. Womens Identity

Womanism Idea Related through Black
Women
Datum 19
Dialogue Performances at (00:15:46-00:15:60)
Vivian Mitchel : Skirts must be worn past the knee.
Sweaters are preferred to blouses. No Jewelry. A
simple pearl necklace is exception.

Through this dialogue, it can be seen that women

who work at NASA must wear skirts, not just
Katherine. In the 1960s women wore miniskirts as if
to show their identity as a woman freely. The miniskirt
deconstructs that women are housewives and wives
to be young, single, happy, proud and confident girls.
This supports Alice Walker's opinion about womanism,
where black women who work at NASA respect and
like women's culture, such as wearing skirts when
they work.
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Finding
2. Strength

Datum 16
Dialogue Performances at (01:11:34-01:13:05)
Mary: And before Alan Shepard sat on top of a rocket,
no American had ever touched space. He will forever
be remembered as the Navy man from New
Hampshire who was the first to touch the stars.
(The smallest opening in the Judge's countenance)
Through the conversation above, it can be seen that
Mary's feminist ideas related to black women are
strengths, where Mary struggles with her strength to
be able to petition the court so that she can get
permission to attend the school she wants.

Mary : And I, sir plan on being an engineer at

NASA. But I can't do that without taking those classes
at the all-white high school. And I can’t change the
color of my sin. So… I have no choice to be the first.
Which I can’t do without you.

The Judge : Night class only.

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Finding
3. Independences

Datum 17 The conversation above shows that Dorothy as a

Dialogue Performances at : (00:46:28-00:46:36)
Dorothy : It's not going to be a problem any time
soon these IBM 7090s are going to get us to work.
Katherine : What can we do?
black woman struggles against oppression in the
work environment against herself and other black
women. This struggle can be seen in Dorothy's last
words. Dorothy realized then that the IBM 7090 did
not run on its own. People needed to work behind and
rely on the IBM 7090.

Dorothy : Only one thing to do, learn all we can. To

make ourselves valuable somewhere, humans have to
start something.
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Conclussion
This study found 14 total data of form of oppression and 5
data of womanism idea that related through black women.

This study found three data from exploitation, two data from
Marginalization, five data from Powerlessness, four data from
Cultural Imperialism, and there is no data for Violence.

. There are two data for women's identity from Katherine, one
data for strength in Mary's way, and two data for independence
in Dorothy.
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Suggestion
This study conveys its hopes for further studies to develop and
expand criticism, especially in the critique of black feminism
which is still in a narrow scope. Not only that, but this study also
hopes that other researchers will correctly see other aspects
involving black groups, then help critics who discuss this get
world attention such as the problem of racism and the
exclusion of black citizenship.