One of my most anticipated films of the year has nothing to do with either Marvel or DC Comics superheroes, but rather the real-life, under-appreciated heroes of NASA's early space program. The word "computers" today means something quite different than it did in the 1950s when it was used to describe actual human beings--in this case, African-American women like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson--who crunched numbers by hand for everything from calculating gust alleviation on aircraft, to trajectories for space flights and launch windows, to creating backup navigational charts. This trio, played to fantastic effect if this new trailer is any indication by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, played an integral role in NASA's biggest successes in history.
This new trailer absolutely knocks it out of the park when it comes to grabbing my attention and getting me to mark my calendar for the film's release. It celebrates science and mathematics, women in the workplace, and people of color, and it does so with such zeal in spite of obvious racism, misogyny and bigotry. Clearly these problems were just as present in 1950s and 60s society as they are today, so the success and perseverance of the aforementioned underdog trio should ring true with modern-day audiences.
Image via Fox 2000[/caption]
Image via Fox 2000[/caption]
