Is it too early to start getting excited about Halloween? Last year we got to see thousands of girls dressed up as the women of “Ghostbusters,” and now we have “Hidden Figures” costumes to look forward to.
Inspired by a true story, “Hidden Figures” shines a well-deserved spotlight on Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), brilliant African-American women who played an instrumental role in the space race while working at NASA. Monáe uploaded a heartwarming photo on her Instagram account this week: three little girls dressed as the inspiring women “Hidden Figures” portrays.
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It’s often said, but it bears repeating: if she can see it, she can be it. Representation matters.
“Two years ago, my agent told me I was meeting with Donna Gigliotti about a project about these three female mathematicians that helped get John Glenn in our space program,” Spencer has revealed. She thought it was “historical fiction like ‘The Help.’” “I’ve seen just about every movie about the space race and not only have they not mentioned women, they definitely haven’t mentioned African American women,” she explained. “And then she told me no, it was a true story. I was astounded. I told her I wanted to be a part of this no matter what — because if it took this long for these stories to be told, the least I could do is throw my name in the ring.”
“Hidden Figures” has already inspired a scholarship contest for women in STEM, and as we previously reported, 20th Century Fox and Black Girls CODE have teamed to create FutureKatherineJohnsons.com, a website that will be built by “the next generation of young women poised to make a difference in our world the same way that Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary [did].”
The drama’s ensemble recently won the SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Henson accepted the award on behalf of the cast. “This film is about unity,” she told the crowd, citing the women at the center of the movie as “three American heroes.” “This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside. When we come together as a human race, we win … love wins every time,” she emphasized.
We can’t wait to be reminded of this fact when girls clad in “Hidden Figures” get-ups take to the streets on Halloween 2017.
