Hidden Figures: A Microcosm of the Effects of Mass Media

Hidden Figures tells the story of how three black women working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), namely Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan, strived to attain their goals. Johnson went on to calculate the trajectories for the Apollo 11 and Space Shuttle missions, Jackson became the first black person to attend an all-white university, and Vaughan became NASA’s first black supervisor. In the pursuit of their aspirations, these women had to overcome the discrimination against black people. Coupled with the fact that women during the 1960s were expected to take on a conservative role in society, the point of time where the movie supposedly takes place, the three black women evidently had to overcome considerable odds to achieve their objectives. Ultimately, Hidden Figures is a microcosm of how the tangible impact of opinion leaders, the occurrence of agenda-setting, and the presence of bigotry actively affect standards of behaviour in society.

The impact of opinion leaders is tangible in Hidden Figures, with them guiding the behaviour of others. Defining an opinion leader as a receptor of information who passes on what they read and hear to those of their every-day associates for whom they are influential, opinion leaders in Hidden Figures motivated the behaviour of many, making their impact tangible. This is best demonstrated during the scene in which Vaughan told all the women in her division that with technology on the rise, they would need to learn programming to continue working at NASA, implying that it would be in their best interests to learn programming. They subsequently unanimously agreed to learn programming from Vaughan, suggesting that the words of Vaughan, someone they respected and subsequently, trusted, prompted the women to learn programming. This led to those women being able to continue working at NASA, demonstrating Vaughan’s evident ability to affect reality through guiding the behaviour of the black women as an opinion leader. The tangible impact of opinion leaders is also evident in reality. In early 2021, Elon Musk, a well-known entrepreneur that many look up to, made various social media tweets voicing his opinion Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency, actively supporting it in the process. Subsequently, many people invested in DOGE, suggesting that the people who looked up to Musk allowed Musk’s opinion on DOGE to dictated their cryptocurrency investments. The price of DOGE then rose by over 12,000%, showing how Musk, as an opinion leader, affected reality in a tangible manner. People are likely to value the opinions of those they hold in high regard and act in accordance with it, allowing opinion leaders to have a tangible impact on society through the usage of their ability to guide the behaviour of the masses.

The occurrence of agenda-setting in Hidden Figures influenced people’s perception of reality, affecting the way they behaved. Postulating that receptors of content, in addition to learning about an issue from a piece of content, also attach importance to it based on the amount of information received and the content’s position, agenda-setting refers to how disseminators of information can influence how reality is shaped. In Hidden Figures, this mostly occurs through framing, the selection of certain aspects of reality and increasing their salience. This is exemplified through the scene in which Johnson and the head of her department, Al Harrison, entered a confidential meeting. Women were generally not allowed in confidential NASA meetings, much less a black one. To counteract this, Harrison immediately brought up NASA’s need to solve complex mathematical calculations regarding a rocket launch, giving others who were present the impression that the ability to solve the mathematical calculations was of utmost importance. Subsequently, when Harrison asked Johnson to attempt solving the required equations, no objections were voiced regarding Johnson’s presence and actions, suggesting that Harrison had successfully set the agenda through framing, increasing the perceived importance of the ability to solve the mathematical equations, with the people present in the room effectively looking past the presence of a black woman as a result. Such phenomena can be observed in reality. In late 2020, Darryl Ian Koshy, a Singaporean content creator and deejay, received multiple accusations regarding sexual harassment, leading to him being harshly discriminated against by many in spite of them not being proven, demonstrating the prejudice against Koshy. Subsequently, Wendy Cheng, a prominent content producer in Singapore with a significant following, made statements regarding the importance of improving Koshy’s character as opposed to continually discriminating against him. In doing this, Cheng had set the agenda through framing, increasing the salience of supporting Koshy and decreasing the significance of the unproven allegations against Koshy. Subsequently, Koshy drew less negative attention, indicating that Cheng had successfully set the agenda. When giving certain aspects of reality emphasis, people are likely to perceive them as having heightened amounts of importance. Subsequently, this can cause them to overlook other aspects of reality with relatively low amounts of salience due to their low significance. With their perception of truth affected, people will subsequently act in ways that align with what they newly deem to be the fact.

In Hidden Figures, bigotry has a significant presence, dictating the way many behaved. It manifested in the form of intolerance against black women in the film, with even the idea of them being respected being vehemently rejected. The spiral of silence theory is heavily correlated to this occurrence. Positing that an individual’s willingness to express their opinion was a function of how they perceived public opinion, an individual perceiving that their opinion did not align with public opinion would lead to them being less willing to voice their opinion. This phenomenon, known as the spiral of silence, is exemplified through the scene in which the astronauts arrive at NASA. During this scene, the black women were segregated from everyone else and put into a section where the astronauts would not pass. This hindered the astronauts from interacting with the black women, strongly hinting that standards of behaviour then dictated that black women were to be actively segregated from the rest of society. The astronauts subsequently ignoring the presence of the black women exemplifies how the perceived presence of discrimination against black women compels the masses to adhere to that perceived public opinion. This is the precursor to bigotry in Hidden Figures. With the masses conforming and participating in the discrimination against black women, the mentality that they should be discriminated against was cemented in society. This is suggested by Vivian Mitchell’s attempt at preventing John Glenn from interacting with Johnson, Jackson, and Vaughan when he attempted to do so, symbolising how actions that went against the public opinion that black women should not be respected were not tolerated and potentially led to backlash, suggesting the presence of bigotry. Similar phenomena can occur with various contemporary issues. In early February 2020, Wendy Cheng, a Singaporean influencer, stated that people who were morbidly obese were not “beautiful” and that it was dangerous to glorify it as such. Ultimately, Cheng’s statement was made post-judice. Studies have shown that obese people are perceived to be less attractive. Morbid obesity also carries with it dangerous effects such as an increased risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease). However, at that point of time, morbid obesity was prominently defended on social media by prominent figures such as Oon Shu Ann, a popular actor, leading to the glorification of morbid obesity being considered moral. As such, despite Cheng’s statements being made post-judice and being rational to a certain degree, Cheng received significant amounts of backlash regarding her statements, implying the masses’ unwillingness to accept views that went against the standard behaviour of glorifying morbid obesity, implying the presence of bigotry. The harassment Cheng received can also be interpreted as the masses’ attempt to conform to the perceived public opinion after prominent figures in society have made the glorification of morbid obesity out to be moral, despite Cheng’s opinion being more rational in nature. People who shared Cheng’s opinion may also be further disincentivised to voice their opinion after witnessing the backlash Cheng received, further decreasing the presence of the minority opinion. Ultimately, if one feels that their opinion does not fall within the majority, they would be less willing to voice their opinion due to the possibility of receiving backlash if they do so. Occurrences of backlash against people who voice their opinion would further disincentivise people from voicing opinions that do not align with the majority. This spiral of silence would lead to opinions that differ from the perceived public opinion lack presence, and subsequently, people being exposed to those opinions less. The extent to which the perceived public opinion would be cemented in people’s minds would then be increased, making it more likely for one to not tolerate an opinion that does not agree with theirs due to its unfamiliarity. As people grow increasingly intolerant, bigotry’s presence grows. With insignificant amounts of people contesting the perceived public opinion, bigotry has the opportunity to become the standard of behaviour in society, dictating human behaviour if it does so.

Ultimately, the women in Hidden Figures affected the way in which the people around them behaved through altering their perception of reality. This applies to our world as well, with the occurrence of agenda-setting, the tangible impact of opinion leaders, and the presence of bigotry being able to shape our perceived reality. It matters not if a portrayed narrative is fact or fiction. When something is perceived to be the truth, that will be sufficient to influence how one behaves.