Hidden Figures in Film Tactics
Within
any culture, there are a variety of ways in which people express their thoughts
and emotions regarding the many prejudices and inequalities that are seen. Artistic expression is one way in which these
thoughts can be expressed in deep and thoughtful ways that evoke strong emotion
from an audience. Film, is one specific
art form that is used to show an audience, whether it is subversive or not, certain
injustices within our culture and how to adequately acknowledge and mitigate
them. In order to understand this
concept better, I looked to a clip from the move Hidden Figures. This movie is a historical account of the
African-American women who played a crucial, and hidden, role in the 1960s
space race and getting our men to the moon.
The specific clip I chose is when one of the main characters, Katherine,
was being scolded by her boss for being late; him failing to realize that she
had to walk a ridiculous length to use a ‘colored’ bathroom. It was a contentious point in the movie in
which the character stood up for herself and the film used specific tactics for
evoking particular emotions.
At this
point in the movie, Katherine was feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of
work she was being given without receiving adequate praise. This contributed to her emotions of reacting
against her boss, who came to represent all the oppression she was experiencing
in society all the time. This counter-hegemonic
approach demonstrates how Katherine’s character represented a challenge to the
status quo of the time (Whalen, 11/28/17); she would not be subjected to the
same racism if she was contributing so much for the betterment of society. What was also interesting was the purposeful
way in which the movie evokes a certain emotion through sound. For example, throughout most of Katherine’s
speech, there is no sound other than her voice.
This absence of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound allows the audience
to become more focused on the words being spoken and the emotion behind them,
then, once the audience is invested in the character’s stance, the non-diegetic
soundtrack kicks in to encourage the emotions you are feeling (Whalen, 2017).
Overall,
the view used in this clip is a romantic realism, or a view in which the camera
movement follows a character’s emotions.
As Katherine enters the scene, she is clearly ravaged by emotion and rain
and as the scene progresses, the audience can see how the camera is following
her progressing emotions. Furthermore,
the use of sound throughout the scene helps to attach the emotion that helps
the audience become more invested in the overall thought behind the scene.
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