Examples Of Hidden Figures In The Great Gatsby

Uplifting minority voices through film and text is critical to shed light on social injustices while simultaneously entertaining, exposing audiences to historical realities, and provoking them to understand the struggles of others.

An example of this includes Theodore Melfi’s film ‘Hidden Figures,’ which take place during the 1960s, historically known as the era of the ‘Space Race,’ while also tackling the history of Jim Crow Laws, and the impending social reform of the ‘Civil Rights Movement’. ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is written and set during the ‘Roaring Twenties’; an era of prohibition, debauchery, and the ‘Jazz-Age.’ The prose novel, narrated by Nick Carraway, follows Jay Gatsby’s pursuit to rekindle a fleeting romance

However, she is only permitted to attend a ‘negro school,’ which limits her opportunities to further her education. This scene outlines the immediate cultural partition and introduces audiences to the notion of Jim Crow Laws and how they have already taken effect, to form clear cultural attitudes towards segregation in society. Melfie outlines how ridged the racial divide was during the 1960’s and reinforces the growing pursuit of racial equality through the use of a motif of firsts which is used by Mary-Jackson and Katherine when they are told they cannot take on an opportunity ‘as there is no precedence.’ They highlight the clear disparity of opportunities between differing racial groups and counter that there is no protocol for putting a man into space yet it is inevitably going to occur, reflective to how minority groups are inevitably going to earn the opportunities they deserve. Using an all-black composition for the musical score holds racial significance as it repudiates mainstream media, uplifts minority voices and uses the soundtrack to express generational frustrations of oppression. Conversely, Fitzgerald’s text lacks racial representation due to the publication era, as racism was socially acceptable. Tom personifies the tone-deaf wealthy Americans who use their money as an insulator from the world around them. Tom is not denounced when he states, “Nowadays people… throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white,” as a shared belief was that the upper white class was superior to minorities and any consorting was considered improper (pg112). Another mention of race