Movie review
December 10, 2016 · 127 min · PG
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Hidden Figures dramatizes the documented roles of three African-American women mathematicians at NASA’s Langley Research Center in the early 1960s, focusing on their precise calculations that supported key Space Race missions including John Glenn’s orbital flight. The narrative follows Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson navigating segregated facilities, limited promotions, and dismissive workplace attitudes while delivering critical technical work. Historical race and gender barriers appear as recurring plot obstacles shown through specific incidents like separate bathrooms and exclusion from meetings, presented as era-specific hurdles overcome by individual competence rather than modern ideological framing.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Hidden Figures.
Woke representation / casting
Casting places Black actresses in the exact documented roles of real Black women mathematicians at segregated 1960s NASA with zero mismatches, swaps, or visible signaling.
Woke political dialogue
Challenges appear through workplace situations and character actions with almost no explicit speeches or modern ideological language.
Identity-driven story themes
Race and gender barriers serve as the central recurring obstacles driving the protagonists’ professional arcs and are resolved through demonstrated technical skill and determination.
Western institutional / cultural critique
1960s NASA and Southern segregation practices (separate facilities, promotion limits) are shown as concrete historical barriers the women surmount via excellence and gradual integration.
Woke character or canon changes
Minor dramatized additions (fictionalized direct interventions by white supervisors) for pacing, but core figures, achievements, and events stay faithful to the source book without ideological rewrites.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Backlash consists mainly of progressive notes on insufficient radicalism or white-savior additions; negligible claims from any side that the film pushes woke, activist, or left-wing messaging.
Creator track record context
No prior activist, political, or identity-driven projects by Melfi or Schroeder; both have explicitly favored merit-based, color-blind storytelling in interviews.
Production
