Hidden Figures

“The importance of being the first”

Released in 2016, this film is a relatively young one among those I have watched. From the budding emergence of “political correctness” in the 1990s to the time of its release, the concept had already taken deep root. Naturally, the film’s merits cannot be dismissed on that account.

As the opening suggests, the entire film revolves around the idea of “the importance of being the first.” Whether in the dialogue between characters or the authentic historical backdrop, this idea is emphasized at every turn. In fact, by this point the director has already laid his perspective on the questions of racial emancipation and equal rights completely bare.

If Foucault treats gender as an outcome, then Melfi works backward from effect to cause, arriving at a particular insight: all inequality, all antagonism, is at its core constituted by differences in demonstrated ability. And thus, what “the importance of being the first” expresses is precisely the solution to this disparity. Only by compensating for the consequences produced by disparities in demonstration can power be redistributed. In the film, the female protagonists achieve precisely this compensation through sheer effort, even demonstrating abilities superior to the norm, thereby easing — and even eliminating — racial segregation. For people are ever drawn to strength. Yet the film also shows that after the scales of power have tipped, the disadvantaged side must expend many times the effort to bring them back into balance. This has nothing to do with gender; it is human nature. Those who benefit from the status quo will always find ways to protect their privileges, regardless of whether they are men or women.

Through the film, I look out at life. Factions, antagonism, utter chaos, set against the backdrop of a debased modern journalism. Everything has strayed from classical understanding and turned absurd. Under such circumstances, will the equal rights you seek truly arrive on schedule? Or rather — can rights obtained through absurd means ever truly endure? I am reminded: “These violent delights have violent ends.”

Seen this way, I may as well keep looking toward the film.