AND WE’RE BACK.
We’re sure you’ve all missed us terribly, but some very good life stuff (Sara’s book is available for pre-order on Amazon! Rena’s work can be read on Galerie.com!) busted up our routine.
Also busting up our routine: Our non-hate for Kevin Costner’s performance in Hidden Figures, a film in which he is not the star.
Hidden Figures is, instead, a tour-de-force of gorgeous performances by astonishingly attractive, gifted actors which manages to commit some sly transgressions on the “white savior” trope that dominates so many movies about the Black civil rights movement. (Who has the balls to make Sheldon a villain? Hidden Figures does).
Telling the true story of the Black female NASA employees—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who sent men to the moon, Hidden Figures brought us joy. This film is packed with supportive partners and parents, well-behaved and thoughtful children, Karens getting undermined, and deeply brainy women, and we’re here for its optimism.
Oh, and Mahershala Ali is here? Okay, cool.
We discuss: Apollo 13 and how maybe that control room shouldn’t have been wall-to-wall Clint Howards, the discomfort of Operation Paperclip, flawless makeup, math, and whether Sara’s brain is still fully functional (spoiler: it is not).
Hidden Figures is directed by Theodore Melfi, and stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson, Kevin Costner as Al Harrison, Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell, Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford, Mahershala Ali as Colonel Jim Johnson, Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson, and Glen Powell as John Glenn.
Sources used in the episode include…
The book Hidden Figures
https://www.space.com/35145-hidden-figures-right-stuff-history.html
https://frockflicks.com/hidden-figures-2016/
https://madamenoire.com/784290/on-the-problematic-and-unnecessary-white-saviors-in-hidden-figures/
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/baldwin-witness
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q
Pre-order Sara’s new book, Dark Messiah, here or on Amazon, or from your local bookstore!
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-messiah-sara-z-carson/1149827886
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