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SELF-ACTUALIZATION SEEN IN KATHERINE JOHNSON’S
CHARACTERISTIC IN HIDDEN FIGURES MOVIE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AULIA SAUSAN SRIE W
Student Number: 164214090
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA
2020
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SELF-ACTUALIZATION SEEN IN KATHERINE JOHNSON’S
CHARACTERISTIC IN HIDDEN FIGURES MOVIE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AULIA SAUSAN SRIE W
Student Number: 164214090
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA
2020
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama : Aulia Sausan Srie Widyaningrum
Nomor Mahasiswa : 164214090
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul
SELF-ACTUALIZATION SEEN IN KATHERINE JOHNSON’S
CHARACTERISTIC IN HIDDEN FIGURES MOVIE
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau
media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya
maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal 17 Maret 2020
Yang menyatakan,
Aulia Sausan Srie Widyaningrum
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to God,
Allah SWT, for His unconditional blessing during my ups and downs of writing
this research. I also would like to express my gratitude to Drs. Hirmawan
Wijanarka M.Hum., my advisor, for his constant reminder and insightful ideas
that helped me improve my research. Without his help in cultivating my
perseverance and competitive spirit in doing this research, I would not finish it on
time. My gratitude is also addressed to my Co-advisor, miss Elisabeth Oseanita
Pukan S.S,. M.A,. for her suggestion and format revision that enrich my study.
Moreover, I also say my gratitude to my family, people who have always
been home to me. I present this research as a form of my love and devotion to my
mother, who has raised me all this time. I also thank my uncles and aunts for all
the moral support and financial assistance they have provided so that I can study
at Universitas Sanata Dharma. I also give special thanks to my grandparents, who
always listen to my complaints about the difficulties of writing this final project. I
will not be able to go this far and complete my study without the care and support
of the Susilo Hardjo family.
My gratitude also goes to the endless support system that is always there
for me throughout the semester at this university, to my special ones Marfel, Ratri,
Elly, Langit, Diana, Novan, Revo, Jul, Zaim, Zenzen, Shienna, and Kenia. I am
more than blessed to be surrounded by those who always spread positive mind
and soul. See you on top fellas!
Aulia Sausan Srie Widyaningrum
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... ii
APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................... iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ..................................................................................... iv
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................. v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH . vi
MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................ vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. ix
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... xi
ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...................................................................... 1
A. Background of the Study ............................................................................ 1
B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................. 3
C. Research Objectives.................................................................................... 3
D. Definition of Terms .................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE................................................... 5
A. Review of Related Studies .......................................................................... 5
B. Review of Related Theories .............................................................................14
1. Theory of Characters and Characterization in movie ............................. 15
2. Theory of Mise en Scène ....................................................................... 19
3. Theory of Hierarchy of Needs ............................................................... 25
4. Theory of Self Actualization ................................................................. 29
C. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................34
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 36
A. Object of the Study ................................................................................... 36
B. Approach of the Study .............................................................................. 37
C. Method of the Study ................................................................................. 38
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS............................................................................. 40
A. The Characteristic of Katherine Johnson ................................................... 41
1. Genius ................................................................................................ 41
2. Vocal .................................................................................................. 50
3. Affectionate ........................................................................................ 54
4. Emotional ........................................................................................... 55
5. Loyal .................................................................................................. 58
B. Katherine Johnson‟s Self-Actualization Revealed in Hidden Figures Movie
................................................................................................................. 59
1. Physiological Needs ............................................................................ 59
2. Security Needs .................................................................................... 61
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3. Love and Belongingness Needs ........................................................... 63
4. Self-Esteem Needs .............................................................................. 65
5. Self-Actualization Needs .................................................................... 66
a) Katherine‟s Perception of Reality .................................................. 67
b) Katherine‟s Acceptance of Self, Others, and Natures ..................... 69
c) Katherine‟s Spontaneity and Simplicity ......................................... 71
d) Katherine‟s Problem Centering Mind ............................................ 76
e) Detachment: Need for privacy ....................................................... 78
f) Katherine‟s Interpersonal Relationship .......................................... 79
g) Katherine‟s Peak Experience ......................................................... 80
h) Katherine‟s Creativity ................................................................... 82
i) Katherine‟s Sense of Humour ........................................................ 82
j) Katherine‟s Democratic mind ........................................................ 84
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ....................................................................... 85
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 88
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................... 90
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ABSTRACT
WIDYANINGRUM, AULIA SAUSAN SRIE (2020). Self-Actualization Seen in
Katherine’s Johnson Characteristic in Hidden Figure Movie. Yogyakarta:
Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
This study aims to show the self-actualization phase that Katherine
Johnson has achieved, which revealed through her characteristics in the Hidden
Figures movie that was directed by Theodore Melfi and firstly aired in 2016. In
this thesis, the researcher formulates two problems, (1) How are the
characteristics of Katherine Johnson depicted in the Hidden Figures movie? And
(2) How do these characteristics reveal Katherine Johnson's self-actualization?
This research applies library research to answer the problems that are
already formulated previously. In this work, researchers use four theories — first,
the theory of characters and characterization used to observe how a character
portrayed in the movie, which supported by the second theory, namely mise en
scène. This theory used to add information about the character seen from its
shooting elements in the film. Third, the hierarchy of needs theory used to analyze
the basic needs that have been met by the character in the movie. Then the last is
the theory of self-actualization to identify what features achieved by the characters
in this movie. The researcher used a psychological approach to analyze the
character of the movie seen from her psychology aspect.
The results of this thesis show that Katherine Johnson is described as a
genius, vocal, affectionate, emotional, and also loyal. Besides, the researcher also
found that Katherine has fulfilled her four basic needs, namely physiological,
security, love and belongingness, and self-esteem. So then she can realize her
actualization.
If we connect between the qualities possessed by Katherine with 15
tentative characteristics about people who have self-actualization, we get the
result that Katherine has reached ten of them. From these characteristics, we can
group them into four groups based on the nature of their supporters. The first
group is supported by her genius characteristic, which consists of the efficient
perception of reality, problem centering, detachment, peak experience, and also
creativity. Katherine‟s affectionate nature supports the second group. This group
consists of acceptance of self, others, and nature, interpersonal relationship, and
even a democratic person. The third group is supported by her vocal character,
which shows her spontaneity. And the last group is supported by her loyalty to her
friends which show her philosophical sense of humor. From this description, the
researcher can conclude that Katherine is in her self-actualization phase. Her
qualities also support it because she has succeeded in reaching more than half of
the total characteristics of a person who has self-actualization.
Keywords: self actualization, Hidden Figures, hierarchy of needs
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ABSTRAK
WIDYANINGRUM, AULIA SAUSAN SRIE (2020). Self-Actualization Seen in
Katherine’s Johnson Characteristic in Hidden Figures Movie. Yogyakarta:
Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menunjukkan fase aktualisasi diri yang telah
dicapai oleh Katherine Johnson yang ditunjukkan melalui sifat-sifatnya dalam
film Hidden Figures yang rilis pada tahun 2016 dan disutradarai oleh Theodore
Melfi. Dalam skripsi ini peneliti memiliki dua rumusan masalah, (1) Bagaimana
karakteristik Katherine Johnson digambarkan dalam film Hidden Figures? dan (2)
Bagaimana karakteristik tersebut menunjukkan aktualisasi diri dari Katherine
Johnson?
Peneliti juga mengaplikasikan riset perpustakan guna menjawab rumusan
masalah pada skripsi ini. Dalam penulisannya, peneliti menggunakan empat teori.
Pertama, teori karakter dan karakterisasi digunakan untuk mengobservasi sifat
tokoh dalam film. Penjelasan mengenai karakterisasi ini akan dibantu oleh teori
kedua yaitu mise en scène. Teori ini digunakan untuk menganalisis tokoh dilihat
dari cara pengambilan gambarnya di dalam film. Ketiga, teori hirarki kebutuhan
yang digunakan untuk meneliti kebutuhan dasar manusia. Yang terakhir adalah
teori aktualisasi diri digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi karakteristik apa saja yang
telah dicapai oleh tokoh tersebut. Peneliti juga menggunakan pendekatan
psikologi untuk menganalisis karakter dalam film dilihat dari aspek psikologi-nya.
Hasil penelitian dalam skripsi ini menunjukkan bahwa Katherine Johnson
digambarkan sebagai seseorang yang jenius, pemberani, penuh rasa kasih sayang,
emosional, dan juga setia kawan. Selain itu, peneliti juga menemukan bahwa
Katherine telah memenuhi empat kebutuhan dasarnya yaitu fisiologis, sekuritas,
cinta dan kepemilikian, dan juga harga diri. Maka selanjutnya ia dapat
mewujudkan aktualisasi dirinya.
Jika kita menghubungkan antara sifat-sifat yang dimiliki oleh Katherine
dengan 15 ciri-ciri tentatif tentang orang yang memiliki aktualisasi diri, kita
mendapatkan hasil bahwa Katherine telah mencapai sepuluh diantaranya. Dari
ciri-ciri tersebut kita dapat mengelompokannya menjadi 4 grup berdasarkan sifat
pendukungnya. Grup pertama didukung oleh sifat jenius Katherine yang terdiri
dari kemampuan untuk melihat realitas dan efisiensi sudut pandang, pemusatan
masalah, pelepasan diri dari lingkungan, pengalaman puncak, dan juga kreativitas.
Grup kedua di dukung oleh sifatnya yang peruh rasa kasih. Kelompok ini terdi
dari penerimaan terhadap diri sendiri, orang lain, dan juga alam, kepemilikian
hubungan dengan orang lain, dan juga seorang yang demokratis. Grup ketiga
didukung oleh sifatnya yang pemberani yang menunjukkan ciri spontanitas. Dan
grup terakhir didukung oleh sifatnya yang setia kawan yang memperlihatkan rasa
humornya yang filosofis. Dari penjabaran tersebut peneliti dapat menarik
kesimpulan bahwa Katherine sedang berada dalam fase aktualisasi dirinya yang
didukung juga oleh sifat-sifatnya, karena ia telah berhasil mencapai lebih dari
setengah dari jumlah total ciri-ciri seseorang yang memiliki aktualisasi diri.
Kata Kunci: self actualization, Hidden Figures, hierarchy of needs
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is produced from the social environment of its creator. Literature
is a collection of words arranged to form an art or a beautiful description of
something. Art does not always have direct meaning, most have diamond-like
meaning that needs to be explored further to see its beauty. According to M.H
Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Hapham (2015, p. 1) the term literature is applied to
works such as drama and prose fiction which have the sense that the human
condition is essentially and permanently absurd. In other words, literature is a
work which portrays human‟s absurdity. Therefore, literature work is an object
that can be discussed as learning and research materials for students to apply
literature analysis.
In a literary work such as movie, of course we find the doers of the actions
in the story. It can be a person's name or pronoun, depending on what story we are
reading. In the world of literature, the uniqueness that distinguishes one actor
from another is called characteristic. According to Jess Feist, the professor in the
psychology department at McNeese State University, characteristic are unique
qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temprament, physique,
and intellegence (Maslow, 2006, p. 3). Related to that statement it appears that
almost no actor or character is created exactly from his physical appearance to the
way he faces the problems that befall him in a story. Feist revealed that
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personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics
that give both consistency and individuality to a person's behavior (Maslow, 2006,
p. 273). In a nutshell the characteristics and traits inherent in the actor are a
description of his personality as a 'human' in the story.
The characteristics of an actor can show many things, including how a
person faces all the problems that occur in him. This can be said how a person can
maintain himself in the process of self-actualization.
In his book, Feist says that self actualization includes self fulfillment, the
realization of all one's potential, and a desire to be creative in the full sense of the
word (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 273).
In the context of analyzing examples of self actualization that occurred in a
literary work, a movie script with the title Hidden Figures was used as the main
source in this study. Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama film
directed by Theodore Melfi. This movie is an adaptation from a non-fiction book
with the title “Hidden Figures, the American Dream and the Untold Story of the
Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race” by Margot Lee
Shetterly. This movie is talked about black female mathematician who worked at
National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) during the space race.
The reason why this movie is chosen as the object of the study is because this
movie illustrates how a person has reached self actualization which makes
him/her very mature in dealing with the problems that happen to him/her.
This study focuses on Katherine Johnson; she is one of the three main
characters in Hidden Figures movie. Her ambition to become a NASA
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mathematician could not be lived easily even though she was a genius. Her skin
color was the stumbling block for her to achieve her dream. This is what will be
further analyzed in this study, concerning the self-actualization that occurs in the
character of Katherine Johnson.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is the character of Katherine Johnson portrayed in the movie
Hidden Figures?
2. How do the characteristics of Katherine Johnson reveal her self-
actualization?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study in this research are based on the problems
formulation that have been stated in the previous part. The first objective is to
describe the characteristic of Katherine Johnson as seen through her dialogue and
how she interacts with other characters in the movie. The second objective is to
see how the characters of Katherine Johnson reveals her self-actualization.
D. Definition of Terms
In this study, the researcher used some literary terms such as characters and
self actualization. To make the definition of each clearer, the researcher will
explain it in this section. First is characteristic. According to A Glossary of
Literary Terms by Abrams, characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or
narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral,
disposal, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say in the form
of dialogues, and by what they do as an action (2015, p.23). The difference quality
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from one to another then called characteristic, which is a property that distinguish
something to another things. In literature we can relate that to every aspects which
differenciate one character or the doer of the action to another one.
The second is self-actualization. As the founder of this theory, Abraham H.
Maslow defined self-actualization as a stage where someone is reaching his self-
fulfillment, the realization of all one‟s potential, and creativity. Maslow also states
that self-actualization is the process that begins after someone‟s basic needs are
satisfied. Then someone can live their life to the fullest and reach everything they
want to reach through their developed potential (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006,
p.276).
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
There are several studies related to this thesis that can help the researcher to
develop the analysis. The first two theses are useful to become the additional
guidelines to find out what happened to the characters and what kind of
oppression faced by them in Hidden Figures. On the other side, the last two theses
used to help the researcher in understanding how to apply the self-actualization
theory in literary works.
The first study is an undergraduate thesis written by Tiara Ika Putri. This
thesis titled with “The Struggle of African-American Women against the Double
Discrimination Revealed in Hidden Figures”. This study has two problems, those
are the double discrimination experienced by African American women in Hidden
Figures, and the second is how the African American women fight against the
double discrimination in Hidden Figures. In analyzing Hidden Figures, she uses
Black Feminism approach to examine the text/movie that portrays the cruel reality
experienced by African American women in the modern era (2018, p. 9).
The double discriminations experienced by the three characters in Hidden
Figures movie are their gender and their skin colour (race)”. In this movie, we can
see that Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy are figures of black women who were
influential in their work at NASA. The discrimination starts from the unmarked
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toilets, cafeterias, educational institutions, and even public transportation. The
black race has never been equal to the white race. At first, they could receive such
treatment, but then when the story reached climax, the three of them began to
voice their refusal to become an oppressed race. They do not speak out in a
barbaric way, but they try to change the conditions that afflict them with their
magnificent work. Katherine could make all her colleagues appreciate her with
her genius in breaking the deadlock in the human flight project into orbit. Mary
made everyone admit her by becoming the first colored female engineer in
history. While Dorothy, she managed to become the first technician to operate
IBM. All three broke down the double discrimination they got with work that
changed the world.
In her analysis, Tiara Christianingrum mentions that the notion of black
people being slave castes initially arose because the black empowerment is a
thread for the traditional value of American society which is the white supremacy
(p. 43). However, the characters in Hidden Figure can prove themselves to the
world that black women played a significant role in the success of the earth orbit
travel mission carried out by John Glen, a white man. This history could then
break the racial discrimination that occurred in the United States. Not less
important is history can change one‟s views about women. Katherine, Dorothy,
and Mary were witnesses that the patriarchal system was aggressively adjusted at
that time. They even have to fight for the toilet and institutional education
themselves.
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However, all three have succeeded in breaking down the facts which has
become a stigma in society that women of color are the weakest in the social
caste, compared to white people and men of color. Kat, Dorothy, and Mary are
managed to prove if they Afro-American women are capable and professional
figures in the scientific field.
According to Tiara Christianingrum, Hidden Figures become a clear
description of the inequality that occurred between Afro-American and White
races during the cold war era, as she mentions:
All in all, this book has a benevolent to shows that the double discrimination
is a toxic cycle from time to time that has trapped women and minorities to
actualize themselves. The double discrimination has labeled women and
minorities to be inferior individuals in the society that they cannot be
contributive in the science field (p. 79).
The second study is a Graduate Programme Thesis by Listiana Ikawati, 2018.
This thesis titled with “Afro-American Women Discrimination on Hidden Figures
Movie: A Critical Discourse Analysis”. This study has three research questions;
the first is Afro-American women in Hidden Figures experience types of
discrimination, second is the ideologies found behind the discrimination against
Afro-American women in the movie, and the last is the semiotic elements
represent the ideologies in the film. In analyzing this movie, Listiana Ikawati uses
critical discourse analysis (CDA) to discover the types of discrimination found in
the film, the ideologies behind the discrimination and the use of semiotic elements
as means of discourse. CDA is a study on dialectical relationships between
discourses (including language) and other semiotics elements, e.g. body language
or visual images and other social practice elements.
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According to Listiana Ikawati, this movie represents all types of
discrimination, namely individual, institutional, and structural discrimination.
Individual perception is in the form of white‟ negative prejudice and stereotypes
towards Afro-American women. It is highly influenced by the past, which also
signifies that this is the ultimate source of other types of discrimination in Hidden
Figures. Institutional discrimination can be seen from the policies at NASA,
which are created by the Whites and give adverse effects to the Afro-American
women. The least frequent and the most subtle form of discrimination found in the
movie is structural discrimination. In structural discrimination, the policies are
created equally for both the Whites and the Afro-American women, but they still
result in some detrimental effects for Afro-American women.
The second research question deals with the ideologies in the movie. Listiana
Ikawati applies Systemic Function Grammar (SFG) to help her uncover the
ideologies of the movie that may not shown explicitly in the movie as she
mentions:
Through SFG analysis on the language used by the characters in the movie,
language learners, readers and researchers interested in conducting similar
studies will get more knowledge and understanding on how to analyze the
language features in a movie (2018, p. 10).
The findings expose two main ideologies which are responsible for the
development of various types of discrimination in the film. The first is racist
ideology which results in racism. This is proven by some characteristics of racist
ideology which appear in the movie, namely aggressivity, negative stereotyping
towards Afro-American women, and the dissemination of racist doctrine.
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Similarly, the second ideology is sexist ideology underlying sexism. This is
indicated by men‟s superiority and domination over women and the control over
women‟s advancement, which may threaten men‟s power and privileges.
Last is about the semiotics elements found in the Hidden Figures movie.
According to the CDA and SFG approaches used in the thesis there are three types
of relational processes, namely the intensive type that intensifying the negative
attributes towards the Afro-American women, the possessive type showing that
the Afro-American women lack, and the circumstansial type exposing the
condition which the Afro-American cannot meet.
Another kind of semiotic elements taken into account in this study is the
visual image. Based on the theory, some visual images showing discrimination
against Afro-American women are cut and defined. The body language is posed
by the Whites and Afro-American men when they are talking to Afro-American
women to emphasize their superiority against the women.
The third related study that the author used for reference is a journal by Leni
Irmawati from Universitas Muhamadiyah Jakarta as her partial fulfillment of the
requirements for a Bachelor's Degree of Education in the English Department.
This journal entitled Self-Actualization in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
Novel(1847): A Humanistic Psychological Approach. In her journal, Leni
Irmawati formulates three objectives for her study, the first is to reveal the aspects
of of self-actualization in Jane Eyre; the second is to unveil her motivations of
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self-actualization; and last, to know the impacts of self-actualization as reflected
in Jane Eyre (Irmawati, 2012, p.2).
This study is a literary study which can be categorized into qualitative
research. Leni Irmawati collects the data using documentation, and analyzed
based on An Humanistic Psychological Approach. Humanistic Psychological used
to emphasize the importance of how people perceive their world and of processes
of health and growth. According to Leni Irmawati, this approach focuses on the
subjective experiences of a person as opposed to farced definitive factors that
determine their behavior (2012, p. 6). Not only that, this graduate study use
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and also Self Actualization theory.
From the discussion, Leni Irmawati founds that Jane has fulfilled eight of the
fifteen features of self-actualization. Those are, more efficient perception of
reality, acceptance of self, others, and nature, spontaneity-simplicity-and
naturalness, autonomy, detachment, problem centered, social interest, and last,
creativity.
The subsequent analysis is about Jane's self-actualization motivation in the
novel. Leni Irmawati divides the motivation into two categories which are social
influence and non-social influence. The first one is the social influence, it is
related to her former school which is Lowood School and also the teacher, Mr.
Brocklehurst. In her school, Jane realizes that the lousy condition does not make
her weak. Second is non-social influence, Leni Irmawati explains that "Jane Eyre
has many goals in her life. Jane wants to fulfill her obsession. She wants to
actualize her potencies and gets happiness. Obsession motivates her to determine
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her goals through her ways" (p. 15). In this case, the researcher concludes that the
way Jane pursuing her dreams is come out from herself. It is only between Jane
herself and her goals.
The last is Jane's self-actualization impacts. Leni Irmawati categorized it into
two parts of the discussion, which are the impact of Jane's self-actualization for
herself, and second is the impact on other characters in the novel. The first one is
the impact that experienced by Jane herself; it is divided into three, those are, Jane
is turning into a brave, independent, and also a happy woman. Then the second
one is the impact of Jane's self-actualization to other characters. It also divided
into three. Those are the impact for Adele, Mrs. Reed, and Edward Rochester.
After analyzing Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre using a humanistic
psychological approach, Leni Irmawati finds out that the story of the novel
reflects the real event that happens on that era, which is the condition of a woman
in depression. In her research, Leni Irmawati wrote that,
Jane Eyre must accept responsibility for making choices and directing her
own destiny. She actualizes her potencies to get a better life for her future.
She always actualizes her talents whatever and whenever she is at (2012,
p. 19).
Relating to the fact, Jane creates a balance relation between herself, as the
subject of the action, and her environment as the object which it bears. At the
same time, Charlotte Bronte tries to criticize the social environment. She
considers that love is not merely involving all the emotions or passions but also
moral as society norms. According to Leni Irmawati, „moral is an essential
element in human‟s life in the relation with the feeling of love‟ (p. 20).
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In this study, Charlotte Bronte criticize her rationality to restructure society‟s
worldview. By using the humanistic psychological analysis, Leni Irmawati could
analyze human being as a social creature that is applying moral value in facing a
good and bad thing, which later on structuring the world‟s view,
The last study that the researcher used is an undergraduate thesis by Theresia
Diana Rositaningrum entitled “Severus Snape‟s Journey to Reach Self-
Actualization as seen in J.K.Rowling‟s Harry Potter Novels”. This thesis talks
about self-actualization possessed by Severus Snape in his journey from the first
to the last novel. It have three problem formulations, those are, how are the
characteristic of Severus Snape portrayed in the novels, the second is how Severus
Snape‟s self-actualization revealed in the novels, and the last is what is the
meaning of Severus Snape‟s self-actualization (Rositaningrum, 2014, p. 3).
Severus Snape is one of the characters who have an essential role in the Harry
Potter series by J.K. Rowling. He was a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry. Snape is said to be a very mysterious person and did not like Harry
Potter from the beginning of his appearance in the novel until the final series.
However, it is all changed because of the facts that were only revealed at the end
of the Harry Potter series. From these facts, Theresia Rositaningrum found that
Snape has characteristics that are not shared by ordinary people. That is the basis
of the writing of this thesis, namely seeing a Severus Snape through a different
perspective.
In her research, Theresia Rositaningrum found that Snape is portrayed as
being cold, cynical, malicious, sarcastic, yet mysterious character in Harry Potter
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novels (Rositaningrum, 2014, p. 63). Snape has been a teacher in Hogwarts school
of wizard and wizardry for years, so automatically his four human-basic-needs are
fulfilled. It because the school guarantees the inhabitants to meet his basic needs.
Severus Snape‟s self-actualization is realized into several tentatives
characteristic according to self-actualization theory which proposed by Abraham
H. Maslow. In her thesis, Theresia Rositaningrum portrays Severus Snape as a
person with effection perception of reality as well as the ability to accept himself
and others. He is a spontaneous character, which makes him not to detach to
others. When Snape is facing a problem, he focuses on his means and his goals,
rather than minding trivial things around him. His full-grown personality is
proved when he meets his peak experiences, which when he lost his loved one,
Lily Evans (Rositaningrum, 2014, p. 65).
From that explanation, Theresia Rositaningrum has proved that Severus snape
has reached the level of 'almost perfect' humans because he has fulfilled the
requirements of someone who has self-actualization.
At the end of his analysis, Theresia Rositaningrum found that the self-
actualization possessed by Severus Snape had a special meaning. Although he is
always told as a bad guy, he can eventually turn into a character who holds a big
deal upon humanity. The meaning of Snape's self actualization can be seen from
the theory of self-transcendence and the theory of generativity. In her study,
Theresia Rositaningrum found that,
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In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Snape‟s quality of reaching self-
transcendence is shown when he gives his memory to Harry - which enables
him to see his past life. He gives all the secrets that have been buried for
years. His willingness of giving Harry his memory can also be analysed
through theory of generativity. By helping Harry accomplish his mission,
Snape has indeed succeeded to help Harry reach self-actualization
(Rositaningrum, 2014, pp. 60-61).
According to the analysis, Theresia Rositaningrum highlighted that self-
actualization is not only about the characteristics that are fulfilled, but the phase
where one can dig deeper about the potential that is within him.
The first two theses above written by Tiara Christianingrum and Listiana
Ikawati reveal the same points, namely regarding the discrimination that occurs in
the hidden figure films. However, both use different methods in their analysis,
even though they produce the same results. On the other hand, the third and fourth
theses that written by Leni Irmawati and Theresia Rositaningrum, which are also
the researchers' reference in writing this study discuss self-actualization. In this
research, the researcher combines those four theses to reinforce the arguments
outlined in the analysis chapter. This research raise the topic of how a person
becomes a real „human‟ after going through the life process, regardless of gender
or race she has through Hidden Figures movie.
B. Review of Related Theories
There are four theories used to analyze the object of the study. They are the
theory of characters and characterization, mise en scène, holistic-dynamics theory,
and theory of self actualization.
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1. Characters and Characterization
In film, when we are not interested in any of the characters, there is little
chance that we will appreciate the film as a whole. The characters itself defined as
the doer of the action which determines whether the story has a sad or happy
ending. In order to be more interesting, characters must seem real, understandable,
and worth caring about. For the most part, the characters in a story are believable
in the same way that the story is believable. In other words, they conform to the
laws of probability and necessity, they conform to some inner truth, or they are
made to seem real by the convincing art of the actor.
There are two kinds of characters in literary works, which are major and minor
characters. The difference between the two characters is determined by how
important their role is in determining the plot of the story, as well as the frequency
of their appearance in each event in the literary work. In his book Abrams and
Harpham (2015, p. 24) wrote that there are two ways of characterizing a person in
a narrative, they are showing and telling. Like what he says as follows:
A broad distinction is frequently made between alternative methods for
characterizing (i.e., establishing the distinctive characters of) the persons in a
narrative: showing and telling. In showing (also called "the dramatic
method"), the author simply presents the characters talking and acting and
leaves the reader to infer the motives and dispositions that lie behind what
they say and do. The author may show not only external speech and actions,
but also a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events;
for a highly developed mode of such inner showing, see stream of
consciousness. In telling, the author intervenes authoritatively in order to
describe, and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of the
characters (Abrams & Harpham, 2015, p. 24).
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In this thesis, the researcher will discuss the main characters in a film. It is
because the major character has a lot of information which has been 'told and
shown' in the movie. So it has many characteristic elements that can be analysed
in this study.
In order to characterize the characters in the movie, Joseph M. Boggs and
Dennis W. Petrie (2006) provides eight elements of characterization as written in
their book The Art of Watching Films. Those components help the researcher in
order to analyze the characters in the movie which become this object of the
study. The elements covers:
a. Characterization through appearance
In a film, the quality of an actor or character is projected by how he appears in
each of his presence on the screen. According to Boggs and Petrie, a major aspect
of film characterization is revealed visually and instantaneously (2006, p. 60). By
looking at the appearance of the characters on the screen, we will make certain
assumptions about them because of their expression, dress, physical build, and the
way they move. Although some actors may be versatile enough to project
completely different qualities in different roles, most actors are not. Our first
visual impression may be proven erroneous as the story progresses, but it is
certainly an important means of establishing character
b. Characterization through dialogue
Characters in a fictional film naturally reveal a great deal about themselves by
what they say. But a great deal is also revealed by how they say it. Their true
thoughts, attitudes, and emotions can be revealed in subtle ways through
word choice and through the stress, pitch, and pause patterns of their speech
(Boggs & Petrie, 2006, p. 61).
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Related to the statement above, we can conclude briefly that every detail of the
dialogue delivered by a character in a film can show not only the intention, but
also the social and economic level, educational background, and mental process
owned by the character himself. The best way to see characterization in dialogue
is to pay attention, not only to what he says, but also how to says it.
c. Characterization through external action
The first impression we get from a character is through how he looks in every
scene he stars, but that sometimes is causes misleading to the audience. The best
reflections of the characters as a human are their actions themselves. In a film, we
must assume that every action carried out by a character is 'made', because he acts
as an instrument to realise a plot of the story. According to Boggs and Petrie,
If the motivation for a character's action is clearly established, the character
and the plot become so closely interwoven that they are impossible to separate,
and every action that the character takes in some way reflects the quality of his
or her particular personality (Boggs & Petrie, 2006, p. 62).
Of course, some actions are more important in revealing character than others.
Even the most ordinary choice can be revealing, for some kind of choice is
involved in almost everything we do. Sometimes the most effective
characterization is achieved not by the large actions in the film but by the small,
seemingly insignificant ones yet it can show the audience about his true
character..
d. Characterization through internal action
In a film, the director does not only display the external actions of a character.
But he also implicitly included their inner world of action that usually remains
unseen and unheard by the other characters in the movie, yet clear for the
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audiences. Other dimensions of this character will help us to identify the
characteristics that he has. Inner action occurs within the characters' minds and
emotions and consists of secret, unspoken thoughts, daydreams, aspirations,
memories, fears, and fantasies. These elements are essential to understand better
what happens to a character both from the outside and from within (p. 62).
e. Characterization through reactions of other characters
In his book, Boggs and Petrie stated that “The way other characters view a
person often serves as an excellent means of characterization” (Boggs & Petrie,
2006, p. 64). In connection with the statement, the characteristics of a person can
be seen how other people see or remember the character. This can be called
'stereotyped'. A stereotype itself is a fixed general image or set of characteristics
that a lot of people believe represents a particular type of person or thing. The
behaviour of a character can be a 'symbol' for him in the eyes of others.
f. Characterization through contrast: dramatic foils
According to Boggs and Petrie, one of the most effective techniques of
characterization is the use of foils, or contrasting the characters whose behavior,
attitudes, opinions, lifestyle, physical appearance, and so on are the opposite of
those main characters. It is like putting black beside the white. The effective
contrasts will make the black appears blacker, and the white becomes whiter
(2006, p. 65).
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g. Characterization through caricature and leitmotif
In film, in order to sketch a character quickly and deeply in our minds and
memories, actors often exaggerated or distorted one or more dominant features or
personality traits. This device is called caricature. Meanwhile, leotmotif is
different. It is the repetition of a single action, phrase, or idea by a character until
it becomes almost a trademark for that character (Boggs & Petrie, 2006, p. 66).
h. Characterization through choice of name
Although often considered trivial the choice of name for a character can
determine how his role in a film. This is known as 'name typing'. A screenwriter
usually thinks out his characters' names very carefully; it is because a great deal of
thought goes into the choice of names. The names should not be taken for granted
but should be carefully examined for the connotations they communicate (p. 67).
2. Mise en Scène Theory
If we talk about a film, of course, we will find the term mise en scène as one
of the things that determine how the visual of the film can talk to the audience.
According to its definition, mise en Scène means an arrangement of all the visual
elements of a theatrical production within a given playing area or stage. In this
study the researcher use two sources from the book Understanding Movies the
thirteenth edition by Louis Giannetti (Giannetti, 2014) and Film, an Introduction
the fourth edition by William H. Phillips (Phillips, 2009) as a theoretical basis for
this material.
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According to Giannetti mise en scène is a complex analytical term
encompassing four district formal elements, those are 1) the staging of the action,
2) the physical setting and decor, 3) the manner in which these materials are
framed, and 4) the manner in which they are photographed (2014, p. 48). This
explanation is in line with what Phillips said in his book that mise en Scène
consists of three parts, namely setting, subject, and composition (2009, p. 11)
The first element is setting. It is the place where filmed action occurs; it may
be constructed set or the real location that exist. The function of setting itself is to
subordinate the other aspects of the film such as characterization seen from the
setting of place or time she or he lived in. According to Phillips, there are three
types of setting in movie, the first one is limbo or blank space, the second one is
realistic or place settings that are as close as possible to their original location, and
the last is non-realistic or a place setting that has a slight resemblance to the
original location but still tries to convince audiences that they are closely
represented the world. Limbo is usually used to create a dramatic impression of a
movie because the viewer's eyes will only focus on the subject in the scene
without any distraction from the surrounding background. Whereas realistic and
non-realistic settings are usually used by filmmakers to indicate locations that can
add information in the movie. For example, an area set in another world that can
invite the audience to see how things are there. As additional information, usually
non-realistic settings are used by low-budget film production to minimize
expenses due to the creation of location sets (2009, p. 14).
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The second element of mise en scène is subject. In a fictional movie, the
subject is usually the movie‟s character itself. Their actions and reactions are the
usual means for revealing their characterization, including their possessions of
something which suggest the owner‟s personality. Not only that, we also learn
about characters by their appearance such as physical characteristic, posture,
gesture, clothing, make up, and hair style (Phillips, 2009, p. 21).
Appearance reveals the character and also creates the character itself. As film
scholar James Naremore explains as quoted in Phillip‟s Film, an Introduction,
“Costumes serve as indicators of gender an social status, but they also shape
bodies and behavior” (2009, p. 23). This sentence supports the argument that
every detail of a person's costume or appearance has its meaning. The filmmaker
carefully chooses and combines every aspect of the presence of the actor and
actress so that the impression he wants to display is crystally clear.
The last element of the mise en scène is composition. This is closely related
to all aspects captured by the film frame, both in terms of structuring the subject
and the way its shoots. In this aspect, we will be introduced to the term framing,
which is positioning the camera so that the image is composed in a certain way. In
the movie world, framing divided into two, namely tight framing and loose
framing. Both seen from the density of objects used by filmmakers in a frame.
According to Phillips, the tight framing type leaves little room around the subject
of the film to provide a sense of confinement and stress (2009, p. 17-18). This is
also supported by Giannetti's argument, which states that tight framing indicates
tense and intimacy. While loose framing is a situation when a shot presents the
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main subject with abundant space around it, it is also intended to show the natural
beauty or settings of place in the film. According to Giannetti, this type of framing
makes more of a neutral, innocent, and freedom impression than a movie.
However, she also argues that their tight and loose framing derive their symbolic
significance from the dramatic, yet they are not intrinsically meaningful; it
depends on the context and meaning of each of us (2014, p. 61).
Talking about space in a frame, Giannetti explained that "space is a medium
of communication, and the way we respond to objects and people with a given
area is the constant source of information in life as well as in movies." According
to the explanation, we can conclude that the way that people arranged in space can
tell us a lot about their social and psychological relationships. That is because
every distance possessed by a subject in a film must have a more specific meaning
if we look at it from both fields. A master of mise en scène can express shifting
psychological and social nuances with a single shot by exploiting the space
between characters, the depth planes within the images, the intrinsically weighted
areas of the frame, and the direction are facing vis-a-vis the camera. For example,
Phillips says that empty space often used to convey a sense of loss, yet it has no
inherent meaning. The impact of empty space in a film is dependent on context; it
often reinforces a sense of power and freedom or a sense of energy and free-
spiritedness (Giannetti, 2014, p. 68) ; (Phillips, 2009, p. 41)
The space between the two subjects is also a symbol of their relationship; this
is also called the proxemic patterns. Edward T. Hall in his studies The Hidden
Dimensions and The Silent Language explains that:
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The proxemic pattern is a relationship of organisms within a given space can
be influenced by external considerations such as climate, noise level, and the
degree of light all tend to alter the space between individuals, Hall also
subdivide the way people use space into four major proxemic patterns, the
first one is the intimate, the second is the personal, third is the social, and the
last is the public distances, the four are distinguished by how far distance of
one subject from another, and what kind of relationship is symbolized from
that (as quoted from Giannetti, 2014, p. 81)
Besides framing, another aspect that makes a composition of subjects and
objects in the film more dramatic is about how the scene is shoot. In making a
film, the direction of shooting becomes something that should not be done
carelessly, because every angle has its function. The example is the angle of
shooting from below (or lower than the subject), creating the impression that he is
someone who has power, superior, and also dominant. While the camera's high
angle reinforces vulnerability or confinement. The shoot direction parallel to the
subject has the impression of being more neutral or having the same strength
(Phillips, 2009, p. 45)
Besides that, there are several terms in taking a shoot camera based on the
position of the subject. The first is full-front, or when the subject is directly in
front of the camera. This angle is the most intimate part that often used to get the
sympathy or attention of the audience because this position is like inviting us to
understand better what is felt by a character. This position is also confrontational
and seductive. The second is the profile position, which is when the subject looks
out the frame both to the right and left. This indicates that this framing has a
neutral perspective. The third is the quarter turn. This position provides a high
degree of intimacy but with less emotional involvement than the full-front
position because the character seems unaware of being observed. Hence, as the
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audience, we are free to assume about the things that happen in that frame. The
last is the three-quarter turn, which is useful for conveying a character's
conflicting or antisocial feelings. It is used to suggest an alienation character
(Giannetti, 2014, p. 74).
The placement of a subject to be shot in a frame also has meaning. according to
Giannetti:
The near-the top area of the frame can suggest ideas dealing with power,
authority, and aspiration. It also gives a sign of threat, is dangerous, and
superior people. However, the top area of a film frame is rarely used by a
cameraman because this area is the most sensible place for an object. The
area near the bottoms of the frame tends to suggest meanings opposite
from the top, namely subservience, vulnerability, and powerlessness. This
area often exploited symbolically to indicate danger. While the right and
left areas of the frame tend to suggest the insignificance (Giannetti, 2014,
p. 55).
From this explanation, researchers can see that the choice of the angle of the shot
also influences what effect the audience will feel when viewing the film.
Then the placement of the subject also influences the style of shooting. In
the film we know the terms foreground, mid-ground, and background as the
location where the subject will be placed. The three are interconnected because
each side has its meaning depending on the context of the film. Although it looks
the most dominant, the details in the foreground can also be explained more
through objects in the mid-ground and background, and vice versa. This is
because the placement of objects and subjects in each corner of the frame will
affect the meaning and reaction caused by the audience to the film.
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This is in line with Phillips's argument,
"How filmmakers position people and objects in the background and how
they situate them in the foreground are options that influence what the
images communicate. Foreground and background elements can be
positioned to show how important something in the background is to
objects in the foreground. (Phillips, 2009, p. 60)"
To produce the right composition, a filmmaker must think of the symmetry
of an image to create an ambiance with the script. According to Giannetti, highly
symmetrical designs are generally used when a director wishes for stress stability
and harmony. The theory from Phillips also added if the symmetrical frame
functioned to give the sign of confrontation, harmony, or balance while
asymmetrical indicates the loss or imbalance (Giannetti, 2014, p. 82); (Phillips,
2009, p. 51)
Of the three elements, mise en scène generally has a general function on
world development. The first is to express a political viewpoint or to promote a
particular product; then the second one is to amuse or to imitate human behavior
such as parody; and the last is to pay tribute to another film.
3. Holistic-dynamic Theory
This theory is firstly proposed by Abraham H. Maslow, it is talk about the
human basic needs which influence the character developments in literature
works. This theory assumes that the whole person is constantly being motivated
by one need or another and that people have the potential to grow toward
psychological health, that is, self-actualization. In short holistic dynamic theory
talked about the needs which naturally owned by all human being. In order to
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achieve perfection, namely the level of self-actualization, a person must meet his
basic needs first such as hunger, safety, love, and esteem.
According to Maslow as cited in Feist & Feist‟s Theories of Personality,
human needs have a hierarchy in the form of steps, with each ascending step
representing a higher need but one less basic to survival. As previously explained
that the lower level needs have the prepotency over the higher level need, that is,
they must be satisfied or mostly satisfied before the higher level needs become
activated (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 277). There are four stages of needs
before the self-actualization, they are:
a. Physiological Needs
Physiological is human basic needs. It is related to a thing that we have in our
everyday life, such as a place to live, oxygen to breathes, water to drinks, and
food to eats (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 279).
b. Security Needs
According to Maslow, when people have partially satisfied their
physiologically needs, they become “motivated by safety needs, including
physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from threatening
force such as war, terrorism, illness, fear, anxiety, and natural disasters” (Maslow
in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 279).
Security needs also have other aspects besides being free from threats,
namely employment, health, and property. All three also serve to guarantee a
person's basic needs, because by having a job, someone is able to afford other
basic needs such as food and personal property. By having a job, one can also
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avoid threats such as hunger and suffering. Besides, ensuring health is also an
indication that someone can meet their security needs. That is because by being
healthy, someone can avoids various psychological and physical threats that
attack him. Last is the property. In this context we can consider it a home. If
someone has a house, then he can be said to meet the needs of his securities
because the house is a place to protect him from all threats and crime.
In a nutshell, security needs are needs that can be sought by every individual. It
is an aspects that aim to make a person avoid the various threats that will befall
him.
c. Love and Belongingness Needs
In life, after reaching two levels of previous needs humans will then feel that
they are also social beings who need others. The goal can be to be friends,
partners, and neighbours. For that they need love and affection. All matters
relating to giving and receiving love from you or others can be categorized as love
and belongingness needs (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 280).
d. Esteem Needs
After meeting the three basic needs of the previous level, a person will arrive
at the stage of achieving esteem needs, which includes self-respect, confidence,
competence, and the knowledge that others hold them in high esteem. According
to Maslow, there are two levels of esteem needs which are reputation and self-
esteem.
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Reputation is the perception, prestige, recognition, or a fame a person has
achieved in the eyes of other people, whereas self-esteem is a person‟s
own feelings or worth and confidence. Different with reputation, self-
esteem is based on real competence and not merely on others‟ opinions
(Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 281).
Reputation and recognition from others for someone are two of the many
factors that can increase their confidence. This is what makes a person's self-
esteem will increase. When someone has reached this stage, they stand on the
threshold of self-actualization, the highest level of human needs.
e. Self-Actualization
When all basic human needs are met, it can be said that the person has almost
reached the perfect phase in his life, which according to Maslow is called self-
actualization needs. “Self-actualization includes self-fulfilment, the realization of
all one's potential, and a desire to be creative in the full sense of the word”
(Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 281). Someone who has reached this point can
be called as a whole person.
Self-actualized people maintain their feelings of self-esteem even when they
receive rejection, scolding, and insults from others. In other words, self-
actualizing people do not always depend on the satisfaction that is created by
others, but they depend on the basic needs that they have from birth to the present.
It is because the satisfaction of human basic needs are the first step that someone
has to fulfil before they go to the next level of human being, which is self-
actualization. They did not depend on the satisfaction created by others because
they know that they are enough. However, it does not mean that they are
countering others and do not receive other people's love.
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4. Self Actualization
As explained earlier, after going through the four phases of meeting basic
needs, one can reach the final level, namely self-actualization. This theory is a
continuation of the holistic-dynamic theory put forward by Abraham H. Maslow.
According to Maslow (as cited in Feist & Feist, 2006),
Self-actualizing people are motivated by the „eternal varieties‟ which called
B-values or Being Values. It used to be the indicators of psychological health
and is opposed to deficiency needs. The B values are the ultimate level of
needs compared to other human basic needs which mentioned before (2006,
p. 281).
Maslow identified the B values into fourteen different aspects which are
autonomy, truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness, aliveness, uniqueness, perfection,
completion, justice, simplicity, totality, effortlessness, and humour. These values
distinguish self-actualizing people from those whose psychological growth is
stunted after they reach esteem needs. From this statement we can see that not
everyone can reach this highest level, even for those whose basic needs have been
met. This is because of how difficult it can be to actualizes themselves to the
fullest and at the same time maintaining a commitment to the environment. The
only way to fully reach that level is to embrace the B values (Maslow in Feist &
Feist, 2006, p. 282).
There are fifteen tentative characteristics of self-actualizing people, which
Maslow has provided. Those are,
a. More efficient perception of reality
People with an efficient perception of reality are someone who lives their life
without burden. In the theory of self-actualization, it is explained that “they are
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the kind of people who are less afraid and more comfortable with the unknown.
They welcome doubt, uncertainty, indefiniteness, and uncharted paths” (Maslow
in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 289). People which have reached self-actualization
stage are more realistic and accept changes.
b. Acceptance of self, others, and nature
Someone who has reached this highest level is usually someone who has
accepted himself completely. They lack of defensiveness, phoniness, and self-
defeating guilt. According to Maslow, “people who have self-actualization can
also tolerate the weaknesses of others, but also do not feel threatened by the
strength or dominance of others” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 289). People
with self-actualization never underestimate other people who may have a position
below them, or different from them. They consider everyone special, so they
always tries to accept everyone‟s strength and weakness.
c. Spontaneity, Simplicity, and Naturalness
Self-actualizing people are indeed trying to reach the level of perfection
needed for humans, but they are still not angels. They have an instinct and
spontaneity if something wrong happens, they are not afraid to be defensive.
“They are unpretentious and not afraid or ashamed to express joy, awe, elation,
sorrow, anger, and other deeply felt emotions” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p.
290).
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d. Problem Centering
The fourth characteristic of self-actualizing people is problem centering. It is
the ability of an individual to center his/her problem, to be able to concentrate on
an issue or job which she regards necessary. Hence, once a person is committed to
a particular job, she must accomplish the task until the end. They are not only
focused on the problems that occur to them or the problems of the world that
involve themselves. In his book Maslow said that self-actualizing people are not
selfish because they only think about their own destiny and their own lives, but
instead other problems which then become provisions to develop themselves
(Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 290).
e. Detachment: The need for privacy
Self-actualizing people have a quality of detachment that allows them to be
alone without being lonely. In the book Theories of Personality by Feist and Feist,
it is stated that someone who reach self-actualization stage,
Feel relaxed and comfortable when they are either with people or alone,
because they have already satisfied their love and belongingness needs, they
have no desperate need to be surrounded by other people. They can find
enjoyment in solitude and privacy (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 290).
It means that self actualizing people doesnt depends on others to comfort
him/her. According to Maslow, detachment is the ability of an individual to rely
on their knowledge and potentials. They are not affected by external
circumstances nor other's mindset, because they are know that they are enough.
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f. Autonomy
“Autonomy means that a self-actualizing person can stand alone and not
depend on the love and security of others” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p.
290). Self-actualizing people can rely on themselves. Autonomy is not entirely
independent; they have only been in the phase of satisfaction in establishing
relationships with others.
g. Continued Freshness of Appreciation
In his journal Maslow as quoted in the Theories of Personality by Feist &
Feist wrote that “self-actualizing people have the wonderful capacity to appreciate
again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure,
wonder, and even ecstasy” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 163). It means that
self-actualizing people are people who are always grateful for whatever happens
and is given to them.
h. The Peak Experience
According to an article written by Kendra Cherry, peak experiences are often
described as transcendent moments of pure joy and elation. These are the
moments that stand out from everyday events. “The memory of such events is
lasting and people often liken them to a spiritual experience” (Cherry, 2019).
Peak experience also defined as some events that makes people reflects their
experiences and learned from that to become more qualified human being than
before. In other words, peak experience urged someone to be more mature and
independent because they already learn something from the past.
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i. Gmeinschafts
In his book, Maslow stated that gmeinschafts is a phase where a person feels
to be one with the environment, both in social interest and community feeling
(Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 292). People who have reached this phase have
compassion for human beings in general, even though they are strangers, they
always identify them as friends.
j. Profound interpersonal relations
Related to the previous phase, Profound Interpersonal Relations is a level
where a person can limit his relationships with people who really deserve us. This
relationship is usually quite deep and intense. So they tend to prefer to build
relationships with healthy people as friends, and avoid intimate interpersonal
relationships with dependent or infantile people (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006,
p. 292).
k. The democratic character structure
Abraham Maslow describes Self-actualizing people “possessed democratic
values which make them have the desire and ability to learn from anyone”
(Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 292). They could be friendly with anyone no
matter what colours are they, the race, or the religion they are embrace. In fact,
they seemed to be quite unaware of superficial differences among people.
l. Discrimination between means and ends
People who have self-actualization can distinguish what is right and wrong
with a little conflict in it. “They can sort out what needs to be thought about and
what needs to be abandoned in their efforts to achieve inner peace.” (Maslow in
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Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 292). Self-actualizers have the tendency to distinguish
between their goals and the means to achieve them. For them, means are supposed
to support their final goals.
m. Philosophical Sense of Humour
In his book, Maslow stated that “Self-actualizing people may poke fun at
themselves, but not masochistically” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 293).
They make fewer tries at humour than others, but their efforts serve a purpose
beyond making people laugh.
n. Creativeness
Almost all people with good self-actualization are creative people. It can be
cooking, making poetry, writing journals, or painting. They have creative talents
in their own way (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 293).
o. Resistance to enculturation
According to Maslow, “self-actualizing people have a sense of detachment
from their surroundings and are able to transcend a particular culture. They are
neither antisocial nor consciously non-conforming. Rather, they are autonomous,
following their own standards of conduct and not blindly obeying the rules of
other” (Maslow in Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 292).
5. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the research questions that have been formulated, these four
theories will be used as a reference for observing the data in the analysis chapter.
The character and characterization theory by Boggs and Petrie will be used to
answer the first problem which is how the character of Katherine Goble is
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depicted in the Hidden Figures movie, seen from the way she faces problems and
social interactions she does with other characters. The analysis of the figure's
characterization is supported by the mise en scene theory, which is a theory of
how each element in the film can emphasize a meaning. This theory will look at
the figure, which becomes the focus of this research in terms of the shooting and
also its composition in the movie. Holistic-dynamic theory and self-actualization
theory are used to answer the second problem, namely how the characteristics of
Katherine Johnson reveals her self actualization needs which was developed by
Abraham Maslow. This theory is useful to see the influence of the characteristics
of Katherine Johnson towards her self-actualization viewed from the meeting of
the human basic needs.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
In this thesis, the researcher chooses the Hidden Figures movie script as the
object of the study. This movie was inspired by a non-fiction book with the
title Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of African-American Women Who Helped
Win The Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly in 2016.
This movie was an American biographical drama movie directed by Theodore
Melfi which chosen by National Board of Review as one of the top ten movies of
2016 and was nominated for numerous awards, including three Oscar nominations
(Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Spencer),
and two Golden Globes (Best Supporting Actress for Spencer and Best Original
Score). It also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance
by a Cast in a Motion Picture as quoted from Internet Movie Database or IMDb
(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/awards, August 12, 2019). This movie
starred by Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Olivia Spences as Dorothy
Vaughan, and Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson.
This 127 minutes movie tells us about the untold story of women's role in
America's success in taking astronauts out of space to rival Russia. It is the
phenomenal true story of African-American female mathematicians in NASA
struggling to calculate the coordination point so that the man can fly out space.
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This movie portrays the double discrimination which the main characters
experienced, which are racism and sexism. Moreover, this movie also describes
how these African-American women fight against those discriminations to
achieve the freedom they deserve. When its viewed from another perspective, this
movie also presents how someone achieves self-actualization, which makes her
someone who can be said to be 'almost perfect.' This process of self-actualization
exists when the other four basic human needs are met. In this thesis, the character
that will be further analyzed is Katherine Johnson Johnson, a black woman who
successfully contributed to fly an American rocket around the earth. Katherine is
an interesting character because she managed to survive despite many problems
that made her become someone who has self-actualization.
B. Approach of the Study
This study uses a Psychological approach to answer the research questions
that have been formulated. This approach is used to analyze someone based on
human nature. There are so many aspects related to human psychology, such as
behavior, thinking, personality, motivation, and other elements.
In his book, Paris (1997) argues that psychology is not related to literature,
but with someone's mind. Nevertheless, he insists that three possible minds have
something to do with the psychological approach; those are the author's mind, the
character's mind, and also the audience's which the three are interconnected (p. 3).
By learning the author's psychology, the reader can understand that some aspects
reflected in the story that she or he is working on.
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Paris also claims that investigating characters through a psychological
approach makes them all fascinating. It is because the reader can infiltrate the
characters' minds and inner self to reveal every reason behind their action. This
theory is similar to Rohhrberger and Woods' (1971) argument, which states that a
psychological approach is essential to dig deeper into a character's motivation,
which drives him or her in doing a particular action. They also presume that the
psychological approach needs broader interpretation in a character's behavior
because it is the reflection of a human's personality and motivation.
Since the psychological approach encompasses broad branches, this study
limited the psychological approach into the theory of human needs and self-
actualization, which were useful to endorse this study. According to both views,
the researcher uses this approach to see the true side of a character and the
motivation in each action.
C. Method of the Study
This study applied library research as the method of the study by using the
original script of the movie as the primary source. The researcher also used
various sources as references such as The Art of Watching Films by Joseph M.
Boggs and Dennis W. Petrie which explains how to characterize the characters in
the film, Understanding Movies the thirteenth edition by Louis Giannetti, and
Film, an Introduction the fourth edition by William H. Phillips that discuss about
mise en scene theory, Theories of Personality by Jess Feist and George J. Feist
which contains Maslow's theory about Holistic-dynamic theory and Self-
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Actualization needs, and The Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H Abrams book to
reference the Character and Characterization theory.
In compiling this research, the writer took several steps. The first was
conducting special studies through reference books on theories related to the topic
of the study which is how to characterize a character and how they show the self
actualization of themselves. The second step was writing important points about
the theory for further study by connecting it with the object of the study, which is
the movie script. In the next step, the researcher answered the problems contained
in the research questions that have been prepared using literary analysis. The
analysis step that was carried out is by describing what characters are owned by
Katherine Johnson by including the evidence that was obtained both from
dialogue and from gestures in the movie. Then the researcher looked for
Katherine's self-actualization which can be proven and supported by the
characteristics described in the previous analysis. This self-actualization is proven
by finding out whether all four basic human needs have been met or not by
Katherine. Then by considering the fifteen tentative characteristics of self-
actualization people given by Maslow, the researcher classified which types are
fulfilled through character analysis that has been explained in the first research
question. The last step was concluding the findings obtained from the analysis.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This thesis analyzes Katherine Johnson's self-actualization as seen in her
characteristic in Hidden Figures movie. Katherine Johnson is one of the African-
American women who work for NASA. She and her two friends named Mary
Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan become the representatives of how women of color
were treated at that time. The issue of racism and sexism was the primary problem
that happens in every aspect in the United States, which later became the
background in the making of this film.
Katherine Johnson and all the people of color live under the oppressed
circumstances because of the vast gap that happens between the skin tones. Not
only pressure from the skin color differences, but women at that time also get
double discrimination because of their gender. If all Negro women are subject to
that fate, it is different from Kathrine Johnson. She cannot change her skin color
or gender, but she can change her life.
There are two parts of the discussion in this chapter. Each section is the
analysis to answers the problem formulation in this research. The first is to
analyze how the character of Katherine Johnson portrayed in the movie Hidden
Figures. The second is to identify self-actualization, which revealed from
Katherine's characteristics in the film.
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A. The Characteristics of Katherine Johnson
As one of the main characters, Katherine Johnson, has several significant
characteristics that are noticeable in the movie. Using the theory of
characterization by Joseph M. Boggs and Dennis W. Petrie in their book The Art
of Watching Films, we can analyze how the character of Katherine Johnson
portrays in the movie.
From the Hidden Figures movie, we can see that Katherine is a major
character. This evidenced by the number of scenes she starred in this movie, and
how her issue determined the story. At the same time, Katherine Johnson has the
struggle that becomes one of the highlighted issues in this storyline.
To analyze the characters of Katherine Johnson the researcher uses the eight
devices of characterization according to Boggs and Petrie (pp. 59-67). Therefore,
the result is:
1. Genius
Katherine Johnson is described as a super smart kid. At the age of eight
years, Katherine was able to solve problems in classes far above her perfectly. In
the early scene, Katherine is seen muttering to herself. However, unlike a child of
her age who was daydreaming about her fantasy, Katherine memorized prime
numbers and geometric shapes. This shows the genius she had from an early age.
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In darkness, the voice of a little girl. Counting.
LITTLE GIRL (V.O.)
14, 15, 16...prime. 18, prime.
A pair of little feet navigates down a gravel path. Kicking a pine cone.
LITTLE GIRL (O.S.)
20, 21, 22, prime, 24, 25, 26...
(Page 1, 00:00:40)
Picture 1.1 Katherine muttered to memorize prime numbers on her way
to home
This example show the figure of little Katherine, who had indicated her
talent in mathematics. In terms of shooting, the screenshot above shows that
Katherine was 'placed' in a loose frame. There was plenty of room around
Katherine to show that she had and was in freedom. She has no pressure to
memorize the numbers; instead she does it with a free heart. Prime numbers is
material that is difficult for an eight-year-old child to master. Yet, in this scene,
Kat seemed to enjoy and learn it without difficulty. This strengthens if Katherine
was a genius since she was a child. Psychologically, Katherine's intelligence
surpassed her age. This was shown by filmmakers who place her in the vast forest
background around Katherine, who was alone, giving the impression that she was
an innocent person, like her age. However, unlike most children, she is not
portrayed as a girl who likes to fantasize and play. In that frame, she chose to
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walk alone and mumbled mathematical things. From the way it is depicted in the
film, as audiences, we can guess that she was no longer in the imaginative or
playing phase. Katherine was at the level of 'thinker' at the age of eight.
Apart from how she was framing in this scene, Katherine was also seen
carrying a property, namely books. As in the theory of mise en scene, it has been
explained that the 'ownership' of an item can also show the character of its owner.
Here we can assume that the book that Katherine brought or possessed aims to
emphasize that she is diligent and smart. Although the guess may be wrong, we
cannot deny that the filmmaker managed to influence the audience to see
Katherine as a smart and diligent girl through the book she was carrying.
In the next scene, the principal of the school where Katherine studied was
notifying Katherine's parents that she would be transferred to the West Virginia
Collegiate Institute.
Katherine‟s parents sit across from the school‟s principal, MR.
MARION SMITHSON and Katherine‟s teacher, MS. SUMNER.
MARION SMITHSON
West Virginia Collegiate Institute is the best school for Negros in the
state.
MS. SUMNER
It‟s the only school, past the eighth grade, anywhere close to here.
JOSHUA COLEMAN
Katherine‟s in the sixth grade.
MS. SUMNER
They want to take her early.
MARION SMITHSON
They‟re offering a full scholarship. All you have to do is get there.
Joshua and Joylette are overwhelmed. They grasp each other‟s
hands (Page 2, 00:01:20).
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Initially, Katherine's parents did not believe that her daughter got a
scholarship to go to a higher level. However, the principal managed to convince
both of them that Katherine had to go to the city's best negro school. In Petrie and
Boggs's characterization theory, this example of genius characters seen from the
reaction of others figure to her.
In West Virginia Collegiate Institue, Katherine proved that she was eligible
for the scholarship. She could answer questions that were not understood by most
students in class easily, so that makes them amazed, even the teacher himself. Not
only good at doing the task, but Katherine can also provide a detailed explanation
of the answer to the problem that the teacher gave to her. This is proven in the
following scene.
And Katherine writes on, chalk dust dropping like snow from her
chalk stick. On and on and on...until she‟s at the very bottom, far side of
the board. She circles the answer. Stands and faces the class. The
equation behind her dwarfing her in stature. She clears her throat...
KATHERINE (@8 YEARS OLD)
If the product of two terms is zero, then common sense says at least
one of the two terms has to be zero to start with. So, if you move all the
terms over to one side, you can put the quadratics into a form that can be
factored, allowing that side of the equation to equal zero. Once you‟ve
done that, it‟s pretty straight forward from there...
(Page 4, 00:01:51)
The dialogue crystally clear shows Kat's skill in combining formulas and
writing each result on the blackboard without difficulty. Compared to many older
children, Kath proves that her genius is a natural talent that cannot be
underestimated. This is because every time she starts writing down a set of
numbers, she always manages to make every jaw drop when people see it.
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The next scene that shows Katherine's geniuses was when she was grew up
and worked at NASA in the west building. The coordinator of the division,
Dorothy Vaughan, trusted Katherine to take on the task as a computer in the east
building. This scene was pictured when Vivian Mitchell, a white secretary, came
to the western building, where all African-American women worked to find a
mathematician who could do the work usually done by white scientists.
Vivian‟s Assistant dumps the workload on the table. Thud. Vivian
hands Dorothy an assignment sheet.
VIVIAN MITCHELL (CONT‟D)
The Space Task Group needs a computer ASAP. Someone with a
handle on Analytic Geometry. Much to my chagrin, we can‟t fill the
position outta the East Group.
DOROTHY
Permanent or temp?
VIVIAN MITCHELL
Everything‟s temporary, Dorothy. You have someone?
Dorothy doesn't hesitate:
DOROTHY
Yes, ma‟am. Katherine‟s the gal for that.
She can handle any numbers you put in front of her.
Vivian sizes Katherine up.
VIVIAN MITCHELL
I‟ll check her credentials. (Page 15, 00:11:29)
In the scene, it appears that Dorothy places full trust in Katherine to carry
out her duties and responsibilities as a computer in the east building, where all
ideas and realizations about human flight into space took place. Dorothy believes
that Katherine is the right person to do it, because if she cannot, then no one in the
building can.
Whereas in the West building, there are more than twenty intelligent women
who have potential, but in Dorothy's eyes, Katherine had the brightest light. This
is what made her not hesitate to recommend Kat to occupy this important position.
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It is one of the features in the way of character and characterization that was
initiated by Petrie and Boggs, namely characterization through the reaction of
other characters. That is a recognition by Dorothy.
Katherine's genius is also seen by how she survived a stressful work
environment caused by working pressure and the attitude of white people towards
her. Even though everyone saw her with only one eye, there was still someone
who believed in him that Katherine was capable. He is Al Harisson, the supervisor
in the Space Task Group division.
In the film Hidden Figures, Katherine conducted some count attempts she
did on the blackboard of her office. She tried all the formulations she knew to
calculate all the possibilities that could result from a collection of numbers to fly
someone into space. Seeing the results of Kat's work, Al Harrison became more
trusting and placed high expectations on her. Katherine also won the trust of Al to
double-check on Paul Stanford's work, who is her senior. In this example,
Katherine's genius was portrayed through her external actions and the reaction of
other characters to her. The following dialogue below showed that Harisson
believes and also admires Katherine's ability who can think fast in such tense
situations,
AL HARRISON
Our capsule‟s being altered daily. And we‟re orbiting the Earth
at...what‟s the speed now?
Harisson looks at Stafford. Who starts frantically flipping through the
report. Katherine saves him:
KATHERINE
17,544 miles per hour.
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All eyes shift to Katherine. Harrison looks at Katherine.
KATHERINE
At the time the rocket delivers the capsule into low space orbit.
Silence. This woman spoke. This black woman.
AL HARRISON
Katherine.
Katherine is frozen. He‟s serious. Harisson holds out a piece of chalk:
AL HARRISON
Have a go at it?
(Page 88-89, 01:23:55)
Al Harrison had never clearly stated that he relied on Katherine in her
calculations, but he also did not underestimate her. Harisson is one person who
has never seen someone based solely on their skin colour or gender; he sees their
ability to contribute to his division. Katherine could prove this; in the film, she
became the dark horse that determined the success of the human flight project into
space. This can be seen from the dialogue,
Katherine takes the chalk. Rises. Slowly walks to the board. All eyes
on her. She stands with her back to the room. A mess they can‟t see. She
takes a deep breath. And puts her chalk to the board. And...the numbers
churn out. She narrates:
KATHERINE
The Go point for re-entry is 2,990 miles from where we want Colonel
Glenn to land.
She references a coordinate map.
KATHERINE
If we assume that‟s The Bahamas...
She writes coordinates for The Bahamas.
KATHERINE
At 17,544 miles per hour upon reentry... At a descent angle of 46.56
degrees... That puts the landing zone at... 25.0667° North, 77.3333°
West.
(Page 88, 01:25:25)
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From this dialogue, we can see that the calculation that was successfully
solved by Katherine was very complicated and had many risks. Katherine risked
many things through these calculations, despite her career at NASA, she was also
responsible for bringing the astronaut home to earth alive. Under such pressure,
Kath was still able to complete her task well to make NASA officials impressed
with her abilities. She made rapid progress in this field because previous
experiments on space capsules often failed so that NASA became stuck and could
not surpass Russia in this sector. Therefore, thanks to Katherine, all those targets
could become a reality now.
Apart from her role in the film, and also how other characters perceive her,
the characteristics of a character can also be identified through their appearance.
In Petrie and Boggs theory, it is known as characterization through appearance.
This statement supported by the mise en scène theory conveyed by Giannetti
about how the appearance of an actor or actress can strengthen the character in
their role. One of them through costumes and accessories.
In this film, Katherine depicted using glasses, which indicates that she is a
smart. The glasses she wore reinforced the impression that she was a genius. This
is probably the assumption of most audiences by seeing how Katherine depicted
in the film. However, some others argue that glasses are not a symbol of
intelligence but the inability of the eye to read clearly without using tools. Both
are not wrong from the perspective of the film. It is because it all depends on the
perception of each person in seeing a detail. A complement-thing like this actually
does not have a definite meaning; it depends on the context. However, if we look
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at the various data that has been presented in this analysis, we can assume that the
glasses that Katherine was wearing helped to emphasize the impression that she
was a genius.
Picture 1.2 Katherine wears glasses which indicates that she is a smart person
Apart from the appearance, in this frame, we also see that the figure of
Katherine was shot from the bottom, thus showing a serious expression. That is
because this shot was taken when Katherine wrote her findings on the board about
the landing point of John Glenn's flight. This camera angle was taken from the
direction of the blackboard, so we can see that Katherine was very focused on
what she was doing. This kind of shooting aims to show that she has the power
and superior in their fields. Her power is the genius she has, and the filmmaker
wants us to think the same. Besides, we can see that the background where
Katherine was shot looks blurry, but we know that behind her, many people pay
attention to every move that she does. This blurred background is
cinematographically used to make objects in the foreground more stunning and
well-defined. The point is, by only displaying a picture that is not very clear about
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the NASA officials in the background that seems like watching Katherine, and she
placed in the foreground with a focused image, we can guess that the stars in this
scene are subjects in front. The filmmaker wants us to also focus on Katherine's
power whose explaining about her findings that change the history. This
difference in focus also added to the impression that Katherine was powerful in
her field, namely mathematics.
At the time with racist and sexist issues that were very thick, the existence
of African-American women was very rarely recognized because they occupy the
fourth or lowest position in the social caste hierarchy. If a Negro woman like
Katherine can be identified in such a way by a white man, it proves that she can
break through the stigma inherent in herself and other Negro women. This was
due to Katherine's genius that allowed her to open the gate of equality between
men and women, also white and black.
2. Vocal
Katherine was also a vocal and determined person. In this research, the
terms vocal defined as someone who was not afraid to express everything on her
mind, despite all the conditions. The example of Katherine‟s vocal character was
when she did not want to be considered weak just because she was a African-
American woman. This is clarified in the following scene,
KATHERINE
So, yes...they let women do some things over at NASA, Mr. Johnson.
But it‟s not because we wear skirts...it‟s because we wear glasses.
She walks off. Jim Johnson watches her go, he‟s speechless. And
very, very enticed.
(Page 41, 00:36:40)
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Picture 2.1 Katherine defence her negro-women fellows pride and integrity
Picture 2.2 Jim Johnson arguing with Katherine
From the following conversation between Katherine and Jim Johnson, it can
be seen that Katherine is an independent person and does not care about the
stigma that women cannot work and can only depend on men. Katherine proved to
Jim that even though she was a woman of color, she could work into the world of
white people not because she wore a skirt, but because of her intelligence and
abilities. In this context, the word 'skirt' itself refers to something related to beauty
or sex, that is why Katherine becomes angry because she feels Jim denigrate her
as a woman.
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In the perspective of the film, this shot also has its own meaning. The first
was the direction of shooting which showing Katherine's face behind Jim
Johnson's shoulder, and vice versa. This indicates that both have different views
about something; in this context, it is about the stigma that women cannot do the
work that is 'taxing.' From the dialogue above, we can see that Katherine has the
view that women can do whatever they want, while Jim is still in an old-fashioned
man that assumes that African-American women cannot do anything because of
their race and gender. The filmmaker emphasizes this atmosphere of contention
by taking shots from behind each other's shoulders. In addition, in a picture
showing Katherine's face, the camera photographed the subject using a full-front
shot aimed at creating the impression of Kath's confrontation with Jim. Both are
displayed through tight framing, which means there is tension in the scene.
Viewed from the angle of his camera, Katherine photographed from below
and was also placed near the top of the frame. Both mean that Katherine here has
power and authority. She felt entitled to defend her dignity, and protect the dignity
of other women who also worked like her. Katherine's vocality to express her
opinion is one of the results of the power and authority she has. Here the
filmmaker managed to create a tense atmosphere and was filled with energy and
strength from Katherine.
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Another example is Katherine is protest about Paul Stafford‟s work, whose
her coworker. Harrison asked Katherine to check Paul's work, but she found a lot
of markers that made it difficult to read. Paul was not a warm person to Katherine,
but her professionalism made her unafraid to say that she could not read Paul's
work. In Petrie & Bogg‟s theory of characterization, this scene can be classified as
characterization through external action and also dialogues.
KATHERINE
I cannot work on what I cannot see, Mr. Stafford.
Katherine fans the data sheets. A sea of black ink.
KATHERINE (CONT‟D)
It‟s illegible.
STAFFORD
The numbers have been confirmed by two Engineers in this
department, and myself. It‟s more-or less a dummy check.
(Page 45, 00:39:54)
Additional information, this scene occurred on the second day Kath worked
as a computer in the East building. However, she was not afraid to protest to her
new colleague, Stafford, about his work. The researcher identified this action as a
form of vocality. That was because Kath chose to directly confront her colleague
rather than allow herself to sink into confusion with obscure data. She did it
because this could slow her down in completing her other work. In Katherine's life
dictionary, she was not familiar with the term "Junior is prohibited from
questioning seniors". She will do whatever she thinks is right.
In another scene, this movie portrays Katherine as someone who was not
afraid to break the discrimination that had befallen her. This happens in the
company where she works. Katherine got everything in the world that was not
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worth it. She had to use old coffee-pots, and she also had to run half a mile to use
the bathroom. This treatment made her more annoyed when she was trying to do
her 'personal' things, but Al accused her of running away from her job. The peak
was when she 'blew up' everything in her head in front of everyone in her
division. It can be seen in the following dialogue,
KATHERINE
There‟s no bathroom here. There are no COLORED bathrooms in this
building or ANY building outside the West Campus. Which is half a mile
away! Did you know that? I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve
myself! And I can‟t take one of the handy bikes. Picture that, with my
uniform: skirt below the knees and my heels. And don‟t get me started
about the “simple pearl necklace” I can‟t afford. Lord knows you don‟t
pay “the coloreds” enough for that. And I work like a dog day and night,
living on coffee from a coffee pot half of you don‟t want me to touch! So
excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a few times a day!
(Page 65, 01:01:10)
Katherine no longer cared about what the world would think of her. She is
her attitude. Katherine Johnson is someone who is not afraid to speak out to
defend her rights and dignity. After that time, everyone's views were different
towards her. They began to listen and count on Katherine. A rare thing in a world
full of racism and sexism. Katherine's attitude that persisted with her
professionalism made her not afraid to speak up the ideas in her head.
3. Affectionate
Katherine is portrayed as a hero for her three daughters. She can complete
the role of father and mother at the same time. When her three children argued
over the bed, Katherine wisely advised them to know each other's portions.
Katherine didn't scold them; instead she showed a very gentle and loving side of
motherhood. This scene is shown in this dialogue,
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KATHERINE : Constance, Kathy, come sit.
Constance and Kathy sit on either side of her.
KATHERINE
I understand you want to be grown. And you want your own space. So
I‟m willing to change the rules—
JOYLETTE (10)
Momma!
Katherine shoots her a look. Joylette quiets.
KATHERINE
Whoever sleeps in that bed in, Joylette‟s place, will also dry the
dishes, take out the trash, and do all the rest of Joylette‟s choirs.
(Page 33-34, 00:29:56)
From this piece of dialogue, we can see that Katherine is full of affection
and also family-woman person. Even though she was tired of working all day,
feeling disappointment many times over the job that was not accepted by her boss,
she was still able to respond to her daughter's delinquency wisely. Katherine was
also described as having a very gentle and affectionate voice, which made her
very dear to her three children.
4. Emotional
Katherine is an emotional person, and she is easily touched by all the
feelings she experiences. Katherine didn't hesitate to cry if she was sad and angry
if she was disappointed. It is about an intense feeling.
The first evidence is when she disappointed with Harrison for throwing her
works to the trash. Katherine did not angry nor cursing; she stands still with
watery eyes. She tried to hold her tears flooding after seeing all her hard works are
no more than a vain. In the scene, the audience can see that the bin is full of the
work of Harrison's employees who cannot reach the target. This meant that many
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people shared the same fate as Katherine, but they were emotionally stronger than
Kat.
The next example can be seen when Katherine's three children reminded her
of her late husband. Rather than looking sad and down, she tried to strengthen her
children to become independent and grow into someone more mature. This is
shown in the scene,
KATHERINE (CONT‟D)
So, we‟re going to be strong. We‟re done crying about it. We have to
all do our part now. Which means you have to go to bed like big girls. On
your own. Understand?
ALL THREE SIBLINGS
Yes, Momma.
(Page 35, 00:30:52)
In this dialogue, Katherine played this dialogue with teary eyes, she did not
cry, but she looked sad. Even so, she must still strengthen her child to be able to
deal with it. We can classify this kind of act by 'emotional' because she was easily
touched. Her husband had died a long time ago, but when she remembered him,
Katherine still cried a lot. That is what made her have an emotional character.
The next argument that shows how emotional Katherine in Hidden
Figures is when she fired from the East Building. The existence of IBM or
International Business Machine" as if double-edged sword, its sophistication can
facilitate the real work, but it also makes manual labor useless because they
cannot keep up with the machine. Katherine was one of the people affected; she
had to be dismissed as a computer in the East building because she felt she was no
longer needed. Harrison tried to say it carefully, but Kat could no longer contain
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her disappointment, she left the office without saying goodbye. As the following
dialogue shows,
AL HARRISON (CONT‟D)
Let‟s have you report back to the West Group for now. We‟ll see if we
can find another assignment.
KATHERINE
Thank you, sir.
All the effort. All the work. Gone in a split. Katherine stands.
AL HARRISON
I‟m sorry about this, Katherine. It‟s out of my hands, if you can
believe it.
KATHERINE
I understand.
Katherine walks out. She does not say good-bye.
(Page 102, 01:38:51)
In this scene, we can see that Katherine was shocked and disappointed. She
thought that all the effort and time she gave for her work would be enough to
maintain her position. However, her contribution was in vain because she had to
be willing to be dismissed. In Petrie and Bogg‟s theory, this kind of dialogue
included in the example of characterization through dialogue and also external
action. We cannot hear the dialogue, but we only can see the tears through her
action which makes this scene shows her emotionality.
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5. Loyal
In this film, Katherine is portrayed as someone who always cares about her
friends. Mary, Dorothy, and Kat are still together in their ups and downs. They
even share their struggles. Katherine always tried to help people who were in
trouble; that is why the researcher identify this character as loyal. Many scenes
show this character, and the following snippets of dialogue can show the
solidarity side of a Katherine Johnson.
Katherine loved jokes, and this was one way to entertain her friend. This
was shown when Dorothy expressed her sadness about her application to be a
supervisor rejected because she was afro-American. The atmosphere in the car
became tense, but Mary and Katherine tried to break the ice with jokes.
DOROTHY
I sound like a supervisor, don‟t I?
Dorothy smiles wryly. Mary and Katherine breathe.
MARY
A mean, old salty one.
KATHERINE
Riddled with authority. No question.
(Page 32, 00:28:16)
Despite the fact that Katherine‟s sense of humor which was rather stiff, she
tried to cheer up her friends who also had problems in their heads. All three have
just had a bad day, but they are still trying to strengthen each other. According to
Petrie and Boggs, this characterization of Katherine Johnson can be seen through
the external action done by her.
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B. Katherine Johnson’s Self-Actualization Revealed in Hidden Figures
Movie
One can be said to reach the level of self-actualization when all basic needs
are met or at least are satisfied. As explained in the related theories section, the
level of self-actualization is when a person can be him/herself by is accepting all
the deficiencies that exist in the world. At that life stage, someone classified as an
ultimately 'human.
This part deals with human development- which takes part as Katherine
Johnson's journey to reach self-actualization. Her journey separated from her
endeavor, which began with the lowest part of human needs: starting from
physiological needs, security needs, love, and belonging needs, self-esteem needs,
and self-actualization. This study uses Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory.
1. Physiological needs
This most basic need is the first stage that must be fulfilled because it is
closely related to physical needs such as food, shelter, and such. In Hidden
Figures movie, the character Katherine Johnson is portrayed as someone whose
basic needs have been fulfilled. It was because she had a decent home and a good
life. Katherine and her family could eat without fear of having nothing else the
next day. Her work at NASA also significantly supported her economy, although
she was a single parent with three daughters and a mother.
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Picture 1.0 Katherine and her family have their dinner in living room
In this picture, we can see that Katherine family can have dinner together in
their living room. We can conclude that Katherine has fulfilled her physiological
needs. That is because Katherine and her family can eat without difficulty. They
are not portrayed as families who have to think about their expenses; that is
because in the film, they never talked about finance or they struggle in gaining
money. Besides, the scene of them eating together in the living room also proves
that they have a decent house. From both aspects, the researcher sees that
Katherine has fulfilled the basic needs of her life, starting from the financial point,
to the residential property.
In terms of its presence in the film, we can see that Katherine did have a
home that could be said to be decent. The setting with sturdy walls and pleasant
home interiors implies that she is a prosperous person. Besides, the background on
this frame also supports objects in the foreground, namely food, which is also a
sign that Katherine lives well, like what have been explained before. In this
screenshot we can also see that this scene displays symmetrical framing, which is
when the right and left sides of the screen are balanced. There are two lights, and
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two people on each side with Katherine in the middle as the center in this scene
shows that this symmetry technique is used. The aim was that the filmmaker could
emphasize to the audience if Katherine's life were on a stable and balanced level.
2. Security needs
This need is the second level that must be fulfilled next because people will
be much happier in life when their lives are far from threats and distress.
Based on the film, Katherine Johnson only gets racism in her office through
the differences in public facilities such as toilets, coffee pots, and cafeterias.
Although psychologically, she was not comfortable with this racistic treat, she
considers this to be an ingrained culture in society. Because at that time, most of
the people believe that the lowest caste in the social hierarchy is black. In Kevin
R. Carriere‟s journal entitled Threats to Human Rights: A General Review, he
writes that threats are categorized into two, namely realistic-threat and symbolic-
threat. The realistic threat is a threat that threatens a person's life and causes fear,
such as murder and riots. While the symbolic threat is felt when one's values or
morals are threatened. In this film, Katherine does not seem to get racism in the
form of extreme threats. It was not shown that she was threatened in terms of both
her life and career. She was only described as getting unpleasant treatment with
various facilities she received such as an old-fashioned coffee pot, basic cafetaria,
and not-feasible rest room.
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Despite of getting this „different‟ treatment, Katherine still has the right to
work and be free to do activities both in the office and in the community. It can be
seen in the following scene,
Picture 2.0 Katherine shows the white cop her NASA clearance
KATHERINE
We sure do. We‟re just on our way to work. At Langley. NASA, sir.
Dorothy specifies, holds up her NASA badge.
DOROTHY
We do a great deal of the calculating getting our rockets into space.
(Page 7 00:04:51)
In the picture and dialogue, Katherine and her two friends met white police
during their way to go to Langley, then they showed their NASA ID badge to him
which indicates that they have a job. Even though the three are women of colour,
they still fulfill their security needs by freely working and doing activities without
a single threat that can endanger them, including the white police who were with
them.
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In this scene, the filmmaker uses the tight framing technique, which implies
that there is tension between the women and the white cop. It might have been
triggered by conditions that often happened at that time, where African-American
people often got into trouble with white police. Maybe this scene also showed the
same thing regarding the concern that Katherine would be arrested or exposed to
further problems with the police, even though none of those bad things were
happened.
According to Maslow, security needs also encompass employment, health,
and property. Katherine has fulfilled her employment needs by being a
mathematician at NASA. Her work indirectly complements two other basic needs,
namely health and property. As explained earlier, Katherine already had a house
as her personal property. Besides, we can say that with her work, Kat can also
guarantee the health of herself and her family. It is because she can afford medical
expenses, so that she can avoids various psychological and physical threats that
attack her. These three aspects also play a role in preventing a person from threats
such as hunger, pain, and misery. From that explanation, we can conclude that
Katherine has fulfilled her other basic needs, namely security.
3. Love and Belonging needs
The third need that have to be fulfilled before someone reaches the level of
self-actualization is to have love and belongingness. A human being is a social
creature who needs friends, family, and other people who love them. This feeling
is what makes a person more alive, namely, love.
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In Hidden Figures, Katherine is someone who has a lot of affection for
everyone. As explained earlier, Katherine was an affectionate and motherly
person, which made her always surrounded by people who loved her. Katherine
has two friends who are very loyal to her, who always support her and hold her
back in all the ups and downs she experienced. They are Mary Jackson and
Dorothy Vaughan. Katherine also has a family that has always been a 'home' for
her when she is sad or painful. The presence of her mother, three children,
Constance, Joylette, and Kathy, and also her husband, Jim Johnson, made
Katherine feel stronger than anyone. This love is what made her grow into a
figure full of compassion.
Kathy pulls out a picture she drew of Katherine in space. Hands it to
her.
KATHY
You could fly to space too if you wanted to, Momma. You could be an
astronaut.
Katherine‟s touched. She smiles at her babies. Kisses them.
KATHERINE
Thank you, baby. Now this time...really go to bed.
I love you, baby
(Page 36, 00:32:02)
In the visualization above, Katherine is portrayed to have made a picture of
herself inside the rocket headed for the moon by Kathy. Katherine received it with
a happy and touched heart, then she said good night to her three daughters and
said: "I love you, baby." It showed her children's affection for Katherine and vice
versa. From this example, the close relationship between mother and child is
strong between Katherine and her three children.
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4. Esteem Needs
The next basic need that must be met before someone reaches the level of
self-actualization is esteem needs. As explained earlier in the related theories
section, a person will arrive at the stage of achieving esteem needs when he/she
get self-respect, confidence, competence, and the knowledge that others hold them
in high esteem. In this film, Katherine Johnson already described fulfilling the
esteem needs. It is because of the genius mind she has that many people have
recognized. Katherine Johnson is highly recognized for her discoveries and
calculations that could lead the first American astronauts to be able to circle the
orbit. This achievement makes her have high confidence because of her
extraordinary competence and knowledge.
Picture 4.0 (01:56:46) Katherine managed to deliver NASA to its success
In the picture above, we can see that Al Harrison shook Katherine's hand
after her calculation succeeded in bringing John Glenn around the orbit three
times and landing perfectly in the Bahamas sea according to her predictions. That
success was the highest award Katherine had ever achieved in her life because,
finally, she managed to participate in the most critical project in her life. This
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success made her confidence and self-esteem increase because she succeeded in
proving her abilities, as well as her worthiness in the division. One of the things
that increased her self-esteem was when everyone in the division congratulated
her and thanked her.
In this scene, the filmmaker uses the background to explain what happened
to the foreground section, as has been revealed, that this part tells when Katherine
managed to 'fly' John Glenn to cross orbit three times and returned safely to earth.
Everyone in the background looked at the screen and graphics with pleasure and
pride, emphasizing that the results of Katherine's hard work had succeeded in
making history at NASA. That explains why Al Harrison shook Katherine's hand
and thanked her.
5. Self-Actualization
As explained earlier, after fulfilling the four basic human needs, one will get
to the highest level, namely self-actualization. Self-actualization includes self-
fulfillment, the realization of all one's potential, and a desire to be creative in the
full sense of the word. Self-actualizing people maintain their feelings of self-
esteem even when they receive a rejection, scolding, and insults from others. In
other words, self-actualizing people do not always depend on the satisfaction that
is created by others, but they depend on the basic needs that they have from birth
to the present. They express their basic human needs and do not allow them to be
suppressed by culture, because self-actualizing people will always be themselves.
In the movie Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson shows some characteristics
of someone who has reached the stage of self-actualization. From fifteen tentative
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characteristics that Abraham Maslow has provided, the researcher found ten of
them are matched with Katherine Johnson character. We can see this in the
following analysis.
a. Katherine’s Efficient Perception of Reality
According Maslow, people with an efficient perception of reality are
someone who lives their life without burden. It is because they accept reality and
also change (2006, p. 269). They welcome doubt, uncertainty, and not afraid of
strange paths that is probably not expected by other people.
In Hidden Figures movie, Katherine Johnson is a person with such quality.
She can deal with conditions that some people think are unfavorable. She is an
Afro-American woman who gets a lot of discrimination in her life, from the toilet,
coffee pot, to the canteen. Katherine had all the improper facilities, in contrast to
the white people in her office. However, she was neither sad nor angry; Kat had
accepted that it was indeed her fate to be an Afro-American to receive this
injustice. It does not mean Katherine is comfortable with it, but because she
cannot change the color of her skin, so it is better off living her life.
This was shown in the scene when Katherine wanted to fill her cup with
coffee and saw that a traditional teapot had replaced the coffee pot. Instead of
getting angry about the treatment she received, she chose to remain silent and
continue her work. It proves that she has a realistic personality, which can accept
the state of herself and her environment.
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Picture 5.1 (00:39:25) Katherine sees the different between
coloured’s coffee pot and white’s coffee pot
The scene illustrates the different facilities received by Katherine and her
white office colleagues. She got an old-fashioned coffee pot while her colleague
got a more sophisticated and better conventional coffee pot. This scene had no
dialogue, but when we see at her gestures in the movie, we can say that she was
not surprised by the treatment she got. However, she chooses to take it and keep
doing her job.
In this scene, the audience's view will be focused on the difference in
Katherine's coffee jar and other employees in the office. Hers is very old-
fashioned while next to it is the most modern coffee jar of its time. Then we see
Katherine's face in the background, stunned but also not doing anything. From
there, we can see that the composition created from this frame in the foreground,
which explains the background scene, which is about the reason for Katherine's
sad face. Besides, the use of symmetrical frames in this scene also serves to show
a drastic difference in things.
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In this case, the realistic or practical side of Katherine is shown in how she
understands the reality that life does not benefit her. Even though she was
mistreated, Katherine was not angry, or at least she restrained herself. She
accepted it because she realized that this was indeed a cruel world for someone
with the color of her skin, especially during the outbreak of the cold war. She
understands very well and accepts whatever is happening wherever she walks on.
This self-actualization is closely related to the characteristics of a genius.
Geniuses are usually more realistic than people with average intelligence because
they live by facts; so they can understand reality better. Geniuses don't often
blame the situation, because they know everything happens because there is a
reason behind it. Therefore, the researcher can say that her characteristic supports
the realisticness that Katherine has.
b. Acceptance of Self, Others, and Natures
In line with the characteristics of self-actualizers people above, besides
being able to accept reality, she must also receive herself, others, and her
environment. Someone can accept herself as she is, unconditionally. Both the
perception of reality and the acceptance of self, others, and natures features are
almost the same, but this feature also adds to one's acceptance of others. People
who have reached the stage of self-actualization will not easily criticize someone
or insult them. A person who has self-actualization can see that everyone has their
uniqueness.
In this film, Katherine has fulfilled this aspect. This was proven during a
scene showed a debate between Jim Johnson and Katherine about women who
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worked for NASA. The dialogue showing her acceptance of self, others, and
natures can be seen in previous part of this research (p.42). One of the dialogue
that explain this feature is
Katherine
I‟ll have you know, I was the first Negro female student at West
Virginia University Graduate School. On any given day I analyze the
manometer levels for air displacement, friction and velocity and
compute over 10,000 calculations by cosine, square root and lately
Analytic Geometry. By hand. There are 20 bright, highly capable
Negro women in the West Computing Group. And we‟re proud to be
doing our part for the country.
(Page 42. 00:37:26) In this dialogue, Katherine then explained that there were dozens of women
with bright minds working for NASA, and they were proud of it. Katherine tried
to defend the self-esteem of her colleagues. She made Jim realize that he had been
wrong in judging others. In this dialogue, Katherine indirectly shows her self-
actualization, which is acceptance of self, others, and nature. When she said that
she was a female nigger, the researcher categorized it as acceptance of herself.
She proudly noted that she was the first negro female student at West Virginia
Graduate School, which meant that she was proud of her achievements with the
color of her skin.
Next is about accepting others. When Katherine said that 'there are 20
bright, highly capable Negro women', Katherine showed a defense action against
her fellow computers at NASA. By saying 'bright and highly capable women'
Katherine tried to praise her friends in the west group as people who were as
smart and talented as she was.
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DOROTHY
Yes, ma'am. Katherine's the gal for that. She can handle any numbers
you put in front of her.
(Page 16)
According to Dorothy's words when she was asked to recommend someone
to fill vacancies as a computer in the east building, we can see that Dorothy put so
much faith in Kath‟s potency. From this dialogue we can assume that Kat is
actually have better skill in Mathematics than the other.
We can see that Katherine is the most intelligent person in the division.
However, she did not boast. She tried to stay humble and down to earth. It shows
that Katherine can accept others and even uphold their dignity though they are
below her. The example used in this feature is also used to show one of
Katherine's characteristics, namely vocals. The reason why the author uses the
same case is that in this dialogue, we can see that Katherine not only dared to
voice her opinions but also defended her friends. This also shows how she can
accept herself and others in front of Jim Johnson, someone she has just met. from
this example, the researcher can clearly state that Katherine accepted herself and
others, even trying to protect the dignity of all.
c. Katherine’s Spontaneity and Simplicity
According to Maslow, spontaneity, and simplicity means that someone who
had reach self-actualization is still had an instinct to be defensive even though
they are trying to reach the level of perfection (2006, p. 290). Spontaneity also can
be defined as unpredictable actions.
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As explained in the previous part that Katherine has a vocal nature; that is,
she is not afraid to express what she thinks or feels. This trait also supports
Katherine's spontaneity in acting. She tends not to care about how people view
her; she will say what she wants to say and do what she wants to do. Some
instances of Katherine's spontaneity as a manifestation of her actualization were
the first when she spoke up about the reason she was always 'on a break for forty-
minutes a day.' The dialogue that showing the example of Katherine‟s spontaneity
can be seen in previous page of this study (p.45). In the scene, Katherine
spontaneously explained that she was never 'not serious about her work.' She is a
person who has a high commitment to her work, but her nature makes her have to
leave her job to relieve herself.
Picture 5.3. Katherine let her emotion flows in front of her supervisor
KATHERINE
... knows you don‟t pay “the coloreds enough for that. And I work
like a dog day and night, living on coffee from a coffee pot half of you
don‟t want me to touch! So excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a
few times a day!
(Page 65, 01:01:51)
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In this piece of dialogue, we can see that Katherine was spontaneously
venting her resentment at people's views of her, as well as with the misfortune of
living in a society that was cruel to differences in skin color. She said that people
did not seem to be adequately paid, even though she worked day and night. Her
frustration with every bad facility she had to receive was also overwhelmed at the
time. Katherine spontaneously let out what was in her heart. She is no longer
holding back with all the different treatments she has received.
The composition in the presentation of this scene uses symmetrical framing,
which shows that there is a confrontation between Katherine and Al Harrison.
This is also supported by the placement of the subject in the area near the top of
the frame, which indicates if Katherine is voicing her aspirations in the scene.
Besides, the angle of shooting from the bottom also shows that Katherine has
power there. She dared to confront her boss by issuing her aspirations in front of
everyone in the office because she had the power and spontaneity for it all.
The second example is when she spontaneously told Paul Stafford that she
wanted to jump into John Glenn's trajectory. Stafford, who heard it seemed
surprised because this project was essential. She did everything possible so that
she could participate in flying humans into space, including by asking things that
were 'almost' impossible for Stafford, someone who had never been warm to her.
This spontaneity arises from within herself as proof that she is capable and worthy
of being in the Space Task Group. This scene showed in the following dialogue
below.
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KATHERINE
I‟d like to get a jump on John Glenn‟s trajectory.
Stafford slows down. What!?
PAUL STAFFORD
Do you have any idea what you‟re asking?
Katherine won‟t be deterred. She digs in.
KATHERINE
An orbital launch with an Atlas Rocket is going to take time.
(Page 76)
Katherine's request to follow John Glenn's trajectory was based because she
wanted to explore her abilities further by taking on new challenges. for that,
Katherine spontaneously asked Stafford to participate in the Friendship 7 project
involving John Glenn so that she could learn more about the human launch into
space mathematically.
The last example is a scene that shows that she spontaneously challenges
Paul Stafford, who always talks about protocols at work.
Picture 5.5 Katherine challenges Stafford to let her join the meeting
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KATHERINE
There‟s no protocol for a man circling the Earth either, sir
(Page 83, 01:20:21)
In this piece of dialogue, Katherine tried to persuade Stafford so that she
could attend Colonel Glenn's trajectory preparation briefing. Still, Stafford refused
it because no protocol said women could participate in the meeting. However,
Katherine instead challenged Stafford by saying that no protocol states that only
men can circle space. Katherine directed this spontaneity because she felt that all
of her work depended on the briefing, she also felt disgusted with all the protocols
that restricted women. That's what made her break the rule.
This scene also uses symmetrical framing to show the confrontation that is
happening between Katherine and Paul. Shooting from an angle parallel to the
two emphasized that both Katherine and Paul had the same position and strength
here, regardless of junior and senior status, both felt they had to jump right into
the project. That was what made Katherine dare to challenge Paul on this
protocol. Besides, the filmmaker places them in a loose frame to emphasize that
there is freedom there for Katherine to take part in this briefing.
From these three examples, it is crystal clear that Katherine has had the
personality of spontaneity and simplicity as people who have reached the phase of
self-actualization. Some of the examples mentioned above also have to do with
the characteristics of Katherine Johnson, namely vocal. It was because she was
not afraid and never hesitated to bring her thoughts out. She is very unexpected in
expressing her feelings because she has no doubts and burdens in her.
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d. Katherine’s Problem Centering Mind
Problem centering is the ability of an individual to center his/her problem, to
be able to concentrate on an issue or job which she regards necessary. Hence,
once a person is committed to a particular job, she must accomplish the task until
the end. Still, the person also has to have the ability to solve the problem she
faces. Therefore, she will not get distracted even by a temptation that may get rid
of her life from a problem.
In the Hidden Figures movie, Katherine portrayed as someone who always
concentrates on her calculation. She can solve every number that is given to her.
However, in John Glenn's trajectory, she finds the difficulty in formulating the
new math that had not yet been discovered. For that, Katherine focused her energy
and mind to find the answer. She repeatedly tried to write down her findings to
test her assumptions about the mysterious formula. Many of her coworkers looked
at Katherine with strange and confused looks, not only because they were still not
accustomed to seeing Afro-American people between them but also about what
she had written on the board. However, Katherine did not care; she remained
focused on the problem that she tried to find the answer.
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Picture 5.6. (01:33:06) Katherine finds out the math to lead John Glenn’s
trajectoty is Euler’s method
This scene has no dialogue, but we can see that in the end, Katherine got the
results of what she was doing. She discovered that John Glenn's calculation was
not new math, but an ancient mathematical formula called Euler's method.
From this example, the point of her problem centering is when Katherine
does not care about how other people view her, she still tries to focus on the
problem she is dealing with. This is because of a genius characteristic of
Katherine who makes her motivated to complete what is her job, and in this case,
is to find a calculation that can lead John Glenn to circling the orbit. She can sort
out which ones she should pay attention to and which ones she ignores to achieve
her goals. In other words, her characteristic that a genius has helped Katherine
achieve her self-actualization, which is problem centering.
Here, the filmmaker uses the foreground to explain what's happening in the
background. By making the camera more focused on the background, then as an
audience, we can see that the core of this scene is about what Katherine did. In
this scene, Katherine was seen writing down her other findings and witnessed by
her coworkers in awe.
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e. Katherine’s Detachment: Need for Privacy
According to Maslow, detachment is the ability of an individual to rely on
their knowledge and potentials. They are not affected by external circumstances
nor other's mindset. Like the two different devices that have been explained, it is
about self-acceptance so that someone feels that he/she is enough.
In this film, Katherine Johnson could rely on herself to accomplish what she
had targeted even without the help of others. An example is when she succeeded
in solving calculations for Gus Grissom's trajectory concerning the orbital atlas.
She had never gotten that information before from anyone else, but she could find
out for herself through work that was covered up by Paul Stafford. This
explanation can be seen in the following scene.
AL HARRISON
And you figured that out with this? Half the data is redacted.
KATHERINE
What‟s there tells the story if you read between the lines. The distance
from launch to orbit is known. The Redstone mass is known. The
Mercury Capsule weight is known. And the speeds are there in the
data.
Impressive.
AL HARRISON
Then how did you know about the Atlas rocket? That‟s not math. That
data‟s not here. Like he said, it‟s classified.
KATHERINE
I held it up to the light.
(Page 49, 00:42:12)
In this scene, it appears that Katherine made her supervisor, Harrison,
fascinated by how she could find what has been the keyword why experiments on
space capsules always fail, which is Atlas Rocket. Even though Stafford flooded
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the paper with ink and classified it as redacted data, Katherine was still able to
solve the problem by reading in the direction of the light. So she can see the
writing behind the ink.
In this case, the detachment can be seen from how she relies on herself to
find this information. Katherine only relies on knowledge and also her potential to
find out the truth. Again, this method could be done because of Katherine's
genius, which made her have a lot of reason and logic to solve her problem, even
though she only had a little information that she had collected herself. This is
because she looks beyond the lines.
f. Katherine’s Interpersonal Relationship
The idea of interpersonal relations of self-actualizing persons is the ability
to build a strong and close relationship with other people. This relationship can be
based on a similar background and also love. This relationship is usually quite
deep and intense. Therefore, people with self-actualization tend to prefer to build
relationships with healthy people as friends, and avoid intimate interpersonal toxic
relationships.
As explained earlier, Katherine has fulfilled one of her basic needs, which is
love and belongingnes, which means she is full of love. Moreover, we can say that
it is not difficult for her to build this interpersonal relationship; it is proven by the
strong bond she shares with the people she loves. They are her two best friends,
Mary and Dorothy, a family relationship with her three daughters and her mother,
and also a love affair with Jim Johnson. They were the ones who made Katherine
able to actualize herself in terms of how she could build relationships with others.
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g. Katherine’s Peak Experience
According to the self-actualization theory, people who have ever
experienced unique and unforgettable experiences must have reflected their
experiences in their lives and learned from that. They use their experiences to
become the teacher to develop them into more qualified individuals. In other
words, peak experience urged someone to be more mature and independent
because they already learn something from the past.
In this film, Katherine has encountered „peak experience‟ in her lifetime.
This was when Katherine insisted on attending the John Glenn's trajectory
preparatory briefing. She did it because the calculations for the go / no go project
were always changing, even every five minutes, so Kat had to repeat her work to
keep it up to date. This makes Kat learn from her mistakes. Rather than having to
change her work continuously, she tries to take part in briefings so she can keep
up with changes in numbers in the space capsule. It can be seen from the
following scene.
Pigure 5.8 (01:18:42) Katherine asks Stafford to let her join the briefings
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KATHERINE (CONT‟D)
Sir. I if can attended these briefings, I would be more useful to the
project.
STAFFORD
Pentagon briefings are closed door.
KATHERINE
Yes. But you know without the latest information, we can‟t keep up. I
need the changes as they occur. As you said, it‟s a pin head.
In short, the peak experience that Katherine faced was when she learned
from her mistakes, which is not to let her progress be left behind. She has to do
everything she can, so that she can do her work to the fullest, even if she has to
insist on attending briefings.
This peak experience also occurs because Katherine's characteristics are
genius and vocal. Genius, because she quickly realizes what she has to do, with
the pressure of work and very rapid changes in numbers, it is not very easy for
someone to stay sane and think calmly. However, Katherine could do it. She knew
that she had to take this briefing so that she could stay up to date with any changes
that would later affect her work. While vocals play a role when she dares to ask
Stafford to allow her to take part in the briefing, even though Stafford did not
immediately grant her request, yet, Katherine didn't give up. She already knew
what she had to do, and how she did it, so that she would do it.
In terms of cinematography, this scene uses tight framing to emphasize tense
and a sense of confinement. Where she feels helpless if she cannot follow the
flight project. Katherine even came to the point where she had to beg Stafford to
allow her to take part in this assignment. Katherine, who is usually portrayed as
someone that powerful in every act or thought, is described as being helpless in
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this scene. This is proven by placing it in the background with a position very
close to the bottom of the frame. It symbolizes she who has no power, but this too,
is the turning point for her.
h. Katherine’s Creativity
Like humans in general, Katherine also has creativity and talent. That is the
talent in calculating and combining numbers. Katherine could even count more
than 10,000 mathematical formulas by hand. It can be seen in the following scene.
Katherine
.....on any given day I analyze the manometer levels for air
displacement, friction and velocity and compute over 10,000
calculations bycosine, square root and lately Analytic Geometry. By
hand....
(Page 41, 00:37:08)
Katherine's creativity is manifested in the form of her intelligence. Kat can
combine numbers in order to find formulas that not many people ever imagine.
For example is when she discover the euler‟s method for John Glenn‟s trajectory,
like what the researcher have explained before.
This was supported by her genius, which made Katherine able to have high
creativity in combining numbers and formulas. She can calculate more than
10,000 methods using only her hands. Human creativity is not always limited to
art or activities that use the right brain, but also the left brain. For Katherine,
counting was a way to show her creativity because she felt happy while doing it.
i. Katherine’s Sense of Humour
Katherine had a stiff sense of humor, even cringe. However, all the things she
did was to cheer up her friend, who was feeling down. Katherine's sense of humor
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was not the type of joke that looked down on others or herself, but a mild laugh.
The goal is not to make people burst into laughter, but to keep her friend
entertained and forget the problem for a moment.
Picture 5.10 (00:48:54) Katherine danced with Mary and Dorothy
This was evidenced by a scene that explained how Katherine tried to follow
Mary to dance even though she felt not so confident. She did it so that Mary
would be happy again after all the problems she had faced, as evidenced after
Katherine pushed herself a little more, Mary looks more cheerfully, and everyone
also entertained.
In this scene, it was seen that Katherine is in a loose and symmetrical frame
that signifies freedom. When dancing, the filmmaker creates an atmosphere of
peace, without the pressure of work or other confusing things. That is why
Katherine seemed so free and happy here.
Katherine's humorous side is in line with her characteristics, which is loyal. In
her self-actualization, each jokes that Katherine throws only aims to make her
friend cheer up again. She tried to package her caring and solidarity into a joke
that would brighten someone's day.
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j. Katherine’s Democratic Mind
According to Maslow's theory, Katherine Johnson is a democratic person. In
this context, it means that she respects everyone, even if they are different from
her or also people who never treated her well. She never distinguishes one person
from another, and she is always polite and gentle.
For example is when Jim demeaned her as a woman who cannot handle
something pretty-heady-stuff,' she tried to control her emotions and keep being
polite. This dialogue can be seen as following,
JIM JOHNSON
I was just surprised something so...taxing-
Katherine stops him.
KATHERINE
Mr. Johnson, it may be best if you quit talking right now.
(Page 41, 00:36:50)
In the scene, Katherine tried to keep her tone down and use polite language
even though she was offended by Jim's words. Rather than being angry or
nagging, she prefers to explain what happened in a gentle but firm voice.
According to the researcher, it can be categorized as Katherine Johnson has a
democratic mind because she respects everyone. She tries to remain calm and
does not hurt someone's feelings because she respects all people who have
different skin colors with her and those who do no good with her. She did not
overflow it, but she tried to teach him a lesson with her firmness.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This thesis examines Katherine Johnson‟s self-actualization seen in her
characteristic in Hidden Figures movie. This research consists of two problem
formulations, which are the characteristic of Katherine Johnson and the revelation
of her self actualization.
This study centers on Katherine Johnson. She is pictured as being genius,
vocal, affectionate, emotional, and loyal character in Hidden Figures movie.
Katherine is a mathematician at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), who was one of those who made history for the world of
American space flight at the time. From all the scenes she starred in, the first
impression we could take from Kat was about her genius.
Besides her excellent career at work, Katherine is also a good mother at
home. She is motherly and affectionate. In this film, we can see how her children
love Katherine very much from the heart. Katherine is also an emotional person.
She is very easily touched.
Although Katherine is described as an affectionate and emotional person,
she is also a fierce and brave person to voice her opinion. She can not hold herself
when racism that occurs in her environment keep testing her nerves. She is
courageous because she is right, and that is what makes her a vocal person.
The last characteristic is loyal. Katherine has two friends who are always
in trouble and are happy for her, namely Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson.
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Katherine will do everything she can to keep her friends entertained even though
they are facing their stuff, which stressed them out.
In her journey during the film Hidden Figures, researchers analyze that
Katherine had fulfilled her five basic needs. The first is physiological needs that
relate to the primary human daily needs. Katherine had fulfilled all that because
she had a place to live, clean air, and food that gave her the energy to carry on
with her daily life. Besides, Kat is also free; in a sense, she does not get threats
from anywhere. She is open to carrying out her daily activities without fear of
arrest or death. Katherine also has a job that can guarantee her health and property
that she uses for shelter like a home. Hence from that, we can say that Katherine
has fulfilled her other basic needs, namely securities. The third need is love and
belongingness. It was explained that one of Katherine's characteristics is
affectionate, which means she has no difficulty in fulfilling her love needs.
Next is the esteem-needs that she has also fulfilled. That was when she
successfully participated in John Glenn's flight project into space, and she even
played a significant role in the success of the trajectory. Last is the need for self-
actualization. In Maslow's theory, a person can achieve this last basic need when
he has fulfilled all four previous needs, and Katherine has done it. From the
fifteen features that Maslow has provided as a benchmark for one's actualization,
Katherine has reached ten points.
The ten self-actualization features Katherine has achieved can be described
as follows. Kat is someone who has an efficient perception of reality. She is also
someone who can accept not only herself, but also others, and natures. Then
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Katherine was a spontaneous person. Her vocal nature is one of the things that
support this self-actualization. Katherine had no qualms about expressing her
opinions or feelings, which was what made her vocals encourage her spontaneity.
The fourth feature she has fulfilled is her ability to focus on the problems she is
facing. Katherine could choose which ones she should prioritize and work on first,
and get rid of those that didn't matter. The fifth feature is Katherine's detachment.
She is someone whose ability is reliable.
The sixth is interpersonal relationships. Katherine is someone who can
establish relationships with others. It is supported by her characteristic, namely
affectionate, so that she can love and be loved both by her family and friends.
Furthermore, Katherine has also reached a peak experience, which means she has
been able to receive and learn from experience. Katherine is also a creative
person. She can calculate and combine various mathematical formulas to get a
new method that can be used to facilitate her work at NASA. The ninth is
Katherine's sense of humor. Even though she had a stiff sense of humor,
Katherine was still able to comfort her friends who were in distress without
putting down themselves or others. Last, Katherine is a democratic people. She
never discriminates against others in skin color or sex.
From both analyzes, the researcher can conclude that Katherine is in her
process of self-actualization because she has fulfilled ten features out of fifteen.
The fulfillment of her basic needs also supports this self-actualization, according
to Abraham H. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, and her characteristics
in Hidden Figures movie.
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Abrams, M., & Harpham, G. G. (2015). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Belmont:
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Barry, P. (2002). The Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester University
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Boggs, J. M., & Petrie, D. W. (2006). The Art of Watching Films seventh edition.
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Christianingrum, T. I. (2018). The Struggle of African-American Women against
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Giannetti, L. (2014). Understanding Movies - Thirteenth Edition. Boston: Pearson
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Ikawati, L. (2018). Afro-American women discrimination on Hidden figures
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Phillips, W. H. (2009). Film, an Introduction the fourth edition. New York:
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Rohrberger, M., & Woods, S. H. (1971). Reading and Writing about Literature.
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APPENDIX
In 1943, in the midst of World War II, the Langley Memorial Aeronautical
Laboratory in Hampton, VA seeks to hire hundreds of junior physicist and
mathematicians to help in the war effort by supporting engineers in performing
aeronautical research as part of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (the NASA). At that time, mathematicians, who are commonly
called “computers,” are almost all women. Further jim Crow laws are still in place
in the South, which means that Hampton is a segregated place. Langley hires
some colored women computers, but places them in a segregated office called
West Area.
There are three colored female characters which highlighted in Hidden
Figures movie. Those are Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy
Vaughan. All three are work for National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), however the one that would be explained deeper was Katherine
Coleman Johnson.
Katherine Coleman (coleman is Katherine‟s last name before she married)
is described as a genius child. She got a scholarship to enter the West Virginia
Institute, which is the best school for children of African-American descent.
There, Katherine completed her education by majoring in mathematics. She also
took the master's program in the same field during the summer, but he was
dropping out to start a family. Among that educational background, Katherine
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later joined NASA as a mathematician after she learned about that job from her
relatives. From this job, she met her two best friends, namely Dorothy and Mary.
At around the time, Katherine was indeed known as an excellent in her field.
She even got a recommendation from Dorothy to fill the position as a computer in
the East building, a place where everything about launches and plans for human
flight into space began. It is because of her genius. On her first day in her new
office, a white man, one desk over stands up and walks away when she greets
him. She ignores his rudeness, knowing if she's going to survive at Langley, she
has to be resilient. Katherine was the first people of color to work in the East
Building, so it was natural that there was no bathroom for her, which made her
have to walk a mile and a half only to pee. This, of course, interfered with her
work, but she had to remain professional for the sake of her career. However, the
job is not easy. Katherine worked under pressure; the rapid change of data
overwhelmed her. Even her works had been rejected several times and discarded
by her supervisor, Al Harrison, because of data that had changed a few minutes
ago. Katherine's work was in vain.
Katherine is a widow who has three daughters from her late husband; she
also still has a mother who loves her very much. They were home to Katherine
and all her complaints. Despite being the head of the family and the bread-winner,
Katherine was happy because they were the source of strength for her.
The next day, everyone began to adjust with Katherine, but that was not a
good thing. Adjusting here meant they started to provide 'special' facilities for
Katherine, one of which was a coffee pot. Katherine was given a very traditional
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jar instead of the similar one that the other employee used. This is a form of
discrimination she receives at work. Katherine tries to understand but still it‟s
iritating her. Not only she got discrimination from her coworkers who were white
people, but Katherine was also underestimated by someone from her race, Jim
Johnson. Jim, whose a soldier who has long wandered, was surprised to the fact
that NASA hires women, even more, colored, to become computers there. That
was also what made Jim unconsciously ask questions about how women might be
able to do such important and complicated things at NASA. This attitude was
considered denigrated Katherine's dignity and other women who worked day and
night, devoting themselves for the sake of the country. This is where double
discrimination occurs in the lives of Kath and other colored women.
The end of Katherine's patience was seen when she protested to her
superiors who thought that she was not serious about her works because she often
caught going out during the rush hour. Even though all Katherine did was go to
the bathroom. She expressed all her frustration at the accusation of her boss and
the treatment of her colleagues. This was also the turning point for Katherine's
career because she became someone to be reckoned with. This was because she
dared to break the stigma of people about her. Katherine began to be involved in
other important projects.
However, a better atmosphere did not last long. When NASA was in rushing
time for its astronauts' flight into space, Katherine could not do her job to the
fullest just because she was a woman. She was not allowed to come to take part in
this briefing about the launch, nor could she even write her name in the report
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because she was a woman and a computer. That made her furious because she felt
her work would never be completed if she remained 'locked up' like this. She then
protested and forced to attend the John Glenn's trajectory meeting for the sake of
her work. Katherine tried to prove to all NASA officials that she was worthy of
her work regarding the takeoff and landing point of John Glenn's launch. The
proves of Katherine's ability did not stop there because she continued to push
herself to find the errors in her calculations in John Glenn's project. Of all the time
and energy she spent searching for a suitable formula, she finally found the
answer, namely Euler's method. All the dead-locked in this project could finally
solve with Katherine's genius mind.
Katherine's life journey continued with her marriage to Jim Johnson,
someone who had seen her with one eye but turned into admiration. Her marriage
made Katherine's days better and happier, but that did not last long. One day, she
was notified directly by Al Harrison that she had been dismissed from her job as a
computer at East Building and would be returned to West Building, due to IBM's
rapid development which taking up her position. IBM is a tool that can process a
count of 10,000 formulas every second. Katherine felt her life collapse. However,
before she left, the secretary gave a pearl necklace to Kath as a wedding gift from
Al. Not long before the John Glenn flight project was in sight, everyone was in
tense, including those in the East Building division. However, the most feared
thing happened, the landing point count provided by IBM differed significantly
from Katherine's previous calculations. Everyone in the flight monitor room
panicked, which made John's launch was postponed to ensure the correct point. Al
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Harrison sent one of his men to look for Katherine and make her recalculate
everything. It turned out that at the last moment like that, Katherine's abilities
were still very much needed.
Katherine exerted all her thoughts to recalculate John Glenn‟s leading point.
After the results were obtained, she then ran to the monitoring room to provide the
figures. In the end, Katherine‟s genius and dedication succeeded in delivering
NASA to make its history with the success of human flight across orbit. She was
rehired at East Building and lived her life happier because she was finally able to
be entirely accepted as a woman of color.
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