The Importance of asking “Who’s the director?”
This is a always question I ask before consuming any media, especially films or television shows related to Black History. When Hidden Figures was released this past 
Christmas, the answer to this question is the reason why I have yet to view the film. It’s the reason why I will not be seeing it in theaters.
Great care is taken by those who tell the stories of their ancestors, who are directly impacted by them.
The director of Hidden Figures, Theodore Melfi, a white American film producer who played the role of not only directing and producing, but also writing in the film alongside writer Allison Schroeder, a white American woman known for her work as a writer in Mean Girls 2 and Pineapple Express. Although there are no African American people included in the production of the film, author Margot Lee Shetterly, who wrote the book Hidden Figures, created the product that the film is based off of.
The problem with a group of white people writing a story about the way that a Black women navigated legally enforced racial segregation is highly problematic. For us to go see the movie, disregarding the problematic nature of its direction all while having never purchased the book to support Shetterly is idiotic. After collecting almost $24 million in the box office we find that the legitimacy of the film is compromised by ‘alternative fact’ like scenes that sprinkle in nonexistent moments of ‘white heroes’ into the life of the civil rights hero.
Recently I came across an article on a Black Girl Long Hair, a Black founded news website I’m subscribed to, that criticized Melfi about a fictionalized scene, “It’s not uncommon for biopics to fabricate stories for emotional effect. Hidden Figures is, after all, a non-documentary film. However, the objective of this scene is questionable” Katherine C. Johnson, age 98 today, saw the movie and confirmed specific scenes that were untrue, including the segregated bathroom ‘white hero’ man,
An excerpt from the BGLH article’s interview:
“I then asked the film’s director, Theodore Melfi, why he had chosen to include a scene that never happened, and whether he thought portraying Johnson as being saved by a benevolent white character diminished what she did in real life.
He said he didn’t see a problem with adding a white hero into the story.
There needs to be white people who do the right thing, there needs to be black people who do the right thing,” Melfi said. “And someone does the right thing. And so who cares who does the right thing, as long as the right thing is achieved?”
I want to take a moment to remember this past October’s release of Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation, dedicated to highlighting the legacy of Nate Parker, I was in the theatre to see this one twice! However, others found reason not to support Parker and there were those who felt some scenes were too ‘harsh’ to want to watch. I wrote a comprehensive review of Parker’s Film, very proud of the work he was able to accomplish as director, writer, and lead actor in the film. Like I mentioned earlier, when a descendant of slaves tells the story of their ancestors extreme care is taken in accurately representing their stories because they’re our stories, the stories of our people, the narratives that made us into who we are today.
In response to Melfi’s answer, I agree with the fact that, “There needs to be white people who do the right thing,” honestly, I’m completely in agreement. I’m sure there were many Blacks throughout their abuse in every single era of American history that agreed with the fact that ,“There needs to be white people who do the right thing,” BUT that need wasn’t filled during this time in history no social or political policy changes were made on behalf of advancing the agenda of Blacks. It was the grassroots organizations like that of the Black Panther Party and the Freedom Riders who risked their lives, whilst whites refused to even risk their privilege. The whitewashing of our history can only occur when we allow whites to tell our stories.
To address opposing any arguments, there is nothing wrong with people of other races paying tribute to the lives of Blacks. Especially with it being Black History Month, it’s important for people of every race to learn about the achievements African Americans have made in the United States. Any group will benefit from learning about the strides that Blacks have been able to make in a white supremacist society while navigating through oppressive state institutions. However, let us lead, let us direct, let us right without having to satisfy the need of including a white hero that never actually existed. If white people feel bad about the fact that there were no white heroes saving Black people throughout American history then maybe they should step up and start being heroic now because we all know the struggle is far from over, with over 2.6 millions slaves still residing in the United States today under the legality of our 13th amendment. If whites step up to be ‘heroic’ now, in the future when movies are developed about this era, whites won’t have to fabricate heroic scenes in order to stroke their ego or conciliate white guilt. There are so many aspects about the fabrication of this scene, as a Black women, that don’t sit well with me and fact that the director of the film doesn’t see the problem with this in telling the story of iconic Black women, is appalling.
I also want to address the fact that Blacks have been blocked from the entertainment industry for centuries. To date Hollywood still has a race problem, last year the Oscars were criticized for the lack of Black nominations. Its a trend modeled after American history where Blacks were not allowed to direct, produce, write or even appear onscreen in the entertainment industry. For example, America’s first hit box office film, “The Birth of a Nation (1915)” featured a ‘black’ antagonist that was played by a black-faced white man. Knowing this history that Blacks have had with combatting the oppressive construction of the film industry, its disgusting to see how the trend continues with our support. We need to be aware of the implications behind rushing to the box office for biographical stories of our pasts told through the eyes of our oppressor. They are telling us our stories. Rather we need to look for Black filmmakers, independent, low budget or not, because we are telling our stories, but they’re not telling us. Marketing strategies and advertising dollars aren’t being used to promote our work, therefore we must seek out our products. I will be reading Shetterly’s book before even considering watching Melfi’s film because I have an overwhelming desire to support the work of my people, I know the book will be more powerful and I know that Margot Lee Shettery a Black woman, research writer and founder of The Human Computer Project, dedicated towards ‘recovering the names and accomplishments of all of the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at the NACA and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s’ will due justice to Katherine Johnson’s history.
When we protect our stories in the media by telling them ourselves we guard ourselves from being devalued, white-washed, and even written out of history. Imagine if Public School’s American History textbooks were written by Blacks instead of whites? Oh how different would we all feel about Black History Month, maybe then there wouldn’t be a need for a time for us to celebrate our accomplishments because the legacy of Black inventors, artists, revolutionaries, scientists, scholars, lawyers, doctors and ministers would be apart of our daily lives.
