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Optimistic (overly?)
posted by elliest_5STAFFMOD on March 6, 2017 at 9:35 PM
This movie is 100% my kind of movie and I loved it. There's only one thing that bugs me a bit:
Let's forget for a minute that it was a rather faithful representation of a real story: Plot-wise and character-wise I would have looked for a bit more tension, drama, and adversity. The movie comes across as quite optimistic: the three main characters all get what they want in the end, they gain full respect and recognition from their colleagues, they receive full support from their families and a happy ending in every respect. Even for today's standards they had it good: no unsupporting husbands who would nag them to spend more time with their families, no troubled kids, no extended family who would disapprove of them breaking the "home-maker" stereotype, no hostile/malevolent (racist + sexist) colleagues screwing them over... Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to see a story of defeat, but maybe at least one of the stories could be a victory in the face of higher levels of adversity (or a partial victory that would involve some sacrifice).
I was really glad to find out that the movie was faithful to reality and that the story of those women was indeed one with a happy ending. I was just wondering if the movie could have included the portrait of someone else from that time and place who struggled more (I find it difficult to believe that all the women in that programme had equally positive stories, when even nowadays women face so many hurdles when trying to achieve a work-life balance).
Reply by CL
on August 12, 2017 at 4:23 AM
I must say that I really enjoyed this movie especially when some others that were released around the same time were so/so and highly over-rated.
You raise an interesting point. The film was about women in a field that one would not typically associate them with. They were black with a bathroom that’s miles away because of the color of their skin. All the challenges one might expect, played out as expected. I found the story to be very predictable.
If other issues, such as a personal struggle, were introduced, it would add another dimension to play and might have diminished my sense of such predictability.
Reply by Patrick E. Abe
on May 27, 2018 at 9:07 PM
If that's the kind of movie you prefer, "Set It Off" is your kind of Drama. Personally, I prefer this Black Female "October Sky" kind of film. And they were "in a league of their own.";)
Reply by Jacinto Cupboard
on October 12, 2018 at 8:01 AM
I think it is important to note that you don't get to be a high achiever in fields like mathematics and engineering without a really solid social and family background. Talent alone won't deliver.
I'm not sure what sort of 'higher levels of adversity' the OP needs in a story beyond being a woman of colour in a white, male centric, segregated organisation in mid 20th Century America. That the story focuses, and rightly so, on the overcoming of these obstacles isn't a negative. Sure, there are other stories that can be told that play into the idea of victimhood. This is not one of them. And praise be for that.
While I'm here, the female actors in this movie nail it. Especially Dunst, who gives what I think is a very nuanced depiction of the more subtle aspects of discrimination. It is a pity that the male characters are so 2 dimensional. But wtf, it isn't their story. :-)