Went to see Hidden Figures yesterday with DH. I have to say it's an improvement on the book which was very worthy but really didn't give an idea of the women as real people rather than idealised perfect creatures. We enjoyed it very much and DH, who started his physics career a few years later working in areas which used a great deal of computational work, said he certainly recognised the set-up of human computers and how the calculations were done, but not (thank goodness) the racial discrimination. He says they got one thing wrong though. The men from IBM were always known as 'blue suits' because that's what they wore like a uniform and you could always recognise them as such.
We commented on the way it showed the almost casual unthinking prejudice that white people had - and of course in some cases still have. DH, a few years ago, did some work in North Carolina, and I went with him for a short holiday. While he was working, I did the touristy bit and looked around a couple of small plantations. Chatting to one of the guides I asked about how black visitors reacted, and she said it was very noticeable that although the younger ones behaved much like the white visitors, the older ones would never look you in the eye.
