SELF-ACTUALIZATION SEEN IN KATHERINE JOHNSON’S

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

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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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



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


10

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).


12

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


13

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,


14

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


18

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


22

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:


23

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


24

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


26

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


27

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


30

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


34

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


35

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.


36

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.


37

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.


38

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-


39

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.


40

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.


41

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.


42

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


43

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).


44

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.


45

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.


46

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.


47

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


49

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


50

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.


52

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.


53

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


54

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,


55

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


56

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,


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


57

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.


60

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


61

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.


62

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.


63

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.


64

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


66

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


67

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.


68

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.


69

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


70

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.


71

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.


72

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.


74

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


75

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.


76

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.


77

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


79

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


81


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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REFERENCES

Abrams, M., & Harpham, G. G. (2015). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Belmont:

Cengage Learning, Inc.

Barry, P. (2002). The Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester University

Press.

Boggs, J. M., & Petrie, D. W. (2006). The Art of Watching Films seventh edition.

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Cherry, K. (2019, August 12). Peak Experiences in Psychology. Retrieved

September 06, 2019, from VeryWell Mind: https://www.verywell

mind.com/what-are-peak-experiences-2795268

Christianingrum, T. I. (2018). The Struggle of African-American Women against

the Double Discrimination Revealed in Hidden Figures. Undergraduate

Thesis. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Giannetti, L. (2014). Understanding Movies - Thirteenth Edition. Boston: Pearson

Education, Inc.

Hidden Figures - Screenplay. (2016, - -). Retrieved March 23, 2019, from Script

Pipeline: www.scriptpipeline.com/hidden-figures-screenplay/

Hidden Figures Awards. (2017). Retrieved 08 12, 2019, from IMDb:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/awards

Ikawati, L. (2018). Afro-American women discrimination on Hidden figures

movie: a critical discourse analysis. Graduate Programme Thesis.

Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Irmawati, L. (2012). Self-Actualization in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

Novel(1847) : A Humanistic Psychological Approach. Graduate

Programme Thesis. Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta.

Maslow, A. H. (2006). "Holistic Dynamic Theory". In J. Feist, & G. J. Feist,

Theories of Personality (pp. 273-305). New York: McGraw-Hill

Education.

Paris, B. (1997). Imagine human beings: A Psychological approach to character

and conflict in literature. New York: New York University Press.


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Phillips, W. H. (2009). Film, an Introduction the fourth edition. New York:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Rohrberger, M., & Woods, S. H. (1971). Reading and Writing about Literature.

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Rositaningrum, T. D. (2014). Severus Snape’s Journey to Reach Self-

Actualization as seen in J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels.

Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.


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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.


SELF-ACTUALIZATION SEEN IN KATHERINE JOHNSON’S

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