Mercury 13

Listless and artless and toneless. Nice artwork though.

5/4/18. Interesting to watch, from a historical perspective. it is sad and a tragedy that these women didn't get a chance to go into space because of the sexual discrimination at the time. Reasons for denying them the chance now seem totally preposterous. However, the interviews of these women probably could have been done better.

Interesting documentary. Liberals will be angered at the way these women were treated and inspired by their courage. Far right wing conservatives will be angry because they are knuckle-dragging reactionary maniacs. My takeaway is quite different from both American camps. I can't understand why these women continued to be patriotic to a society that treated them so badly and why they were somewhat disappointed when the first woman in space was Soviet and not American. I also question the sincerity and inclusiveness of the American bourgeois feminist movement. Documentaries like this point out the injustices of the American capitalist system, but they do not question the fundamental injustice of capitalism itself and of America's backward and reactionary nature. The Americans only did anything remotely progressive because the Soviets embarrassed them and they were forced to by their example as well as by burgeoning social movements and organized labor in the US.

Loved hearing from the mercury 13 women themselves on their journey. Documentary focuses on the space race and how a group of 13 women passed the first round of tests to enter the space program but were ultimately rejected by nasa. The first hand accounts and viewpoints were really interesting, and gives you a good perspective of the times. These women were rejected solely based on the fact that they were women, not because they didn't pass the tests... which is aggravating.

But follows through to the first woman to pilot a NASA space shuttle and how she honored the 13, which was really special.

I wanted to watch this but it's really slow to start and the awful music they chose is intolerable. Had to turn it off. The story seemed interesting though.