The MTV Movie & TV Awards have changed a bit since I was a young sprite staying up late to watch Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams recreate their award-winning Notebook kiss. First of all, there were no television awards when I was a young’un, and second of all, the award categories weren’t nearly as interesting as they are now, in 2017. I mean they had Best Kiss, but they didn’t have Best American Story or Best Duo. They definitely didn’t have Best Fight Against The System — another new category this year — but Best Fight Against The System winner Hidden Figures' speech was worth waiting for.
I love a good fight against the machine myself, and, in today’s world, there seem to be plenty of battles to fight nowadays. Whether railing against racial injustice, sexism, or economic inequality, the shows and movie nominations — Get Out, Hidden Figures, Loving, Luke Cage, and Mr. Robot, to be specific — all had amazing stories, great messages, and stellar performances. But, of course, there can only be one winner, and that winner is Hidden Figures. Accepting the honor was Hidden Figures star Taraji P. Henson, whose acceptance speech was particularly powerful because she underlined the fact that girls can do anything they set their minds to — even math and science. She said:
For me, it was very important, because I grew up understanding… no one ever told me that girls couldn’t do math and science, but there was an understanding, right? There was an understanding that it was for boys. So I remember getting this script and being very upset because I felt like a dream was stolen from me. It became my mission… to dispel that myth so that another young girl would not grow up thinking that her mind was incapable of grasping math and science. If it were not for these women, we wouldn’t be in space.
I definitely feel what Henson is saying, because I don't think that I was pushed toward math and science either as a kid because I am female. Today's young women need to know that they can do whatever they want and embrace whatever they're interested in — even if it involves sending astronauts to the moon or, hell, even being an astronaut — because their minds are just as great.
