It has been almost 3 years since the release of Disney/Marvel’s Big Hero 6, a movie about engineers becoming superheroes. Well, there’s more to it than that, but that’s my main focus. Big Hero 6 was not nearly as successful as it could have been, being released around the same time as the Lego Movie and a year after Disney’s very successful Frozen. However, it seems some people missed the implication of the movie and how it can affect the next generation to follow their dreams for STEM.
Big Hero 6 said anyone could be an engineer.
Big Hero 6 was hailed for its diversity. Hiro being ethnically half-Japanese, GoGo being of Korean descent, Wasabi being African-American, and Honey Lemon being Latina. Two-fifths of the engineers were women, which says a lot if you’ve ever had an upper level engineering course. This movie had them all of equal standing, helping save the world as a group and each contributing to the effort. The female characters were never reduced or seen as less intelligent to their male counterparts. There were no comments or jokes about any members’ ethnicity or gender. Even though the professor turned out to be the major villain, he did not seem to be sexist or racist to his students. This healthy representation of diversity in engineering was wonderful and encourages any one of any age, gender, race, or ethnicity to believe they can make it in engineering. As a half-Latina chemical engineering major, Honey Lemon is my role-model. Plus, I love the detail of her binders and books being pastel colors. Girl Power!
Big hero 6 said engineering can have awesome applications.
Sometimes engineers just work on factories producing toothpaste tube caps. Other times, they are making new technology that can revolutionize the world. Big Hero 6 showed neat applications of math and science to create super suits and personal healthcare providers. This fictional yet almost realistic representation of engineering gives the next generation new ambitions. Many mechanical engineers go in because they want to make the Iron Man suit. I went into chemical engineering partially because Honey Lemon’s element purse was so neat and creating something that allows you to instantly mix chemicals to fight bad guys is, well, a chemical reaction!
Big hero 6 said engineering is fun.
Many people have the idea that engineering is boring. And they are right. To an extent. There are aspects of engineering that can be boring, especially the basics, but the experiments and creation that come with higher level classes make it grand. Once you understand how chemical react, experimenting and creating reactions is really fun. Once you understand circuits, creating electrical interactions is a blast (though hopefully not literally). Once you understand how body systems work, creating modifications and artificial devices to help people live is marvelous. The point being, that the basics can be rough, but the actual engineering can be fun.
Big hero 6 said engineering can be tough, but worth it.
On that note, yes, it is tough. Especially when you are working on something never done before. Researching is exhausting, stating up really late working on your project is exhausting, and failure after failure is exhausting. But once you get it right, once everything works out, the result makes the entire experience worth it. Tadashi may have struggled to make Baymax, but he knew Baymax would save so many lives. He stuck to it, stayed up late, kept reworking, and finally made an end product that changed everything. So, studying those mechanisms for OChem or derivative for calculus all lead to a deep understanding allowing an engineer to make great things.
Big hero 6 said you can make your own superpowers through intelligence and creativity.
Finally, Big Hero 6 threw Batman and the Hulk out the window. Superheroes don’t need lots of money to buy fancy suits or make one small mess up to become radioactive. Superheroes can create themselves. They can use their intelligence and creativity to design their own suits and weapons. GoGo used electromagnetism principles to create a fast means of transportation and crime fighting. Wasabi used laser induced plasma to make accurate and strong blades. Honey Lemon used her understanding of chemistry to make chemical reactions to fight villains. They all used their knowledge and made themselves super. Maybe some aspects were far-fetched, but it shows that anyone can be a hero, anyone can make the means to an end, and these engineers found a way to stand up for what they believe in instead of being given unwanted “great responsibility”.