Big Hero 6 features two incredible STEM girls, Honey Lemon and Go Go Tomago!
I just went to see Big Hero 6, the new superhero movie from Disney, and it is fantastic!
Big Hero 6 is the story of Hiro Hamata, a 14-year-old robotics genius in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. His older brother, Tadashi, introduces him to his friends at the university robotics lab in hopes of getting Hiro to enroll, but when tragedy strikes, Hiro leads the team into becoming superheroes of their own fashioning. I won’t go into more of the story – it’s so good that I don’t want to spoil a second of it!
Two of the robotics lab’s team are Go Go Tomago and Honey Lemon. Go Go is an industrial design and mechanical engineering student, working on a new high-speed magnetic bike to improve transportation. Her superpower is drawn from her bike, featuring a super-suit that uses electro-magnetic wheels for transportation and as weapons. She’s also tough, sarcastic, and athletic. In one of the most adrenaline-fueled scenes of the movie, she takes charge and gets the team to safety. She’s also loyal and dedicated to what she believes, even when it means standing up to her friends.
Honey Lemon is chemical engineering student, prototyping chemical metal embrittelement. Her superpower comes in the form of chemical weapons, which she forms by mixing elements in a special purse. She’s also sunny, outgoing, and photogenic – evoking a hipster-esque mentality and eternal optimism. Though outwardly she doesn’t look intelligent (in fact, you might mistake her for a 1960s “flower power” child), she’s extremely smart and can calculate the exact amounts of chemical substances needed in mere seconds. She’s also very observant, following clues and always being alert to her surroundings and the needs of her friends.
All in all, I was so pleased with Big Hero 6. It’s a movie about friendship, loss, and grief. It’s also about harnessing your unique abilities and how, when we combine our unique talents, we can accomplish so much good for the world. The Big Hero 6 team isn’t superheroes because of some magical power – they are the inventors of their own super powers, showing that anyone can be a superhero. I hope Disney follows it up – these are superhero role models that every child can believe in.
-Tiffany Rhoades
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.