The Imitation Game

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

For those of you who have seen it, what did you think of it? How would you do it differently?

 

My thoughts. The movie had a fascinating premise, which is why I whose to pay to watch it in a movie theater. Then I watched it and was disappointed, once again, in the movie industry. Sure, the movie was well produced with some great actors and cinematography, but it had a completely biased and one-sided agenda.

 

Obviously I'm not condoning the laws in place regarding homosexuals in England at the time that Turing lived, however, the society as a whole was much less informed and aware of the psychological trauma that was caused by these laws. Whether Turing committed suicide because of side effects of the "treatments" he received, or the emotional trauma of being an "illegal homo" I do not know, but either way, the movie portrayed the government's suppression as something that they could have helped. Now, perhaps something could have been done for him, but my point is that this movie blames the past for its ignorance.

 

Another thing, which my dad was the one to point out. God and the bible are portrayed in a negative/neutral light. Considering most modern movies, this is not a surprise, however. "God did not win this war, we did," was one of the last lines regarding the enigma-cracking.

 

The Imitation Game annoys me the way a lot of other media outlets do: Either choose to completely accept everything about everyone's beliefs and life choices, or you're a bad person. Not just a bigot, or a closed-minded person, a morally bad person. This movie attempts to elicit guilt into people about accepting a gay lifestyle because Turing (and many like him, as was mentioned in the end of the movie) committed suicide. It is indeed an awful thing to happen, no one denies that sexual-identity suicides are tragic and sorrowful, but it pushed an ideology into a movie that is about a genius who essentially won the war. 

 

In the end, with Joan telling him about how his being "different" helped win the war, how?! Was it only because he associated the machine he built with his friend from school?

 

Overall, I would honestly say I enjoyed watching the movie, but it really missed the point. To me, why would a movie about cracking a cryptic Nazi code make a point about the character's sexual orientation? Society blames the Church for being obsessed with sexual issues, "Keep the pope out of my bedroom" mentality, when in actuality it is the one identifying a human being merely with his sexual orientation. Like "Oh, let's make a movie about Alan Turing, a man who revolutionized computer technology, cracked enigma thus saving countless lives and helped win the war against the Nazis [who were, coincidentally, homophobic], but instead of focusing on his life achievements and how he accomplished them, why don't we make it about how he's gay? Sounds like a great, accurate portrayal of him."

 

Also, disclaimer, I am not anti-gay people at all. I hold with the Church teachings and if anyone I know comes out, I would never treat them or view them differently. Everyone is God's child, and I wish Alan Turing would have a more peaceful end to his life than he did. As I said, England's laws at that time were unjust, and he has been posthumously pardoned. Furthermore, the former Prime Minister apologized and said, "You deserved so much better."

 

 

[Basilisa Marie]

Well, I've heard different kinds of criticisms of how the movie portrayed him (it's going to take liberties one way or another). I guess he wasn't as socially-inept as he's portrayed in the movie, and his homosexuality wasn't a big secret among his friends. But his homosexuality is a huge part of telling his story, for better or for worse. This guy was a huge war hero, he's one of the biggest reasons why the Allies won the war. But you can't tell the story of Alan Turing without including the fact that all of his heroic contributions didn't matter when it came to his society's prejudices. It'd be a bit like telling the story about a black war hero during WWII without including anything about racism. 

 

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan on it. 

[Mary+Immaculate<3]

Well, I've heard different kinds of criticisms of how the movie portrayed him (it's going to take liberties one way or another). I guess he wasn't as socially-inept as he's portrayed in the movie, and his homosexuality wasn't a big secret among his friends. But his homosexuality is a huge part of telling his story, for better or for worse. This guy was a huge war hero, he's one of the biggest reasons why the Allies won the war. But you can't tell the story of Alan Turing without including the fact that all of his heroic contributions didn't matter when it came to his society's prejudices. It'd be a bit like telling the story about a black war hero during WWII without including anything about racism. 

 

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan on it. 

 

You make a good point, I see where you are coming from. However, you might notice in the movie that it really does put more emphasis on his homosexuality than his achievements. His society viewed him as an abomination, unfortunately, and obviously the producers of the movie couldn't simply ignore his sexual identity and how it impacted his life. It's just my opinion that the movie was overly-biased, but it obviously has an agenda.