The Imitation Game: Art Imitating Life?

[BelgradeBeauty]

The 2015 Oscar winner of Best Adapted Screenplay, 'The Imitation Game', is a wonderfully written and beautifully shot film about an unconventional war-time hero who basically helps the Allies win the war from behind a desk, his mind his arms. Who is this long-forgotten figure? Alan Turing. A British computer scientist, an incredible mathematician and logician, who loved his isolation and long distance running. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and of artificial intelligence. The predecessor of the computer was first called the 'Turing Machine' because of him. He was renaissance man who altered not only the outcome of a world war, but the futures of generations to come.

Then why is his name not a household one? I believe there are a combination of reasons that not only led to his sad demise but until now, but kept his imfamous discoveries in the relative dark, hidden away from broader society.

He was not like most. He was a genuis, it's possible he also had a form of Autism called Aspergers, and to top it all off, he was an outed homosexual.

In the 40's and 50's in Britain - this was a crime for which he paid dearly. It's amazing to think that just a generaion ago, when our grandparents were young that the descrimination and phobias people had of anything different were so damning, that normative sexuality was enforced rather than implied.

I continue to believe we have not come that far from those days and that in the court of social opinion being 'different' is not as accepted as we'd like to think. Being gay still carries a stigma, and so does having any learning disability or what is perceived to be one. I really enjoyed this film because it forces us as a society to confront our prejudices when faced with a hero who at first look seems everything but. In a world where we worship perfection and the patriarchal ideal, where heros are never gay or so fatally flawed, the character of Turing has found a place on our mantel of figures to celebrate.

This film forces you to think and overcome your resistance to what's labelled as abnormal, and in the end, we come to glorify and sympathize with a man who is more than his heroic acts, more than his sexual orientation, and more than our perception. Now that's a process I wish more films would imitate.

This post is dedicated to all those who face and fight sexual descrimination on any level.

[madhatters4]

well Turing is an idol for those in the computer science field. One major reason that so little is known about him popularly is that the merits of his work were largely kept under wraps until the 90s when all his contributions to WWII were de-classified. Those in the computer science world know about the turing machine because he was a professor but those outside the field know very little... The movie was amazing and I think it will go a long way to making Turing's name a very known one.

Can Benedict Cumberbatch make a bad movie or show?

[BelgradeBeauty]

Impossible, I just adore him! Great input - thanks!

[madhatters4]

I was really disappointed to hear that there wasn't going to be new episodes of Sherlock til 2016

[LovelySerene]

Great Take! I absolutely loved the movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing as usual.
I love films like this, a person you never hear about in school (when you should), a person who was so important in history... I honestly don't believe we would have computers like how we do today if it wasn't for Alan Turing. I'm glad this movie was made, so I could learn about him and his history. The way they treated him AFTER all he did was disgusting.

[BelgradeBeauty]

Thanks - I totally agree with you!

[tenofthepeaks]

white Khans aside... I think the real reason is that mid-20th century European culture was hardly tolerant. In short, it's because he was gay.

The UK government recently rescinded his conviction though, so it's deserved. No Turing, no internet.

[Kerbie]

very good film this one

[Dipsy]

Benedict!!