No one imagined that he could do it. But, why would they?: A Queer Critical Media Critique of The Imitation Game
Zackary Albrecht
“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of, who do the things no one can imagine.” This statement ended of The Imitation Game, a film released in 2014. Based on a true story, it covers the life of gay mathematician, Alan Turing. Turing is most known for building a machine that impossibly cracked the enigma code, which was the encryption code Nazi Germany used during WWII to send messages across Europe. Historians say that Turing’s work shortened WWII by more than two years, saving more than 14 million lives. It is important to note that during this time, homosexuality was illegal in Britain and subject to criminal prosecution.
I chose to critique this film because of the rich history and stories behind Turing. The film, originally released in theaters, is now available on DVD and over popular media streaming platforms, such as Netflix. It was directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore and Andrew Hodges. The movie is based off the book written by Hodges. Tyldum and Moore are white, heterosexual, cisgender males. Hodges is a white, homosexual, cisgender male. It was distributed by The Weinstein Company (IMDB).
The two main stars of the film are Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the role of Alan Turing, and Keira Knightley, who plays Joan Clarke, the fiancé of Turing. Both are white, cisgender and heterosexual. When putting The Imitation Game into a critical media critique mindset, there are two main issues. First, the way Turing is both represented and misrepresented. Second, how this affects consumption of the film and what the effects of that consumption have on the audience.
Representation research includes “textual analysis, framing analysis, semiotics, ethnography and social critique” (Ross). Putting this framework on The Imitation Game, the overall film has homophobic undertones and misrepresents Turing, making him appear as a lonely and isolated machine, rather than a human being. This is first seen in his childhood. Flashbacks to adolescence throughout recant the story of his first love toward another guy, a young boy named Christopher. As a child, Turing is awkward and has no friends. The one person who matters to him is Christopher, who passes away during school because of tuberculosis. And even though the film is focused on how Turing battles being gay with other identities, the film only depicts Turing showing affection once, in the brief storyline of his relationship with Christopher.
A similar portrayal happens in Turing’s adult life. He comes across as a stoic, emotionless man, who cannot properly express himself, to the point of borderline depression. There is no kissing or intimate acts between him and any other characters, including his fiancé and a male prostitute. He perfectly fulfills the hegemonic stereotype of masculinity, by bottling up his emotions and using anger as a release. He shouts, yells and screams.The Imitation Game also makes it appear as if Turing can only maintain two relationships. The first of which is to his fiancé, Joan Clarke. Clarke is the one who taught him the value of relationships and allowed him to express affection toward her, without it being romantic. Because of his comfort within their relationship, Turing whimsically proposes, but reveals his sexuality before they marry. Clarke knew about his sexuality and said they could still love each other in their own way. Clarke was the medium for him to not be an outlier, and without her, he only had his relationship to Christopher.
The second relationship is with his machine which Turing builds to break the enigma code. Ironically, Turing calls it “Christopher,” which is named after his first love. Although there are scenes where Turing is at a bar with Joan and his colleagues, he prefers the company of Christopher most. He looks at it as if it was a person. Even at the end of the film, after being persecuted for gross indecency, he chooses hormonal therapy and chemical castration over prison, for one reason. To be with Christopher. And this all leads into the second issue with the film, how it is consumed. This film won four Oscars and countless other awards, however it misrepresented the story of Alan Turing. While the film makes him, this closed off, cold, in the closet, gay man, historical narratives from Hodges say, “His life was also notable as that of a gay man with strong emotions and a growing insistence on his identity.”Another source even says that Turing had a great sense of humor and that his close friends and family knew about his sexuality (Podhoretz). Christian Caryl, a researcher on Turing’s life, said The Imitation Game “put Turing in the role of a gay liberation totem but can’t bring itself to show him kissing another man – something he did frequently, and with gusto […] The Imitation Game is a film that prefers its gay men decorously disembodied” (Caryl).
Consumption is the idea of how a media artefact affects the audience; how it affects the way people think, feel and act (Ross). For The Imitation Game, it means that even with historical references, the director, producers and writers intentionally misrepresented Turing. Rather than showing the loving, caring and vivacious spirit, they gave Turning misrepresented traits of a gay man with stereotypical hegemonic masculinity. They made him an outlier. And even though temporality must be considered, this film was produced in 2014. It shows the audience that gay men are callous, stern freaks. It perpetuates that they are unable to maintain normative social relationships and are unaffectionate. It also follows the despicable trend we have seen multiple times in the media over the last few years: “It is okay if it is gay, I just don’t want to see it.” This critique portrays that once again, gay men in the media cannot have normative lives, but must defy the impossible to be recognized and appreciated.
References
Caryl, Christian. "A Poor Imitation of Alan Turing." The New York Review of Books. 19 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 April 2017.
Hodges, Andrew. "Alan Turing." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 03 June 2002. Web. 10 April 2017.
"The Imitation Game (2014)." IMDb. IMDb.com, 2014. Web. 10 April 2017. Podhoretz, John. "Hero as Victim." Weekly Standard. The Weekly Standard. 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 10 April 2017.
Ross, Karen. The handbook of gender, sex and media. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
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