23rd May 2018

The Imitation Game

“Sometimes it is the people that no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”

The Imitation Game is a historical drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore. The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as real-life British cryptologist, Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during the second world war. 

Alan Turing did many wonderful things during his life. He helped the Allies win WWII, saving hundreds of thousands of lives of British soldiers, and he was the inventor of the machine that went on to be the modern day computer and revolutionize the world. With his invention, he made codes for the British Military and cracked those of the German Military. Without Turing, we may live in a world run by anti-semitic totalitarians and without modern day technology.

In the 1950s, Turing was convicted of being a homosexual. He had the choice of two years in jail or to undergo hormonal therapy in an attempt to decrease his libido and “cure him”. Turing chose the second choice and after being put on estrogen, having his security clearance revoked, having his name tarnished (many people during this time period believed homosexuals were spies) and being banned from working on the computers he developed, Alan Turing committed suicide through cyanide poisoning in 1954.

Turing did everything he could to make the world a better place and win the support of his nation. But because he was a little bit different, his entire country turned their back on him. 

These stories are scary but there is so much hope. Homosexuality in New Zealand was illegal until 1986 and now, 32 years later, so much has improved. Now, homosexuals have the right to marry and have kids; it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation; Auckland has annual pride parades; most areas have a local GSA and many people, even teens, can be open about their sexuality. 

Yes, some people are bullied for being who they are and some religious fanatics show hatred against homosexuals, but things are changing everyday. 

 

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