{"id":6940,"date":"2018-02-28T01:55:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T01:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=6940"},"modified":"2018-03-15T03:26:02","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T03:26:02","slug":"imitation-game-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=6940","title":{"rendered":"“Imitation Game” – Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The “super-spymaster<\/a>” on the left didn’t know that the guy on the right was a “poofter<\/a>…”<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

I confess \u2013 I \u201cdo not deny but confess<\/a>\u201d \u2013 that I’ve been lax in posting new\u00a0essays<\/a>\u00a0for this blog.\u00a0 One excuse is that I\u2019ve been focusing more on my art.\u00a0\u00a0(For one thing, I\u2019ve finally gotten to the point \u2013 after 66 years \u2013 that I actually feel like I know what I\u2019m doing when oil painting.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Be that as it may<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, it\u2019s high time to publish another post.<\/p>\n

In this case, I’ll re-visit a previous quasi-movie-review of The Imitation Game<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[The] 2014\u00a0historical<\/a>\u00a0thriller<\/a>\u00a0film about British\u00a0mathematician<\/a>,\u00a0logician<\/a>,\u00a0cryptanalyst<\/a>\u00a0and pioneering\u00a0computer scientist<\/a>\u00a0Alan Turing<\/a>\u00a0who was a key figure in cracking\u00a0Nazi Germany<\/a>\u2018s naval\u00a0Enigma code<\/a>\u00a0which helped the\u00a0Allies<\/a>\u00a0win the\u00a0Second World War<\/a>, only to later be\u00a0criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s what I cited in the April 2015 post,\u00a0On Oscar Wilde and \u201cgross indecencies<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

The gist of that post was that two men of arguable genius – Turing, and Wilde (in his way)<\/em> – got persecuted during their lifetimes.\u00a0 Only after they had died did people come to realize<\/em> <\/strong>their genius.\u00a0 (In Wilde’s case he “now brings tourists to Dublin,” as seen at right.)\u00a0<\/em> In the case of another writer, John Steinbeck<\/a>\u00a0noted:<\/p>\n

The only good writer was a dead writer.\u00a0\u00a0 Then he couldn\u2019t surprise anyone any more, couldn\u2019t hurt anyone any more\u2026.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard he died alone.\u00a0 And now he\u2019s good for the town.\u00a0 Brings in some tourists.\u00a0 He\u2019s a good writer now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But we digress…\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> Getting back to\u00a0The Imitation Game<\/a>,\u00a0I first saw the film – in a movie theater – in January 2015.\u00a0 But I recently checked out a DVD copy from the local library, and started viewing it again, in segments.\u00a0 That is, I haven’t had cable TV since June 2016.\u00a0 (That’s when I got back from my grandson’s high-school graduation and found a TV screen with no picture\u00a0 My cable provider ended up saying I had two choices:\u00a0 Pay a one-time $50 fee to have a technician check out the problem, or pay another $8 a month.\u00a0 I said, basically, “No, there’s a third<\/strong> option…”)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"TheSo anyway, since June 2016 I’ve been watching mostly old VHS movies on a clunky old-time weighs-a-ton TV set.\u00a0 But I recently graduated to a flat-screen TV, hooked up to the DVD player I bought years ago.\u00a0 (But never managed to hook up to the\u00a0clunky old-time weighs-a-ton TV set.)<\/em><\/p>\n

So since June 2016, I don’t watch TV;\u00a0 in the morning, or after a hard workout, or at night trying to wind down.\u00a0 Instead I watch classic movies, on DVD, in segments.\u00a0 And soon after starting to watch this film, I began to wonder, “Where was the evidence that Turing was homosexual?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In this morning’s episode, I found out.<\/p>\n

For one thing, the film opened – well after World War II – in 1951, with an apparent break-in at\u00a0Turing<\/a>\u2018s home,\u00a0\u00a0 Two police officers investigated, during which the lead officer got suspicious because of Turing’s secrecy.\u00a0 In due course the “sidekick<\/a>” followed Turing and discovered him making an “assignation.”\u00a0 (With a younger\u00a0\u201cpoofter<\/a>,” who confessed his wicked ways.)<\/em><\/p>\n

More to the point, the film then flashed back to World War II.\u00a0 To the point where Turing had to propose marriage to the lone female code-breaker, Joan Clarke<\/a>.\u00a0 (Played by\u00a0Keira Knightley<\/a>, at right.)\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

That was because she was invaluable to the team of code-breakers, but her parents frowned on her being so alone, with all those men, “and unmarried.”\u00a0 (I.e., Turing wanted her to stay and help break the Enigma code<\/a>\u00a0that would help the Allies win World War II.\u00a0 Times were different then, and besides, the code-breaking project was top secret.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

At the engagement party at a local pub, Turing was troubled by the upcoming nuptials, and of course the wedding night\u00a0itself.\u00a0 Fellow code-breaker\u00a0John Cairncross<\/a>\u00a0asked him why.\u00a0 Turing responded, “What if I don’t fancy being with her, that way<\/em><\/strong>?”\u00a0 Cairncross\u00a0responded, “Because you’re a homosexual.\u00a0 I suspected as much.”\u00a0 He then warned Turing to keep his homosexuality a secret.\u00a0 For one thing, “because it’s illegal.”\u00a0 For another, “Denniston<\/a>‘s looking for any excuse to put you away.”\u00a0 Which brings up the need for some more background:<\/p>\n

When Britain declares war on Germany in 1939, Turing travels to Bletchley Park, where, under the direction of Commander\u00a0Alastair Denniston<\/a><\/strong>, he joins the cryptography team of\u00a0Hugh Alexander<\/a>,\u00a0John Cairncross<\/a>, Peter Hilton, Keith Furman and Charles Richards.\u00a0 The team are\u00a0trying to decrypt<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Enigma machine<\/a>, which the Nazis use to send coded messages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For some further background, Denniston was “first head of the\u00a0Government Code and Cypher School<\/a>\u00a0(GC&CS).”\u00a0 He was first appointed “operational head of GC&CS in 1919 and remained so until February 1942.”\u00a0 Which may explain his hostile attitude toward Turing.<\/p>\n

That is, throughout the film\u00a0Commander Denniston<\/a>\u00a0basically hated Turing’s guts.\u00a0 For one thing, when he tried to fire Turing, the \u201cpoof<\/a>\u201d went over his head and wrote to\u00a0Winston Churchill<\/a>.\u00a0 (Seen at left, in 1904.)\u00a0<\/em> Churchill in turn put Turing in charge of the code-breaking project.\u00a0 Which resulted in this\u00a0anomaly<\/a>, or at least oddity:\u00a0 The \u201cspymaster<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>who’d headed the British\u00a0Government Code and Cypher School<\/a>\u00a0since 1919 didn’t realize Turing was<\/em><\/strong> a\u00a0\u201cpoof<\/a>,\u201d but a lowly fellow code-breaker did<\/em><\/strong>?\u00a0 (It also turned out that\u00a0Cairncross<\/a>\u00a0was a Russian spy.)<\/em>\u00a0 Which led to this, my first response to the Turing-Cairncross exchange:<\/p>\n

With spymasters like that, it’s a miracle we won the frikkin’ war!!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Notice that my first response was not<\/em> <\/strong>to ask why I didn’t remember the parts in the movie that showed Turing was gay.\u00a0 I didn’t wonder, “Why did I have to ask myself, ‘Where was the evidence that Turing was homosexual?’\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>But then, I never claimed to be either a super-spymaster<\/a>\u00a0or a master code-breaker.\u00a0 Then too, I may have been hearing too much from that\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0guy, and gone into\u00a0Auto Attack Mode<\/a>.\u00a0 (“It was somebody else’s fault!”)<\/em><\/p>\n

But maybe – just maybe – “there’s a\u00a0third<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0option…”\u00a0 \u00a0Maybe I had a\u00a0repressed memory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The truth is,\u00a0Oscar Wilde and \u201cgross indecencies<\/a>\u201d was a pretty depressing post.\u00a0\u00a0Wilde<\/a>\u00a0went from the heights of fame and pleasure,\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0to \u201cthe depths.\u201d\u00a0 From being\u00a0one of the most successful playwrights of Victorian London, to his\u00a0arrest, trial and conviction for\u00a0gross indecency<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0And after Alan Turing’s own arrest and conviction, he got the \u201cchoice\u201d of spending two years in prison or undergoing court-ordered\u00a0chemical castration<\/a>.\u00a0 The treatment left him impotent, and two years later – in 1954 – he committed suicide by\u00a0cyanide poisoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, in 2003 the\u00a0U.S. Supreme Court issued\u00a0Lawrence v. Texas<\/a>.\u00a0 (Over the objections of many conservatives.)\u00a0<\/em> The Court held\u00a0that “intimate consensual sexual conduct\u00a0was part of the liberty protected by\u00a0substantive due process<\/a>\u00a0under the\u00a014th Amendment<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

And Britain – in 2017 – passed the\u00a0Alan Turing law<\/a>.\u00a0 That law allowed\u00a0pardons<\/a>\u00a0for men “cautioned<\/a>\u00a0or convicted under\u00a0historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts<\/a>.”\u00a0 And as\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0noted:\u00a0 “As of January\u00a02017, some 49,000 men<\/em><\/strong> had been posthumously pardoned under the terms of the Policing and Crime Act 2017.”<\/p>\n

I suppose that’s some kind of progress…<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0The Imitation Game (2014) – IMDb<\/a>.\u00a0 (“Photo” 102 of 102.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Re:\u00a0 The\u00a0Winston Churchill<\/a>\u00a0photo to the left of the paragraph beginning “That is, throughout the film…”\u00a0 Not to be unkind, but in that photo Churchill looks to be a bit of a\u00a0\u201cpoofter<\/a>” himself.\u00a0 (To which I might add,\u00a0“Not that there’s anything wrong with that<\/a>!”)\u00a0 Then of course there was Churchill’s famous quote, “The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash<\/a>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Alan Turing – Wikipedia<\/a>.\u00a0 The caption:\u00a0 “Statue of Turing by\u00a0Stephen Kettle<\/a>\u00a0at Bletchley Park, commissioned by\u00a0Sidney Frank<\/a>, built from half a million pieces of Welsh slate.”\u00a0 Two more notes:\u00a0 1)\u00a0 “In 1941, Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 colleague\u00a0Joan Clarke<\/a>, a fellow mathematician and cryptanalyst, but their engagement was short-lived.\u00a0 After admitting his homosexuality to his fianc\u00e9e, who was reportedly ‘unfazed’ by the revelation<\/strong>, Turing decided that he could not go through with the marriage.”\u00a0 And 2)\u00a0 “In August 2009,\u00a0John Graham-Cumming<\/a>\u00a0started a petition urging the British Government to apologise for Turing’s prosecution…\u00a0 The petition received more than 30,000 signatures.\u00a0 The Prime Minister,\u00a0Gordon Brown<\/a>\u00a0[issued]\u00a0a statement on 10 September 2009 apologising and describing the treatment of Turing as ‘appalling.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

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The “super-spymaster” on the left didn’t know that the guy on the right was a “poofter…” * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * I confess \u2013 I \u201cdo not deny but confess\u201d \u2013 that I’ve been lax in posting new\u00a0essays\u00a0for this blog.\u00a0 One excuse is that I\u2019ve been focusing more on my art.\u00a0\u00a0(For one thing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6940"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6940"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7039,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6940\/revisions\/7039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}