Allen's achievements not only greatly shortened the time of the war and prevented more people from being harassed by the war, but also made him respected as the father of computer science. Of course, these are all later stories. Allen and his companions did not enjoy the sweet fruits of success at the time, because they, like the agents in the movie "The Silent War" (2012), could only live in the shadow of the massive war game, Be an unknown existence, let alone be admired in the name of a hero. When the people celebrated the end of the war, Allen and others had to be locked in a room separated by a wall from the outside world, forced to destroy their past achievements, erase their existence, and become excluded from history and their identities from society. An unsung hero to identify with.
The scholar Ji Dawei once used "identity" as the basis to distinguish gays and queers: "Gays advocate identity, but queers question it." In other words, it is difficult for queers to refuse to be included in a fixed identity. The existence of a unified definition. Due to the special background of the war, Allen was involuntarily placed in a situation where his identity was not recognized, but his extraordinary talent, even his sexuality, had long given him an indelible coolness. opposite sex. Allen in the film has been regarded as a "freak" since he was a child. Not only does he have no friends, but he is also frequently bullied and bullied. Only Christopher is willing to help him and get close to him. By chance, Christopher opened Aaron's curiosity about the password, and the two used the password as a secret language and passed notes to each other. Stupid words that make no sense in the eyes of others are, to them, meaningful secret words of the soul. The password highlights their heterogeneity to everyone, making the two of them a small world of their own, and also making them farther and farther away from the "mainstream society", becoming wandering and discrete lonely individuals.
The "imitation game" in the title refers to the popular "Turing test", which is an experiment to determine whether a machine can think like a human brain, which also lays the foundation for the development of artificial intelligence. . However, the "imitation game" has another layer of reference in the film, that is, Allen's imitation of mainstream society. Allen's talent and intelligence and childhood experience have created his arrogant personality. Even when he grows up, he is still out of tune with the society. He often offends a lot of people as soon as he opens his mouth, which makes all the decoding experts who work with him criticize him, except for Joan (Keira). Knightley). Under Joan's persuasion, Allen began to try to "impersonate" the behavior of others in order to integrate into the group. In fact, this has indeed had a certain effect, and colleagues are not only willing to get close to him, but also fully endorse his experiments. Allen's imitation seems to hide the original heterogeneity and allow himself to be included in the group identity of the mainstream society, but if viewed from another angle, it does not prove that the so-called "mainstream society" is not born so naturally, it can be done through to learn or imitate. Allen's unintentional actions undoubtedly shook the mainstream social value that once excluded him and oppressed him.
It's not just Allen who's trying to shake mainstream values, it's Joan as well. Because she is a woman, Joan's intelligence is not recognized, and she is excluded from the test field where intelligence is in command; because she is a woman, she is not allowed to work with a group of men; (heterosexual patriarchy) families. Yet Joan questioned, even challenged, the femininity that society had imposed on her, as queerly. Not only did she show her intelligence that overwhelmed the crowd, but she also mixed in with men and performed decoding tasks with Allen and others. All kinds of restrictions let her crack one by one, proving that she was never a "normal" woman. In addition, Joan, who once stated that she did not want to stay at home as a housewife, chose to marry Alan together. On the surface, the mainstream norms still subdued the two, but in fact, they all clearly knew this. But it's a purposeful expedient: Alan, who is gay, can roam the mainstream (heterosexual) society, and Joan can work in the crowd of men. Marriage may have been the shackles of two people, but under the heterogeneous combination (homosexuals and "abnormal" women), it turned into a means of unraveling. So far, the mainstream value has clearly shaken again.
Two queer people, Allen and Joan, explored the way of origin in the mainstream, proving that the mainstream space and the heterogeneous space are not two ends with clear barriers, but existences with unclear boundaries and interrelatedness. However, queer people can only stay on the fringes of the mainstream space. The friendship between Allen and Christopher was naturally not acceptable in the society at that time. Director Morten Tyldum's obscure handling of gay lust seemed to echo this repressive atmosphere, and Allen never stated that he Lust for Christopher, but secrecy doesn't mean the camaraderie doesn't exist. Allen named the computer "Christopher" to allow camaraderie to lurk like an undercurrent throughout the film.
Therefore, whether it is Allen's colleagues or the audience outside the screen, they all think that he is very obsessed with deciphering and does not want anyone to destroy or humiliate his proud achievements; in fact, what he is addicted to is the Love for Christopher. Although this love can only be kept in a heavily guarded darkroom (cabinet), in the mainstream heterosexual society, Allen still found some breathing space and successfully smuggled his same-sex friendship to Christopher. For this love, he would rather be chemically castrated, because only in this way will he not be forced to separate from "Christopher". The last words Alan said to Joan standing in front of "Christopher" were really touching and made people realize what a lifelong love is. Maybe lonely forever, but I believe tenderness is still there.
Screenwriter Graham Moore made many changes to the historical facts when writing the script, and I believe that these adaptations are all necessary for the film. As he put it in his emotional confession after winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the film is meant to present queer people who are "weird and otherworldly, unable to fit into any environment." "Those who are abandoned by the world can achieve unimaginable great things." Christopher once said. Judging from Allen's life experience, there is bound to be a cruel price behind such an achievement, but it is undeniable that abandoned queer people are the most important key to affecting mainstream society. As Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" conveys, "The Imitation Game" is more than just a biographical film. exposition.
View more about The Imitation Game reviews
