Alan Turing's Impressions

Characters in films can portray impression of people and societies, which one experience in one way or another. These impressions may be positive or negative, depending on the filmmakers’ intentions. In The Imitation Game (2014) directed by Morten Tyldum, the protagonist Alan Turing is a little known but significant historical figure, who used his mathematical geniosity to end WWII and save millions of lives. Audience’s growing affection for this prickly, socially-awkward man creates a positive impression of genius. However, Turing’s hidden homosexuality, and the consequential government’s inhumane treatment towards him create a heartbreakingly negative impression of British Society in the mid-20th century. By peering back into the past,

Looking back in the history, the audience is impressed once again by Turing’s creation of his code-breaking machine, Christopher. At first, Alan’s idea is rejected by many other characters, especially by the royal navy, Commander Denniston. The commander thinks that Alan’s idea is “not that technical” and threatens to take Alan’s machine away from him as well as fire him from the job. However, Alan perseveres to make Christopher work. Turing’s endless efforts are illustrated through a motif of Alan running. Alan is seen to be running on a field in short scenes throughout the time period of breaking the enigma. This running motif is a direct physical illustration of Alan endless hard work on Christopher to break the Enigma. This is further emphasised when Alan sprints to change Christopher’s setting after discovering the regular pattern in the German messages. In this scene, hand-held camera work is used to build even more intensity to the moment by adding more dynamic movement and make the audience feel as if they are now running alongside Alan. Stopping of the Christopher’s wheels signifies the success of solving the code machine. The camera stops and no sound is made to convey the heightened nervousness and tension in the moment of witnessing the result of the machine.This maximum peak of

Alan 's achievement leaves both people around him and the audience astonished, making them appreciative of the intellect despite possibly unlikeable character. However, Alan 's concealed homosexuality was viewed upon as crime in the mid 20th century and became cornered to lose his uniqueness as an individual. Through the transformation of Alan, audience realizes that discrimination was so strong that not even stopping the world war could change the society 's views. By analyzing the history, literature teaches the audience valuable lessons for their future in society.