Imitating History in Hollywood

“When kids look up to great scientists the way they do to great musicians and actors, civilization will jump to the next level”

- Brian Greene

The Imitation Game is just another historical film about some specific event. Easy to say that until it mentions the pivotal code-breaking operation during World War 2, the birthplace of the modern computer, and the landscape of homosexuality sixty years ago. The average person probably can’t tell you much about these ultra-specific topics of the past. Essentially, most people would watch The Imitation Game as a blank slate. They choose to pass their time with this movie because they read great reviews about the acting for example, or perhaps the mere fact that it stars Benedict Cumberbatch. As such, I rarely watch movies out of an intrinsic motivation to learn. But when the acting is so good that the connection between you and characters grow even stronger, you start to be more interested and believe the stories being told. Your thirst for knowledge spikes and begin doing your own few minutes of Googling, only to expose the charlatan that is Hollywood.

Obviously, we would like most things to be accurately portrayed in movies. After all, the point of a movie is to re-live past events, rather than strenuously fabricating them in our minds through a monotonous book. Picking your poison is a matter of personal preference. Authors can (or will) be disgruntled about an adapted film’s twisted and contrived elements, while historians cannot help but point out inaccuracies that are bludgeoned throughout the plot. This is not uncommon though. Hollywood bleeds fantasy. Producing reality is far down the priority list, or not even on the agenda at all. The controversy starts here and thus, the question lies on whether objectivity is necessary and have a rightful place in a movie.

As engaging and dramatic The Imitation Game is, the audience needs to take it with a grain of salt. Alan Turing was not a sociopath. He was reputed to have good working relationships with a good sense of humour. There was never a conflict of interest between the commanders and the cryptographers. In fact, the administration was highly supportive of the Enigma operation and funded it as much as possible. As you can tell, nothing in the objective truth makes good drama. There is no conflict, no dynamic force, no obvious character development. As such, much like how media framing and clickbaits operate, the portrayal of history has no choice but to be steered to consumerism’s favour.

As much as we like to disparage the modern industry for its hollow motives, there is some good to be seen in historical films that show only a sliver of objectivity. The biggest benefit should be clear as day: knowledge. Who is Alan Turing? He was an English mathematician and computer scientist, widely known as the pioneer of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. What was Turing’s role in World War 2? He was instrumental in cracking Nazi coded messages and shifting the war to Allies’ favour. What is the Turing machine? The modern computer. These are some questions that can be asked in any typical social studies class. Granted, your answers at the moment may barely scratch the surface, but they capture the essential message. Curiosity will take care of the details.

It’s like a slippery slope. Once you are hooked, your exploration will naturally run deeper mainly because you are emotionally motivated by a good movie, not a dry textbook. Plus, there are certainly many resources that are reliable outside of a formal classroom. Wikipedia is the best, as much as teachers tend to blacklist it. Nevertheless, they can’t argue against the fact that Wikipedia further brought Alan Turing’s significance into my awareness and directly understanding the stigma of being homosexual in the 1950s, which all started with a single movie. That's why the benefits outweigh the costs. While the complaints from hardcore historians and authors are valid, Hollywood can in fact contribute to their cause: to distribute valuable knowledge.

What use is knowing the importance of Alan Turing and his undercover operations? Well, you may hold a better discussion with the next computer science professor. You may have the upper hand in bragging rights amongst your friends. You may extrapolate its significance onto your thesis project. You may be more empathetic. Or you may never use them at all. The benefits depend, but there is no easier access to knowledge than watching fun movies like The Imitation Game and nurturing curiosity about our relevant history. The best part is that this experiential learning is amenable to anybody, even kids. And as Brian Greene candidly points out, “When kids look up to great scientists the way they do to great musicians and actors, civilization will jump to the next level”.