Alan Turing in the 21st century
“Alan Turing is not outwardly very sympathetic. He’s brilliant, but the way that Benedict Cumberbatch played him showed us these guys found the right level of vulnerability, genius and the arrogance of the character, too.” – Harvey Weinstein.
Although Cumberbatch is known for playing intelligent characters and cheekily says himself that he’s a crowd pleaser, the “father of computing” Turing wasn’t just a genius brain nor a man you immediately sympathized with. He preferred relationships with machines rather than being around people but was indeed loved and admired by some. One of them was Joan Clarke, his only fiancée, who died in 1996.
English novelist Alan Garner remembers the mathematician as an athlete in the 1950s. A “stocky”, barrel chested man who hammered the ground on Tuesdays while jogging, often thinking aloud. Someone who had an extraordinarily aristocratic, English, high-pitched voice and a great sense of humour for good laughs, puns and plays on words. Others remember Turing as a man with a mask on because he suffered from hay fever, recall him chaining his own mug so that no one else could take it. Even though the Londoner didn’t go in deep conversations very often, he seemed “gauche” to Barbara Maher, had an “unkempt” manner of dressing himself and bit his finger nails during his treatment with weekly estrogen injections. However it didn’t leave Turing untouched when his homosexuality, back then illegal and considered an illness, was discovered and the judges named him “worthless” in court. “And this sunny, cheerful visage had shrunk into a pale, shaking, horror-stricken face. Something had happened. We don’t know what the fortune-teller said but he obviously was deeply unhappy”, adds Maria Summerscale to her memories.
Disgusted by his sexual orientation, the English society of the 50s punished Turing who then lost his job at Bletchley Park. The achievements of the logician haven’t been acknowledged during his lifetime due to secrecy at war.
Monday, June 23rd 2014 marks the 102th year since the British codebreaker was born but what if Turing had lived amongst us today? Live with all computing technologies we can not seem to live without anymore. Would he be amazed at the globalization and constant use of smartphones? Would he own a tablet himself? Interested in machines and the human mind, would he watch films like “Transendence”? What would his opinion on the NSA be? Would he work undercover and fight a cyber war? Would he run a marathon in support of gay rights? What would he think of the 77 countries in which being gay remains illegal? Would he live openly gay? Would he have tried to qualify for the Olympics only to be excluded of the games by Russia due to his sexual orientation? Would he be an as controversal figure as for example whistleblowers Assange and Snowden? More importantly would his thinking ahead of others be recognized by the British government?
Pardoned by The Queen in 2013, Dr. Alan Turing’s life and legacy will be brought to the big screen in “The Imitation Game”, in UK theatres on November 14th 2014, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch (SHERLOCK), Keira Knightley (Begin Again), Matthew Goode (Stoker) and others.
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