Principles of Storytelling, S5215457

What is the impact of historical inaccuracies in film? Exploring historical representation and investigating roles of certain minority groups where their efforts are ignored, while others are celebrated.

Based on a true story The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum 2014) follows the life of Alan Turing OBE FRS, who played a vital part in breaking the German Enigma code during World War 2 leading the country and allies to victory and undoubtedly saving countless lives. His story is not a happy one, nor should it ever be ignored. He was bullied and victimised for being different and his life ended like no hero’s should. History should never be ignored and in this critical analysis I will explore how today we have a problem with historical misrepresentation and whitewashing and how Hollywood’s role in the film industry affects this. I also will investigate the impact of historical inaccuracies in films and identify the factors of that shape the narrative structures of The Imitation Game including characters, conflict, plot and resolution.

The films plot unfurls in a nonlinear narrative, we are taken back repeatedly to Turing’s childhood where we learn important information about how he came to be the man he was during the second world war. Including how he was severely bullied in school because of his unique approach to the world, he was different. Bullies don’t like different. He also meets and develops romantic feelings towards another boy in the school who introduces him to the art of cryptography.  The film uses these flashbacks effectively as it seems that Turing is truly beginning to feel happy at that point in his life, so you wonder what changed and made him become cynical. The audience is teased with titbits of information which are usually explained during the next flashback.

“Being different is a superpower” – Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg is a Seventeen-year-old girl, climate activist and was recently named Times person of the year, she also has Asperger’s syndrome. It is argued Alan Turing also had Asperger’s syndrome and if so, this film is a triumph for representation of people like them and hopefully lessons stigma around people with the same condition. The film may not have affected Greta Thunberg exactly, however who is to say that it hasn’t reached countless others. It also shows an important part of the LQTBQ+ community’s history as gay marriage was still illegal at the time. Because of this Turing faced imprisonment in 1952 for having a male lover, so took the alternative option a “chemical castration” a hormone treatment meant to suppress his sexual urges. Due to the secrecy of his involvement in the War and his sexuality Turing was not recognised as he is today in England despite his many accomplishments. The Human Rights Campaign honoured the film in 2015 at their New York Gala Dinner for bringing Turing’s legacy to a wider audience, The HRC president Chad Griffin said “Alan Turing was a true hero who saved countless lives with his revolutionary thinking and determination.  Yet during the most tragic part of his lifetime, he stood alone and endured unimaginable torment and shame because he was gay. This film will give millions across the globe a chance to celebrate a truly brilliant man for his ground-breaking contributions to the world.” The film reached a global audience, nominated for seven awards winning best writing and adapted screenplay. Reaching thousands if not millions of people the impact of having this film with a gay protagonist shows how far we’ve come with gay rights since Turing was alive.

Historical inaccuracies on films based on real events are a tricky balance there is a certain amount of creative leeway to make historical films more interesting and intriguing to audiences, however the impact of this is literally leaving people out of history. An example of this is Gordan Welchman, a British mathematician who was the head of Hut Six the team responsible for cracking the enigma code. When Turing developed the machine the ‘Bombe’ Welchman modified the machine, so the running time was reduced significantly, and the machine became known as the Turing-Welchman Bombe. Welchman is not mentioned once throughout the film even with his extremely important role and his story lives on through his book The Hut Six Story (1982) I think the unfortunate effect of this is some would take the film for the whole truth, on the one hand you have the thought of whether the film have been as popular if we’d focused on this other person and bringing worldwide attention to LGBT civil rights. On the other you have the ethical consideration that this man fought for his country and if it wasn’t for him we may have lost the war, I don’t think this warrants being written out of a film even if it wasn’t solely based on him.

An important factor of the film was the use of technology and is a big theme throughout. Turing published a paper in 1936 while studying for his Ph.D. about computable numbers which became the foundation of computer science, leading to the invention of the first computer called UNIVAC. Wartime had a boom of inventions such as radar, helicopters, the jet engine and of course electronic computers. It was an exciting time for advances in technology and the film zones in on that, especially being up close and personal with an enigma machine a complete mystery before it was cracked. The machine was used extensively by Nazi Germany during World War Two to protect their communication.

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolen, 2017) is defined as an Action, drama and historical film (IMDB 2019) however it was regarded by some that Nolen had whitewashed the historical accuracy of the event. Relating this to modern day society we recently found out the results of the 2020 Oscars where all nominees and winners were predominately white with nineteen out of twenty nominees for acting being white. I suppose though that if Hollywood can write people of colour out of their films, they can also write their achievements out of their award shows. Yasmin Khan wrote in her book, The Raj at War: “The British did not fight the Second World War, the British Empire did”

Another example of whitewashing was Scarlett Johansson’s lead role in the film Ghost in the shell (2017) the drama/fantasy directed by Rupert Sanders came under controversy for the adaption of the popular Japanese manga series from the 1980’s. The protagonist role of Motoko Kusanagi is written as an Asian role however was given to Johansson with seemingly no explanation, When Johansson’s casting was first mentioned a petition was made by fans of the series, for the role to be recast. On the other hand we have characters such as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon a beloved character by many fans of the Simpsons a comedy show known for all their characters to be exaggerated versions of their own stereotype. Nahasapeemapetilon who was written out of the show in 2018 due to the fact he portrayed a racial stereotypical version of an Indian American convenience store owner while being voiced by a white voice actor. There was an outcry from fans of the character protesting that he was a quintessential part of the Simpsons and maybe he was but writers recognised the problem with his character and made the completely fair decision to remove him from the show.

The main conflict is clear in the film the characters in Hut Six must solve the enigma code and end the War. However all the characters go through personal journeys to reach their full potentials including Joan Clarke Turing’s partner for a time. A scene important to the film in showing how little there was in prospects for women at the time is the crossword scene. Clarke enters the room after responding to an ad posted in the newspaper and is the only woman. She also must overcome her parent’s views and cultural barriers just to be a part of the team of code breakers because she was a woman. The film is set No women were nominated for best director even though Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019) was nominated for six awards including two acting nominations, best picture and best screenplay.

The resolution isn’t quite so straight forward, when the code breaking team finally crack the enigma code the audience finally gets to have a moment of catharsis unfortunately it doesn’t mean it’s over. In a heart wrenching moment the team realises they have to decide who lives and who dies to avoid German detection, solving the first puzzle opens them to an even bigger internal conflict, making it worse when one finds out their brother is on a ship going to be destroyed while they have to sit idly by. This is where Turing’s characters objective nature proves critical, they must follow policy and choose with extreme caution which people to save and who to leave to their fate. Everyone else’s emotions in Hut six cloud their judgement whereas he can think clearly and logically. Turing shows throughout the film that he doesn’t communicate with others like people usually do shown in this lunch scene, His representation of Asperger’s syndrome and his significant difficulties in social interaction makes him come across as cynical and emotionless. According to the people close to him this was a misinterpretation showing again how directors and writers twist their stories and write their own interpretations of history. Also showing a misrepresentation of the syndrome, even though bringing awareness to the disorder, it doesn’t show it in the best light people with the syndrome can have strong relationships and show love.

In conclusion I strongly believe we need to appreciate facts when we’re creating films. It’s wonderful that historical dramas such as The Imitation Game and Dunkirk are bringing attention to important events from the past however what is the cost of literally writing people out of history? Countless lives were saved by these people and unfortunately people will continue to forget them by watching these films unless they go out and educate themselves on the event. The film industry must do better, they have chances in these films to reach millions of people and teach them something so why do they choose not to? Why do we continue to rearrange our own history? Thousands of people watch these “historical” films, but they never have the warning to never take it as fact. As I have said in the essay the continuous whitewashing of people of colours roles need to be discussed more, with hundreds of talented people’s role literally being taken from them for no good reason apart from institutionalised racism.

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