The Imitation Game
What makes a person “normal?” Who gets to decide this? Who defines it? And who made the rules say that if someone is NOT normal, they are looked at as bad? An outsider. A freak. Why is the word “weird” associated with such negativity? Our culture shapes how we see the world around us. Trying to fit in, to be normal, is a way of life. But, “normal” doesn’t change the world. In this paper, I will be discussing the categories, rules, and norms that are shaped by the culture around us, how difficulties arise from falling outside those norms including how it could make us think and feel negatively towards ourselves, and the communication challenges and confirmation biases that arise from being different from others.
Alan Turing was not normal. Neither is his story. The film “The Imitation Game” is a fantastic yet heartbreaking depiction of the life of this incredible and strange man. The title of the movie itself comes from a paper that Dr. Turing wrote and published in 1950 where he asks the question “Can machines think?” A very strange question back then indeed. Yes, Alan Turing was strange, and this made his life very difficult. Since he strayed from the social norms and fell into certain Social Identity Categories that people at the time deemed inappropriate and wrong, this influenced peoples’ perception of him and made it very difficult for him to communicate with others, have any kind of healthy relationships, or even be heard when he spoke. I think this movie did a fantastic job in showing the different categories, where Alan fit into them, and the repercussions of being who he was. Social Identity Categories are discussed in Chapter 2.3 where it states “Interpersonal relationships impact and are impacted by such social identity categories as race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and socioeconomics or class.” He was a minority. Being “not normal,” though, was Alan Turing’s superpower. His incredible ability to think outside the box paved the way for such things as the modern computer, artificial intelligence, and the designing and manufacture of a device that would change the world and ultimately save the lives of over 14 million people. This movie is based on the true story of Dr. Alan Turing.
Much of the film is set around the time of World War II. We are at war with Hitler and the Nazis, and Europe is crumbling under the intense weight of the German forces. They always seem to be one step ahead of the Allied powers. And, at the heart of it all… is the Enigma. A machine developed by the Nazis that they used to encrypt the messages they sent to each other about everything from the local weather report to “the details of every surprise attack, every secret convoy, and every U-boat in the bloody Atlantic.” These messages were sent through the radio waves. They were all out in the open. Even “any schoolboy with an AM kit” could intercept the messages. But that’s the thing. The messages were encrypted. A message that has passed through the Enigma machine is gibberish if you don’t have the key to decipher it and the Nazis changed the key settings every night at midnight. Without the key, there were “159 million, million, million possible settings” and “if we had ten men checking one setting a minute for 24 hours every day and seven days every week, it would take 20 million years to check each setting.” And they had to do it all before midnight or else the settings would change and they would have to start all over again. Dr. Turing and his team were tasked to crack the code, to beat the Enigma machine, and to win the war. A seemingly impossible task.
Alan Turing was weird. He was an introvert and a loner. He believed he was different than everyone else and he didn’t fit in. He was a mathematical genius, a homosexual during a time when it was illegal, a person that communicated very logically and literally, and someone who’s mind just worked differently than everyone else’s. All of which was deemed “not normal” in the standards of his modern-day environment which, in turn, made the people around him think he was an outsider and a freak. This is a prime example of the Assumed Similarity and Difference factors of the Organization stage of the Perception Process. In Chapter 2.3 of our textbook, these factors are explained as “When we believe or sense that someone is similar to us, we are more likely to be attracted to them as friends and give them the benefit of the doubt. The opposite is also true: if we find someone to be different from us, we will distance ourselves.”
In the film, they did an outstanding job giving an example of the Assumed Difference factor when they showed Alan being interviewed for a Top-Secret job in a place called Bletchley Park in London. His interviewer, Commander Denniston of the Royal Navy, disliked him right away because he thought Alan was odd and didn’t fit into the mold of what he thought was the ideal candidate for the job, and he was wasting his time. The Commander at one point even says to him “Well, I believe you’ve just set the record for the shortest job interview in British military history.”
Commander Denniston thought Alan was weird, and because of confirmation bias, he was convinced that he was no good, and of no use to him or the team. Alan shrugged it off and then made a very compelling argument as to why he WAS indeed the man for the job and that “you need me more than I need you.” The job was to be a part of the team specifically put together to beat Enigma. Commander Denniston finally, yet reluctantly agreed with what Alan had to say, and allowed him to join the team. This is a great example of Confirmation bias, which is defined in Chapter 3.2 as “our tendency to attend to evidence that supports preconceived notions while ignoring or disregarding evidence that is contrary to our desired reality.”
In a paper published 20 April, 2020 titled “What Is the Function of Confirmation Bias?” the author, Uwe Peters, states that “Confirmation bias is one of the most widely discussed epistemically problematic cognitions, challenging reliable belief formation and the correction of inaccurate views. Given its problematic nature, it remains unclear why the bias evolved and is still with us today.” I find this quite interesting and he brings up a very good point. If it is so harmful, why haven’t we, as a species, learned to steer away from the tendencies to bias? I think we do it because it is easy, and at times even feels good. It helps us get what we want, even if we are wrong. Peters continues, “Confirmation bias evolved because it helps us influence people and social structures so that they come to match our beliefs about them. This can result in significant developmental and epistemic benefits for us and other people, ensuring that over time we don’t become epistemically disconnected from social reality but can navigate it more easily.”
It was evident throughout the film (and in life, for that matter) that we can’t NOT communicate. Even if we don’t speak, we are still communicating through non-verbal messages and cues. Communication is an essential and inevitable part of life. Whether it is Intrapersonal Communication in one’s own mind, Interpersonal Communication (also called Dyadic Communication) which involves two people, Public Communication where an individual or group of individuals sends a specific message to an audience, or, in Alan’s case throughout most of the movie, Small Group Communication. In Chapter 1.4, Small Group Communication is defined as a group of at least three people interacting with a common goal. Alan was an introvert and made it very clear that he preferred to work alone by saying things like “I don’t have time to explain myself as I go along, and I’m afraid these men would only slow me down.” He was forced though to be a part of the six-person team and this caused some significant yet not surprising tensions in the group throughout the film.
Understandably, even since he was a child, Alan was so much different from the vast majority of the people around him, he had difficulty with having positive views of his own Perceptions of Self, specifically, his Self-Concept and his Self-Esteem. Chapter 2.2 defines Self-Concept as “the overall idea of who a person thinks they are.” Self-Esteem refers to “the judgments and evaluations we make about our self-concept.” He knew he was smarter than most people, but he also knew that he was different and people didn’t respond well to that, and they showed it by bullying him. When he was young, it wasn’t until he met a boy at his school named Christopher Morcom that Alan was able to break out of his shell a bit. Christopher was nice to Alan, and they became inseparable. In the film, while sitting together under a tree at school, Christopher introduces the book “A Guide to Codes and Ciphers” to Alan. He tells him “It’s about cryptography.” “Like secret messages?” Alan asks. Christopher answers by saying “Not secret. That’s the brilliant part. Messages that anyone can see, but no one knows what they mean unless you have the key.” Alan ponders for a moment, and then, with a puzzled look on his face, he asks “How’s that different from talking? When people talk to each other, they never say what they mean. They say something else, and you’re expected to just know what they mean. Only I never do. So, how’s that different?” It’s then that Christopher smiles, says “Alan, I have a funny feeling you’re going to be very good at this,” and hands him the book. This plants the seed for Alan, helping him grow up with an unwavering view of his own Self-Efficacy. Chapter 2.2 refers to Self-efficacy as “a person’s perception of their ability to perform a task and their expectation about the outcomes their behavior will have in a challenging situation.” Throughout the movie, Alan knows in his heart that he is right. He knows his machine that he is building will work. He is very confident in that, and verbalizes it many times, even when everyone is disagreeing with him, at times, even violently. Also, his superiors at Bletchley Park threatened him often with being fired, and even worse, being hanged for treason.
As the movie progresses, the intense feelings Alan has for Christopher become more and more apparent. During the film, while they are still young, their school goes on a break for holiday and Christopher goes home to be with his family, but not before giving a note to Alan that has a message on it that is encrypted in their own private way. Alan uses their special key to decipher the message and it says “SEE YOU IN TWO LONG WEEKS DEAREST FRIEND.” Alan smiles and is obviously very touched. Later in the film, it shows the hordes of boys coming back to school after the break and Alan is excited to finally see Christopher again. He is shown holding a note that he is wanting to give to Christopher that is also encrypted, but when this one is deciphered, it will spell out the three simple words, “I LOVE YOU.” Alan ignores the cultural rules and norms around sexual orientation in his society and is fully planning on telling Christopher how he feels once and for all. But… Christopher doesn’t arrive. Later, a confused Alan is called in to the headmaster’s office where he is told the heartbreaking news. Christopher is dead. He died from Bovine Tuberculosis and apparently was sick for a long time, he just never mentioned it to his close friend. Alan is utterly crushed, but he can’t show it because having the feelings that he does for his friend is very much illegal and will not be tolerated. Alan has to bottle up his feelings and he grows up to be a man with a deep, dark secret. Chapter 3.4 – “Culture is defined as a group of people who share values, beliefs, norms, and a common language.” “We live in a heteronormative culture, where through politics and social pressure, heterosexuality is viewed as the “norm.” Unfortunately, having a perspective where one sexuality is seen as the norm leads to discrimination of people who identify and/or practice other sexualities.”
Eventually, after endless frustrations with the other Enigma task force group members, Alan writes a letter to the British Prime Minister asking for help. It’s then that Winston Churchill himself puts Alan in charge of the team. Alan then promptly fires two of the members because they are “mediocre linguists, and positively poor code-breakers.” Doing this though causes the group to be understaffed and it’s up to Alan to recruit more qualified people. He then designed a very specific cross-word puzzle and published it in the local newspaper with the caption “If you can solve this puzzle in Under Ten Minutes, please call STO-6245 for an exciting career opportunity.” The people who responded were then put into a room where they were tasked once again to solve a puzzle, this time being overlooked and timed by Alan himself. This introduces one of the only positive female figures in Alan’s life, Joan Clarke. Due to the cultural norms and being a “woman in a man’s world,” Joan had her own set of difficulties. Even as Alan is explaining to the candidates that they have precisely 6 minutes to solve the puzzle, Joan walks through the door, but is late because “the bus caught a flat tire” and she apologizes for her tardiness. The man guarding the door says without hesitation “You’re not allowed in here, ma’am.” She rebuttals by saying that she is “only a few minutes late.” The man continues his beratement by saying “The secretaries are to head upstairs. This room’s for the candidates.” “I-I am a candidate,” replies Joan. “I solved a crossword puzzle in the newspaper, and I got this letter saying that I was a candidate for some sort of mysterious job.” And, again without hesitation, the man asks Joan smugly “Miss, did you really solve this puzzle yourself?”
Alan sees the potential in Joan right away. He ignores the objections from the man guarding the door and lets her come in to test with the other candidates where she blows the puzzle out of the water and finishes it even faster than Alan himself did. He is very impressed and gives her a position in the Enigma team, and they eventually become close. Joan has to continuously struggle with social norms and gender roles even to the point where her parents forbade her from staying there working at Bletchley Park. “I’m 25, I’m unmarried, I’m living alone, and they want me home,” she says. Alan refuses to let her go, and in a moment of desperation, he, in a very Alan-like way, proposes to Joan and they become engaged. “Well, it is the logical thing to do,” he states.
Later in the film, after perfecting his machine and triumphantly defeating Enigma, Alan confronts Joan and finally confesses to her that he is, in fact, homosexual. She admits that she did have her suspicions all along, but doesn’t care. “But we’re not like other people,” she says. “We love each other in our own way, and we can have the life together that we want.” She continues by saying “We’ll have each other’s company. We’ll have each other’s minds. That sounds like a better marriage than most. Because I care for you. And you care for me. And we understand one another more than anyone else ever has.” She sees that the similarities they do share far outweigh the differences, but in a desperate attempt to push her away, Alan vehemently disagrees. Unfortunately, it works. After the Nazi’s Enigma machine was beaten and the war was won, Joan leaves and the two of them were never wed.
Eventually, time passes, and we find out that Alan was ultimately sentenced for gross indecency under British law due to his homosexuality. He was given a choice. Either two years in prison, or hormonal therapy to “cure” him. He chose the latter since he wouldn’t be able to work in prison, and that was unacceptable. He was unwilling to give up the work he was doing on his machine that he appropriately named “Christopher.” “I’m not alone. Never have been,” he says while affectionately caressing the cables protruding from his machine he had built. “Christopher’s become so smart,” he continues. “If I don’t continue my treatment, then they’ll take him away from me.” He becomes very emotional. “You can’t let them do that. You can’t. You can’t let them leave me alone. I don’t want to be alone.”
He was chemically castrated. And after a year of government-mandated hormonal therapy, Dr. Alan Turing committed suicide on June 7th, 1954. He was 41 years old.
In his final meeting with Joan in the film, Alan finds out that she eventually got married. To an Army man named Jock. “You got what you wanted, didn’t you?” Alan asks her. “Work. A husband. Normal life.” I will always remember her reply to Alan since it hit me like a ton of bricks. “No one normal could have done that,” she tells him. “Do you know, this morning I was on a train that went through a city that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for you. I bought a ticket from a man who would likely be dead if it wasn’t for you. I read up on my work… a whole field of scientific inquiry that only exists because of you. Now, if you wish you could have been normal… I can promise you I do not. The world is an infinitely better place precisely because you weren’t.”
This film was packed full of challenges in communication, confirmation biases, proof that culture very much influences the perception of others, and the struggles of a man that just wanted to feel love in a world that was forcing him to think negatively about himself. Alan Turing wanted to be normal. But, unfortunately for him, since our culture does, in fact, very much shape how we see the world around us, this was nearly impossible.
I often struggle with my own thoughts of how I am weird and different. It is, at times, very difficult for me to look past that, and not label myself as bad or flawed or even broken. Negative self-talk takes over and depression sets in, but films and stories like Alan’s give me hope. They help me realize that “weird” isn’t a bad word. We are all beautiful and perfect in our own unique way, and it’s okay to be different. From time to time we desperately need different, because “normal” doesn’t change the world.
“Sometimes it’s the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” ~Christopher Morcom
Works Cited
Peters, Uwe. “What Is the Function of Confirmation Bias?”. Erkenn 87, 1351–1376, 20 April 2022, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10670-020-00252-1
Tyldum, Morten. (Director). (2014). The Imitation Game [Film]. Bristol Automotive/Black Bear Pictures, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/?ref_=tt_mv_close
Wrench, Jason S, et al. “Book: Interpersonal Communication – a Mindful Approach to Relationships (Wrench Et Al..).” Social Sci LibreTexts, OpenSUNY , 3 Dec. 2020, https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Communication/Interpersonal_Communication/Book%3A_Interpersonal_Communication_-_A_Mindful_Approach_to_Relationships_(Wrench_et_al.)
