Otherness and the Imitation Game

On Thursday, April 5th, our class watched a presentation on gender and sexuality by a woman named Mara from Outright Vermont. Outright Vermont is a nonprofit organization that helps to advocate and provide resources for young Vermonters who are typically "other." They may be gay or lesbian or transgender or else be questioning their sexuality or gender identity. These young people often are socially excluded by their peers because of their nonconformity, which can be extremely detrimental for their mental wellbeing during this rocky phase of adolescence. I was moved by the presentation and inspired to find out what I can do to potentially make high school easier and more inclusive for queer teens as a future educator. We took one class period to further explore our understanding of gender and sexuality in basically any way was most interesting to us.

I watched the Imitation Game, an Academy Award-nominated film featuring A-list actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly. It is based on the true story of Alan Turing, a brilliant British code breaker, who was responsible for breaking the incredibly complicated Nazi enigma code. This invaluable strategic information eventually led to the Allied forces winning the Second World War. The movie is extremely dramatic and focuses more on the interpersonal relationships of Turing and his fellow code breakers than on World War II and its historical context. Turing (played by Cumberbatch) is extremely socially awkward and he is also gay. We as the audience are able to witness his struggle to navigate the complicated social and professional worlds he is thrust into as the greatest code breaker in the country, worlds in which being homosexual is still illegal.

I absolutely loved the movie. As someone who is neither autistic nor homosexual, the movie provides a window into how stark and difficult things can be for people who are viewed by society as "abnormal." For teens who struggle greatly with social interactions I can imagine that it must be a powerful experience to see people like them on the big screen. Just like the way that Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy was a mirror for a young boy with autism who experiences similar struggles in his own life, Alan Turing's character does the same for both socially awkward and queer teens (Autism Speaks). For adolescents who are struggling with their own sexuality in a society where sexual otherness may not be illegal anymore but is still far from the accepted norm, seeing that people like them is important. Movies with nontraditional leads can help marginalized groups of young people realize that people like them have changed the world and, despite what their history textbooks may tell them, they will continue to do so in the future. Hopefully large scale Hollywood movies will continue to produce movies with inspirational lead characters who subvert our social and cultural understandings of what is normal and what is "other."



“'Guardians of the Galaxy' Hero Is Role Model for Boy with Autism.” Autism Speaks, 27 Aug. 2014, www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/039guardians-galaxy039-hero-role-model-boy-autism.