Monday, February 23, 2015

Quote of the Day

. . . in response to The Imitation Game winning for Best Adapted Screenplay at last night's Oscars.

In perhaps the most bitter irony of all, the filmmakers have managed to transform the real Alan Turing, vivacious and forceful, into just the sort of mythological gay man, whiney and weak, that homophobes love to hate. This is indicative of the bad faith underlying the whole enterprise, which is desperate to put Turing in the role of a gay liberation totem but can’t bring itself to show him kissing another man—something he did frequently, and with gusto. . . . The Imitation Game is a film that prefers its gay men decorously disembodied.

– Christian Caryl
Excerpted from "A Poor Imitation of Alan Turing"
The New York Review
December 19, 2014


Related Off-site Links:
Accuracy of The Imitation GameWikipedia.
The Imitation Game: Inventing a New Slander to Insult Alan Turing – Alex von Tunzelmann (The Guardian, November 20, 2014).
The Imitation Game Screenwriter Graham Moore: Stay Weird, Stay DifferentThe Advocate (February 23, 2015).
Is It “Weird” to Be Gay? What Graham Moore’s Speech Really Means – J. Bryan Lowder (Salon, February 23, 2015).
The Murky Gay Politics Surrounding the 'Stay Weird' Oscars Speech – Spencer Kornhaber (The Atlantic, February 24, 2015).
Half-Million Supporters Demand Pardon for Persecuted Gay Men Day After Graham Moore's Oscar Speech – Robbie Couch (The Huffington Post, February 23, 2015).
This Year's Oscars Unmasked Hollywood's Most Dubious Views – Steven W. Thrasher (The Guardian, February 23, 2015).
Patricia Arquette’s Equal Pay Message Needs a Drastic Rewrite – Dave Zirin (The Nation, February 23, 2015).
The Problem With Making Celebrities Like Patricia Arquette the Face of Feminism – Tara Culp-Ressler (Think Progress, February 23, 2015).
The Oscars and Awards-season Devalue and Pervert Art – Steve Almond (Salon, February 22, 2015).


2 comments:

Richard Demma said...

And yet the young gay screenwriter who received the award, Graham Moore, gave a very "vivacious and forceful" acceptance speech, highlighting the importance of reaching out to potential teen suicides. I'm willing to give the young, very young, screenwriter the benefit of the doubt regarding his intentions.

Geoff said...

Except Graham Moore is actually not gay. See here.