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Why Has “The Imitation Game’s” Depiction of Alan Turing’s Homosexuality Been Criticized?

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“The Imitation Game” has been criticized for avoiding any sort of physical intimacy between Turing and another man. Films dealing with homosexual themes, particularly mainstream films, often receive intense scrutiny from the homosexual community. (For example, Philadelphia saw the same criticism regarding its lead character and his partner.) Many argue that the context of such films should be considered, especially in historical settings where homosexual behavior was rarely seen in the open and was often repressed.

With Turing, however, some pointed out that he was not exactly shy about his homosexuality, and the film has been criticized for avoiding any sort of physical intimacy between him and another man. Christian Caryl of The New York Review of Books was particularly critical of the film’s reluctance to even show a kiss, “something he did frequently, and with gusto.” Moore defended the film’s depiction, arguing that it wasn’t necessary, and that depicting such intimacy would’ve been superfluous, like “adding a sex scene for a man and a woman simply because they were heterosexual.”