The Imitation Game-- Hollywood Not Pushing Back

The movie contains scenes that directly contradict passages in Northup's account, and some scenes that are just made up.

The source material has been called into question, too. I can't get too worked up about either Northup's book or the movie, because the basic reflection of slavery - that it was horrific and despicable - will always remain the same.

 

OK, cool. I just found an article or two a couple weeks ago during the Chris Kyle discussion that made it sound like it was pretty fact-based. I'll take your word. Sounds like you're up on it.

 

If it's a Weinstein Production you can assume it's virtual history. Like the work but always make it a point afterwards
to review how far they veered off.

 

With Northup, the liberties taken in the movie were more a matter of degree than complete omission or contradiction.

Example: The slave who was stabbed by the trader on the ship in the movie actually died of smallpox on the ship.

 

Tangentially related to your second point: When I was a Texas History teacher, I think I was the only one in our district that didn't show the movie The Alamo to my kids. When standardized test time rolled around, the essay question was on the Alamo. My kids did significantly better, mostly because the other kids talked about what they remembered from the movie, which wasn't always accurate, while my kids only had the info taught in class to draw from, which was, fortunately, a hell of a lot more accurate.

 

That doesn't surprise me at all, amraeder. It scares the hell out of me, but it doesn't surprise me.

 

A generation or two thinks that Clay Shaw was responsible for the murder of JFK

 

Anyone who teaches, or learns, history based on Hollywood movies probably can't be helped anyway.

 

Frankie Avalon still got away, though, didn't he?

 

So I guess the subtext here is that "Hollywood" is going to push back on a portrayal of a army sniper because it's a right-wing thing and not push back on a portrayal of a code breaker who suffered because he was gay because it's a gay agenda thing?

First, they are two very different movies.

The Turing story was much more concerned with his personality, what he hid, his personal life, etc., than building a computer from scratch and breaking the Nazi's stupid code.

 

Max Baer's portrayal in "Cinderella Man" is another one. It portrayed him as this evil guy who enjoyed his reputation after he killed two men in the ring, when in reality, he was devastated.

 

That wasn't just breaking a stupid Nazi code. It was the Ultra Secret, and helped win the war with far fewer casualties. It was like reading the German playbook in advance.

In sports terms, it was like being Bill Belichick.