The Imitation Game’ isn’t really about gay rights. But its Oscars campaign is., In the campaign for this year's Oscars, a vote for "The Imitation Game" is a vote for gay rights and justice. At least, that's how its backers are framing it.
The film is about Alan Turing, a British man who cracked a Nazi code during World War II and was later prosecuted because of a relationship he had with another man. It's up for eight awards at Sunday's Oscars, including Best Picture.
As Charlie Rose said on "CBS This Morning" last month, if you poll 100 people in Hollywood about who's the most effective at getting their film's an Oscar win, it's Harvey Weinstein, whose company produced the film. And he's making a political argument for why the Academy should consider "The Imitation Game."
A Weinstein Company video about the film posted online last month ties it closely to the gay-rights movement, with black-and-white photos of Turing interspersed with color photos of gay-rights demonstrations today.
And then there's the quotes used by people like Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin ("Alan Turing is a hero to the LGBT community"), GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis ("'The Imitation Game' is an important film that preserves LGBT history"), Michael Kors and Anderson Cooper.Griffin was also quoted in a full-page ad placed in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times asking the Academy to honor Turing and for the 49,000 other men who were prosecuted for their same-sex relationships to be officially pardoned, as Turing was in 2013.
"Honor the man. Honor the film," reads a Los Angeles billboard.
Turing's sexuality isn't as central to the film as it is to the film's Oscar's campaign. But in a political Oscars that boasts Best Picture nominees like "American Sniper" and "Selma," the campaign fits right in.
The film is about Alan Turing, a British man who cracked a Nazi code during World War II and was later prosecuted because of a relationship he had with another man. It's up for eight awards at Sunday's Oscars, including Best Picture.
As Charlie Rose said on "CBS This Morning" last month, if you poll 100 people in Hollywood about who's the most effective at getting their film's an Oscar win, it's Harvey Weinstein, whose company produced the film. And he's making a political argument for why the Academy should consider "The Imitation Game."
A Weinstein Company video about the film posted online last month ties it closely to the gay-rights movement, with black-and-white photos of Turing interspersed with color photos of gay-rights demonstrations today.
And then there's the quotes used by people like Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin ("Alan Turing is a hero to the LGBT community"), GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis ("'The Imitation Game' is an important film that preserves LGBT history"), Michael Kors and Anderson Cooper.Griffin was also quoted in a full-page ad placed in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times asking the Academy to honor Turing and for the 49,000 other men who were prosecuted for their same-sex relationships to be officially pardoned, as Turing was in 2013.
"Honor the man. Honor the film," reads a Los Angeles billboard.
Turing's sexuality isn't as central to the film as it is to the film's Oscar's campaign. But in a political Oscars that boasts Best Picture nominees like "American Sniper" and "Selma," the campaign fits right in.
