So on Tuesday I went to watch a brilliant movie with my friend Christen (hi Christen, I know you're reading this... cause I'm psychic... actually its because I've sent you a link to it... I'm not psychic) interesting and irrelevant side note sbout my awesome friend Christen. We met about two years ago at a film class and we had to story board a short film for the next week so we exchanged numbers (like one would do with any potential friend) so she could call me that night to brainstorm. She called me and our conversation went something like this,
*le phone rings* (I contemplate not answering cause me and speaking on the phone is not a good combination)
*finally, I answer*
Me: Hi, Christine ....
Christen (yes Christen not Christine): .......
Me : uh, hello..... Christine are you there....?
Christen: uh hey, Andrea (yeah she remembered my name), my names actually Christen, but ih yeah...
Me:.......
Christen :........
See I told you me + phone = bad idea. Anyway we got past me forgetting her name, and yeah she's pretty awesome. She's also going to be a famous film director one day, so watch out world... you have been warned.
Sorry Christen, I'm going to stop talking about you, you can't take up a whole blog post of mine, what are my other friends going to think? (p.s Christen, invite me over soon, I need to meet your 'Delivery Boy kitten' ;)
Where was I? Oh yes, Christen and I went to watch the brilliant movie, The Imitation Game.
Despite the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightly and Tom the driver/Sybil's husband from Downton Abbey is in it (Allen Leech) (yeah sorry spoiler alert if you haven't watched that far *sob* if you have watched further).
Goodness, back to the movie.
Besides its brilliant cast, it was actually so vividly wonderful and disturbing at the same time. The way Allen Turner lived, thought and died, was just so saddening but inspiring. I know this probably makes no sense but to me it does. His whole life no one expected anything of him, he was an outcast, and a loner. But he had this brilliant mind that ended up saving lives and basically inventing the computer (or as he named it Christopher).
I am convinced he had autism. The way he interacted with his fellow workers while trying to crack inigma, hurt my heart. People with autism, amongst other things, take everything literally. So if I say to you 'the dog needs to go for a walk', a person with autism would take you serisouly, and might think you quite stupid for just blurting out these words with no meaning. To them, you are simply stating a fact. You on the other hand are implying the the dog should be taken for a walk. Autistic people struggle with emotional intelligence, and I'm sure you can imagine how dark and cold the world and people can be if you don't understand how to interact like normal people.
But heres the thing about this man, and possibly any person with autism, the things he did could never have been accomplished by a normal person. This man had a beautiful mind, like everyone else, but his worked differently, he thought differently because of how his brain was wired.
So here's where the serious note comes in (cause you know, that up there about autism was not heavy enough) ....
Everybody is different. In their own unique way, everyone really is. You could know someone for ten years and they still surprise you. Everybody changes, we're humans,. We make mistakes and we learn. Sometimes we make mistakes and we make them again and again... sometimes someone can be in the same situation as you but they react differently than you. That's because we're all different. We think differently, we're wired differently and we have all gone through our own struggles that give us a unique perspective on life. What I'm want you to take away from this is that we are all different, and we are going to dissapoint, but we can't judge someone because they are different. You can't bring someone down because they are different. Its wrong and it hurts. Don't do it.
You don't have to agree, but everyone is entitled to be different, so be different. Be your own type of different.
I know there are so many faces to The Imitation Game, but these two matters stuck out to me when I was thinking sbout it. I haven't personally been effected by autism, but I feel it so deeply, I felt I had to write about it to just put some of my scattered feelings into words.
I hope you'll go and watch this movie, and not judge him for his choices, instead, look at his reasons, why he did the things he did, and be thankful that he was able to accomplish, despite everything, the mission he was assigned.
XxxThe mess of unfinished thoughts that I am, Andrea Claire
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