Passing the Test: Turing

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:52:37 PST

Every society is made up of several different groups of people in such a way that one is considered to be superior to another. Members of the more inferior group often try to change themselves and fake their identities so they could pass as someone of higher status. This notion of passing has been addressed by many scholars in the past and has also been portrayed as a central theme for several different movies, including My Fair Lady and Being There. My Fair Lady illustrates a classic storyline of a common girl who, with the aid of education and change of appearance, was able to pass as a lady of the higher class. However, while My Fair Lady focuses on education and appearance as means of passing, Being There introduces a more fundamental view on the fact that luck and other people's lack of skepticism are the key to passing.

Eliza mesmerized the people in the ballroom with her charm when she is dressed up in a beautifully fancy dress and the appropriate accessories. Throughout the scene of the ambassador's ball, Eliza's manners and elegance were almost flawless and nobody doubted the fact that she belongs in the upper class (Scenes - The Embassy Waltz & Quite Charming). Even the Queen of Transylvania was impressed by her looks, stopping next to Eliza and complimented her as "charming, quite charming". Her successful passing from one social class to another, in this case, was due greatly to the way she was clothed in a fairy tale princess-like white dress. This is very similar to how machines are sometimes given human's physical characteristics such as a body structure with head, arms, and legs or sometimes even human skin, all so it could pass as a human. Although the alteration of one's external appearance may aid the goal of passing, it does not actually turn the individual into a member of that superior group.

In Being There, external appearance is also noted as a tool for passing, but from a very different point of view. Much like Eliza, Chance appeared to everyone, including the audience, as a sharp, well-groomed, and confident man of many accomplishments at his meeting with the ambassador (Scenes - A toast of Washington & On everyone's mind). His expensive business suit and calm facial expression cover up the innocent child inside of him, allowing him to pass as a grown man of great ambitions and awareness of his surroundings. Everyone at the meeting was curious about Chance; although none doubted that he is someone of high status and of great importance. This is perhaps greatly due to the fact that he was linked to Ben and his wife, who were the powers inside of Washington. Chance, however, is different from Eliza because he does all of this in a very subconscious manner. Unlike Eliza, Chance did not try to dress up in a fancy suit; he wore what he always wears in daily life. This could mean that he did not alter his external appearance, which could be used to argue that the alteration of one's appearance as a tool for passing has little significance in this scene.

But then again, My Fair Lady emphasizes that only dressing up would not have allowed Eliza to successfully pass as a lady; it had to be accompanied by proper manners that Professor Higgins had taught her. At the ballroom, Eliza had to make small talks with different people and dance several times to the music. If she was left to tend for herself without Higgins's instructions, Eliza's low-class conversational manners would have given away her identity immediately. Instead, with her rigorous training, saying something as simple as "how do you do" is one more step to indicating that she was born in a wealthy family. Even the Lady Ambassador was in awed of her elegance, noting her as "an enchanting young lady".

Although Chance does not have trained manners that could correspond to Eliza, he has a composure posture that most powerful men possess. Quite contrary to Eliza, Chance barely talked throughout the entire ball, yet somehow people still drew certain assumptions about him from just his nods, yes's, and no's. When the ambassador alluded to U.S. - Russian relations, Chance responded "we are not so far from each other, our chairs are almost touching". As part of the audience, we understand that Chance meant exactly what he said; but the ambassador interpreted it as an agreement that the U.S. and Russia should remain peaceful and compromise as to prevent a deadly catastrophe if war breaks out. Because of this, Chance actually had very little to do with him passing as a figure of importance. It was mainly other people's opinions and misleading thoughts that he was viewed as an intelligent, successful, and mysterious person.

Unlike Chance, Eliza put a lot of efforts into her conversations so that she would appear suave and nuanced. With the education that she received from Professor Higgins, Eliza was able to pass as a lady and fool Karpathy, who eagerly announced to the Lady Ambassador that Eliza is a Hungarian princess immediately after their dance together. It is unclear what were the topics exchanged between Eliza and Karpathy as they talked while dancing; but we can safely assume that Eliza only stick with the subjects that she was trained in, and conversed in perfect English with correct pronunciation. Those small talks, accompanied by her proper manners and ability to dance in the appropriate styles, along with the clothing, were all components that contributed to her successful passing. Aside from dressing up as a lady, Eliza had to learn all of the other acts from Professor Higgins; which makes her education the critical factor of this passing test.

Chance, on the other hand, put no effort into faking his identity to pass as someone else, yet he also succeeded. In Chance's case, the critical factor that let him pass as a man of great importance and mystery was other people's judgment and bias. According to the plot, Chance has never matured into an adult, but perhaps his sheltered life has lead him to become very calm, relax, and nonchalant. He barely says anything because he knows nothing; yet other people assume that he is a man of few words because of his confidence and self-certainty; and he does not need to say anything else. When the Russian ambassador speaks to him in a foreign language, Chance simply paused and smiled, and the ambassador take it to be an understanding chuckle. In short, Chance's mistaken identity was due mainly to his acquaintances' interpretations of his actions, not by Chance himself. People were not skeptical enough to question other possible explanations for Chance's words and actions and that allowed him to appear as an ambiguous, knowledgeable, and captivating man.

The notion of passing is quite intriguing, it can be considered analogous to gambling. On one hand, there is some logic and effort behind the game; but on the other, there is also just plain luck and coincidences that determine the outcome of whether one can pass the test or not. My Fair Lady supports the first case, while Being There embraces the other. But in the end, it is hard to say for sure that either effort or luck alone can be the determinant of one's ability to pass. Often times, it is a combination of both, with one being more significant than the other, that would help you through a passing test. Nevertheless, the makers of both movies have argued their views reasonably well and thus have contributed to the wider understanding of the art of passing.

Movie Muse: the Fly (1986) Movie Review

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:11:32 PST

When a single stray fly goes unnoticed as it becomes trapped in the transporter machine, the DNA of the fly and the scientist are infused together during the transporter human live testing of the machine. At first, no apparent damage to the scientist's body appeared to be a problem, but as more time flies by a noticeable mutation begins to show itself in the scientist's appearance and behavior.

Image Source

Geena Davis plays the girlfriend and the only bridge to sanely of the scientist who continues to transform from human to fly. She stays by her lover's side throughout the morphing of her genius boyfriend. Even though his transformation begins showing signs of violent behavior and teams of armed security teams have been sent to eliminate the problem before it gets even more dangerous, she sticks by his side.

The movie is a great science fiction testament to how sciences can quickly spinout of control and how humanity can be influenced by the smallest and sometime unknown bugs within the most well thought out scientific experiments.

The movie “The Fly” is worthy of (Renting: Yes - Buying: Yes)