Autism in films and TV dramas

I've just discovered this by accident - somehow missed it - and it might be worth a look.  Not necessarily about autism.  But I think the themes will resonate.  Check the trailer.  Made me think a little of 'Into the Wild.'

Leave No Trace

You are right Tom, the trailer really resonates. So glad you posted this link. I haven't seen 'Into the Wild' so I'll add that to my list as well. Your film knowledge is exceptional and much appreciated. 

I'm watching 'Leave No Trace' tonight and it's making me cry.  It's about giving up what you feel and believe in in order to fit in with society's expectations of you.  It's about sacrificing the life you know and understand for the life you're expected to accept.  It's about crushing your soul in order to be 'accepted'.  Autism is never mentioned.  It doesn't have to be.  It's all there to be seen, heard and felt.

I'm watching 'Leave No Trace' tonight and it's making me cry.  It's about giving up what you feel and believe in in order to fit in with society's expectations of you.  It's about sacrificing the life you know and understand for the life you're expected to accept.  It's about crushing your soul in order to be 'accepted'.  Autism is never mentioned.  It doesn't have to be.  It's all there to be seen, heard and felt.

I have a hypothesis that depression is a similar thing.  A lot of the things it triggers seem like getting you ready for a long journey.  In our hunter-gatherer selves I think it may have been a mechanism for telling us when it was time to move on from where we were that wasn't doing us any good any more to somewhere else that will hopefully be better for us.

Unfortunately that's not so feasible in today's world!

I'm coming to the conclusion that Autistic Burnout is a mechanism designed to keep us safe. Different parts of our system need to power down for a while. It's impossible to recover properly unless we're in a safe place. 

Yes, you're right.  Attack dog helicopters everywhere....

Exactly - for helicopter read attack dog? 

Which is how it is for so many of us.

The true story, which this film (and Peter Rock's novel) are based on, is desperately poignant. Frank and Ruth wanted to live life their way, in peace, but other people wouldn't let them. 

peterrockproject.com/.../oregonianarticles.pdf

I watched this tonight and it had me in tears. Although it's not specifically about autistic people being made to fit in to a neurotypical society, the references and resonances are there. Denying your true nature in order to be what you're expected to be. Destroying your soul so that others might accept you. Definitely worth the watch if you feel like you don't fit with the mainstream, but at the same time feel you have to in order to survive with it. Rousseau's 'Emile' came to mind, with the questions it raises about the fundamental relationship between the individual and society - between the notions of conformity and of freedom...