Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm really intrigued now after a discussion on another post about characters with autism. This post was about in literature but I'm intrigued as to what people think for books and t.v/film.
Autistic characters often get criticised for being stereotypical or unrelatable.
What would you like to see in an autistic character? What characteristics and mannerisms would you want them to have? The more detailed the better. I want to see where people go with this.
Good topic!
As we discussed, it's quite hard to escape from stereotypes. People will see the Mr Spocks and Sheldon Coopers and Rain Men and build up this idea, which they'll then cling onto as an 'understanding' of how autistic people are and how they behave - so anything that challenges that understanding needs to be handled very deftly. I thought 'The Accountant' was an interesting film because of the way autism was discussed in it - but the main character, again, got dismissed by many as a stereotype: a maths genius with eidetic memory, a blunt way of speaking, an irritation with interruption to routines, and some sensory stimming traits that didn't really seem related to particular stimuli or anxieties. It's still worth the watch, I think.
I want to keep coming back to this thing of dropping the labels and presenting, first and foremost, human beings - but ones who have different challenges to most others. The same as, say, a quadriplegic character - like the Denzel Washington character in 'The Bone Collector' - is first and foremost a human being. At the end of it all, they still 'get the job done', in spite of the barriers. So it's less about emphasising the 'differences', maybe, and more about concentrating on the abilities in spite of the differences.
Must say I enjoyed both of those films, especially the accountant despite some of the stereotyping, and highlighting that we are all human and that people are getting things done in spite of their differences should be shown
In the piece of writing I'm currently working on, I'm trying to show an individual who's self-aware enough to know how he's viewed and why, and not to be too hung up on it. I'm trying to demonstrate, too, the differences between appearance and reality. He seems very cold and aloof, but he can demonstrate quite the opposite in the work he does with vulnerable adults. In many ways, their differences both highlight his own... and enable him to behave in a way that would seem more 'normal' to other people.
Think I managed to send you a pm the send button kept disappearing!
Sure. I've just started posting on a writers' site I use, and I've only posted the first chapter so far - which perhaps gives a flavour of what's to come. It's only short. If you PM me, I'll send you a link.
Just curious, do you plan on sharing your work when it is finished I wouldn't really like to read something like that, obviously that is entirely up to you if it is something personal then I completely understand.