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.
I thought it would be interesting to see what others thought on the topic.
I've never seen the Accountant so it is difficult to comment. I will have to check it out.
Sorry, Binary. I won't say any more.
But here's a clip from 'The Accountant' that I think says a lot...
The Accountant - Clinic Scene
Absolutely. There can be too much emphasis on the way things should be done sometimes. Some people just live and communicate in a different way.
That line got me as well "we haven't learned how to listen" I think that is something that really needs focus. Must say I love the fish analogy! Haven't come across that one before
I think Einstein made the fish quote!
My favourite quote of all time is about if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree then it will spend it's whole life thinking it's stupid.
I love that line about we haven't yet learned how to listen. We spend a lot of time thinking about how we fit into the rest of the world but especially when it comes to children. People need to take a moment and find out what happens in our world.
I like the way that it makes that summary. 'I guarantee that if we let the world set expectations for our children, they'll start low, and they'll stay there. Maybe your son is capable of much more than we know. And maybe - just maybe - he doesn't understand how to tell us. Or... we haven't yet learned how to listen.'
That crystallizes so much of it for me.
I get the impression through that clip that they have tried to break down the assumption that non verbal means low intelligence. But then later have fallen into a stereotypical trap?
I am starting to think it really is an impossible to task to portray an autistic character without upsetting somebody. They use too many traits it's stereotypical. Not enough traits it's not relatable. Very difficult to get right.