Hi All. I have been watching a lot of House lately, and just started “Extrodinary Attorney Woo”. I am curious to know what you all think of their portrails of Autism. Is it pandering? Representation? Romantisation?
Also see “The Good Doctor”, “Atypical”, “Love on the spectrum” etc.
I might have a different take, there is some pretty poor representation in media. Some of the best examples are not stated out loud. My issue is the discourse around it. Take “I am a surgeon” line from the Good Doctor. If you talk to an Autistic person the common complaint is the acting. Though the online discussion tends to be majority neurotypicals who are mocking the break down itself. There is no context of over stimulation and the disrespect he was feeling from his supervisor or whoever it was showing them.
My problem is all those things you are wondering plus it can be damaging and maddening. If you met one autistic person, who’ve met one autistic person and media does a piss poor job of representing this.
Agreed. I have been noticing more and more characters in shows/movies/games where they don’t explicitly say “THIS PERSON IS AUTISTIC!!”, you can just tell because of the things they do and the way they are. And to me, that’s the best form of representation, but unfortunately the fact these characters are autistic likely flies over the heads of the general populace because it’s never explicitly stated.
Do you have an example of such a character?
Dr. Brennan in Bones
Lilo from Lilo & Stitch
Captain Holt from Brooklyn 99
Peridot from Steven Universe
Futaba from Persona 5 (possibly other characters as well)
Steris from the Mistborn book series
And many more :)
https://aureliaundertheradar.wordpress.com/2022/06/24/lilo-and-stitch-and-autistic-childhood/
This was a fantastic read, thanks for sharing!
Only one i’m familiar with is Holt, and I never considered them as autistic. That might reflect more on me though :)
Do you have an example of a good character represention?
I’m guessing it is very hard for a neurotypical actor/writer/director to correctly represent autism, as its not something they actually experience? So it ends up falling back to cliches?
It’s almost all clichés and stereotypes. Autistic people are the model disabled person in media the same way Asian people are the model minority. Autistic characters are almost exclusively difficult for neurotypical characters to connect with, they have some sort of “super power” (Sheldon Cooper and Quantum Physics, Shaun Murphy and the human body, Raymond Babbitt and counting cards, Gary Bell and wavelengths…), often having difficulty with eye contact, and usually with physical, visual, or auditory sensitivities.