Thoughts on Rain Man
Okay so when I first saw this film, Rain Man I really wanted to hate it I really did but I couldn't. It portrayed Autistic people as being idiot savants unable to comprehend emotion and oblivious to the world around them. However after seeing part of it my thoughts changed. You can say Raymond's portrayal was offensive however the film never intended for that and gave him a human role quite rare for autistic people to be given of his time for that I appreciate it. I find that the film got the bigger picture for autism wrong however there is also a part of the film I can identify with that being some of Raymond's quirks and struggles which demonstrated a humorous side. I particularly liked the film for the way Raymond wasn't actually the butt of the film's jokes but rather his brother's frustration something I feel again I can relate to.
Anyways those are just my thoughts how about yours. I personally enjoyed the film.
I haven't seen it either, nor do I wish to. Dustin Hoffman totally puts me off watching it. I know that many people think that he's a really good actor but for me every time that I've seen him in a movie I've always been continually aware that he was acting. I can never accept him as whatever character he'd playing because to me he's always Dustin Hoffman very obviously acting a role. I always felt the same way about Laurence Olivier.
_________________
Gamsediog biptol ap simdeg Bimog, toto absolimoth dep nimtec gwarg. Am in litipol wedi memsodth tobetreg bim nib.
Somewhere completely different:
Autism Social Forum
I am no longer active on this forum, I've quit.
It is also based on a real person... Tom Cruise stayed with and studied Kim Peek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLpCfHH1OVU
_________________
Yeah. I'm done. Don't bother messaging and expecting a response - i've left WP permanently.
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,480
Location: Long Island, New York
The portrait was very advanced for it's time. It was the first time most of the general populace had seen a non severe autistic charactor and a adult autistic character. Prior to the movie there might have been at most a few newspaper stories about autism. But the movies message was not just awareness. Rain Man's brother came to love and accept him.
Unfortunately a lot of the general population has not moved beyound Rain Man in thier understanding of Autism. This has lead to people infintilizing Autistics because they expect us to to be like him or denying our Autism because we are not like him. This has lead to resentment and dismissing what the movie was about. A reason Rain Man is often invalidated is because Kim Peek the main person the charactor was based on was not Autistic. But Peek had numourous Autistic traits. Also the the Rain Man charactor was a composit of 3 people, 2 of them are autistic.
The character would likely be diagnosed with ASD today.
For awhile I resented the characterization, but now I embrace my inner Rain Man.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Unfortunately a lot of the general population has not moved beyound Rain Man in thier understanding of Autism. This has lead to people infintilizing Autistics because they expect us to to be like him or denying our Autism because we are not like him. This has lead to resentment and dismissing what the movie was about. A reason Rain Man is often invalidated is because Kim Peek the main person the charactor was based on was not Autistic. But Peek had numourous Autistic traits. Also the the Rain Man charactor was a composit of 3 people, 2 of them are autistic.
The character would likely be diagnosed with ASD today.
For awhile I resented the characterization, but now I embrace my inner Rain Man.
Given that Sheldon, a stereotyped character on the "Big Bang Theory" also displays autistic traits doesn't mean he would be diagnosed with ASD. Kim Peek has acquired brain injury which gave him savant like skills.
Given that Sheldon, a stereotyped character on the "Big Bang Theory" also displays autistic traits doesn't mean he would be diagnosed with ASD. Kim Peek has acquired brain injury which gave him savant like skills.
I hate to argue the point, but it was most likely a cast of autism and fg syndrome... while he had fg syndrome and the brain injury, neither of those precludes autism, and they are not mutually exclusive diagnoses... mr peek was diagnosed and autistic savant, which (by the nature of the diagnosis) is also autistic
_________________
Yeah. I'm done. Don't bother messaging and expecting a response - i've left WP permanently.
Given that Sheldon, a stereotyped character on the "Big Bang Theory" also displays autistic traits doesn't mean he would be diagnosed with ASD. Kim Peek has acquired brain injury which gave him savant like skills.
I hate to argue the point, but it was most likely a cast of autism and fg syndrome... while he had fg syndrome and the brain injury, neither of those precludes autism, and they are not mutually exclusive diagnoses... mr peek was diagnosed and autistic savant, which (by the nature of the diagnosis) is also autistic
A 2008 study concluded that Peek had FG syndrome, a rare genetic syndrome linked to the X chromosome which causes physical anomalies such as hypotonia (low muscle tone) and macrocephaly (damage to the cerebellum, and agenesis of the corpus callosum a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek's case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing)
You don't have to be diagnosed with autism to have savant abilities
Both good and bad. It spread the belief that autistics can be adults too. But it also spread the stereotype that autistics are of the idiot-savant type, which I understand is rare regardless of autism being involved or not.
_________________
From the Netherlands, diagnosed about a year ago.
but it was the social worker and we drove to worcester,mass to see rain main in 1989
LOL! I went to catholic school and was made to see "Tootsie" back in 1982...made me wonder why our catholic teachers thought it was so important to see it? I notice both Rainman and Tootsie starred Dustin Hoffman?
The only film my old school made us go to in the 1950s was the USA film "The Living Desert". This early exposure to the wonderful beauty of environments considered to be "wastelands with intrinsic no worth nor beauty" left a lifelong influence on me.
Today I can see the film as a kind of metaphor for my support for neurodiverse acceptance; I refute completely the ignorant claim that AS people are a "waste of space" as curebies often claim. Beauty can bloom in the most unexpected of places. And does.
The film won an Oscar. I have since visited that desert country in the USA and other deserts there. Loved seeing a road runner, amongst other wonderful experiences:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Living_Desert
The 50s you had little choice in films. Curiously in the 70s I was made to watch "World Safari" with Alby Mangels. We were made to watch every movie he made or get detention!!
As a primary school kid in an Australian catholic school it never occurred to me at the time the bikini clad girls he took with him were playboy models who he was screwing while filming or that his regular use of comments to describe African or Asian tribes were horribly racist. Gives me some insight into the minds of my old catholic teachers.
Similar Topics | |
---|---|
What are your thoughts on PDA? |
22 Apr 2024, 10:55 am |
Thoughts on divorce? |
03 Mar 2024, 10:27 pm |
Mary & Max - your thoughts? |
23 Apr 2024, 10:05 pm |
thoughts on financial aid from family |
19 Apr 2024, 5:31 am |