Is anyone frustrated by the portrayals of ASD in pop culture

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But what I mean is though, that even though the autism is not central to the plot, they show flashbacks of how he was having trouble with it growing up, so they still try to make it a majority of the plot, when it's not. If the autism is not suppose to be a deal and it's a sign of progression, then why not just an autistic character, where the autism isn't mentioned and there are no flashbacks to his childhood and having trouble? So it seemed to me that they were still trying to make a big deal of the autistic experience, in a action thriller that didn't have anything to do with autism.

I thought that if you want to have an autistic character in an action thriller, don't focus so much on the autism then. But because they did, isn't the movie more regressive, than progressive?

I haven't seen that movie, but in general I actually like that. It's not about autism per se, it's a plot where a character happens to be autistic. No different than having say a black or gay main character without the movie being about LGBT or racism. IMO it's inclusive and positive to have an aspie/autistic character in a movie where AS/autism isn't the topic.

Oh okay, I guess I just felt that if autism is randomly shoehorned in, without being part of the plot, then it comes off as gimmicky, but I guess there is a fine line between gimmicky and progressive?

You are never going to please everyone with how autism is portrayed in the popular media. For some people just having autism portrayed on TV is enough. It brings attention to the condition.

For others if they can't relate to the character then they invariably get miffed...

It is an important part of the plot but not central to it which is some progress. If a movie is centered around one person you usually you should give the audience. There is nothing wrong with having autism central to the plot but the progress is not all movies making autism central. True "The Accountant" and most movies do not have autism just there. That does not mean no progress, it means not enough progress.

Well I guess for me, the autism subplot just seems so far removed from the rest of the main action plot, and one just didn't gel with the other for me. Why is it that the filmmakers made the main character autistic though, if it had no bearing on the rest of the plot?

Just to be progressive, for the sake of being progressive, and that's it?

http://cdrnys.org/blog/advocacy/the-accountant/

Oh okay thanks. I read the article but it doesn't really go into why they made the character autistic though.

The best I can find is an article back in 2008
According to Josh Rottenberg of the Los Angeles Times, a producer first pitched the idea of a thriller centering on a fast-talking accountant to the then-aspiring screenwriter in 2008. Dubuque wasn't all that interested in the pitch at first, but then he came up with the idea of having the protagonist be on the autism spectrum. "I’ve always been interested in how the mind works,” Dubuque told the Times. “I thought: What if you could structure a story that was a mystery within a mystery? What goes on in this individual’s mind? How does he process information? How does he communicate with the rest of the world?" After that, and lots of research on autism, Dubuque had his script, and the rest is history.

Oh okay thanks. This kind of sounds like how I feel about the movie as the autism subplot doesn't feel organic to the story, and it just feels like an afterthought in the writing.

However, if I am told that it having nothing to do with the rest of the plot is good, because then it's progressive. So maybe I'm wrong then.

Thank you Whale_Tuune for making this post!
As an autistic/Asperger's person myself, I want more depictions and representatations of autistic people too, but there are some things I don't want, like the stereotyping and bias toward autistic people, they have to get it, not perfect and no maybe about that, but they have to get it right and make it the least amount of offensive as possible. My mother won't watch anything about autistic people, I barely got her to watch the first two Arthur episodes Carl appeared in, "When Carl Met George/ George and the Missing Puzzle Piece," and "Buster Spaces Out."

I desperately want them to add an autistic character to The Loud House, be it my character Cody Carpenter or someone else, but I want them to do it right.


I tried watching "The Good Doctor," but I couldn't finish it, and I got really mad when the boy's father took his rabbit and threw him across the room, and I LOVE RABBITS AND HATE SEEING BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO THEM! I've considered giving that show another chance but I'm not sure I should.

Hey has anyone seen the movie "A Boy Called P.o.?" It's a hard movie to watch but see it for yourself, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who never saw it.

And has anyone seen the Irish show "Pablo?"

Wikipedia Information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_(T…
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/late…
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8016478/

I was told we need more African American and female autistic characters, and I agree. This is where I was told (skip down to the comment s) https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtra ... -839701400

But yeah I agree, I want more autistic fictional characters but I want it done the right way and I want such characters to be represented right and presented positively, not misrepresented, biased, or stereotyped. Autistic people are not evil, just like blacks are not evil!

Actors successfully play people not like them all the time, that is their job. And despite what the author said the film did not get everything wrong. The character stimmed a trait that is usually not shown by “Hollywood autistics”. His disciplinarian father reacted to his autism as many have and Wolff coped as many autistics brought up in that environment have. The main character is a flawed hero a Hollywood staple for a number of decades now.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 18 May 2020, 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

The portrayals that offend me most are in the police-procedurals, where the autistic person is portrayed as:

1. The Tragic Victim.  Aside from just being an attractive young female, her autism gives her such a high degree of mutism that the police have to rely on their own efforts to identify and capture the criminal. But if she would talk, the episode would be over in five minutes.

2. The Talented Savant.  If he's the victim, then people mourn more for his lost talent than his lost life.  If he's on the force, then he's the one with the caustic attitude and the eidetic/photographic memory who notices the one small detail that everyone else has overlooked.  If they would only listen to him, the episode would be over in five minutes.

3. The Shuffling Derelict.  The person with the vacant stare who saw everything, but who is too pre-occupied with stimming and rocking to give a coherent statement.  May either become a Tragic Victim or turn out to be a Talented Savant.

4. The Accidental Criminal.  It's not his fault.  That's just how he is.  He would never intentionally hurt anyone, but sometimes he just doesn't know his own strength.  He's really a sweet person, once you get to know him.  Just don't mention the rabbits ... that upsets him ...

The continuing Rain Man stereotype. While today's autistic characters are not as extreme, elements of the stereotype persist in milder forms. The characters including in "The Accountant" and "The Good Doctor" are males with some sort of savant skill and "nerdy" interest. Even in the film "Please Stand By" which I described earlier in this thread as the best and least stereotypical "Autism Film" the female lead's special interest is Star Trek.

As I have mentioned earlier "Rain Man" besides being a film deserving of its Oscars helped autistics a lot by bringing public awareness that adults can be autistics and that autistics can at least have some functioning which was mostly unknown at the time. Autism historians have suggested and I agree that the publicly around the film had a role in making Aspergers an official diagnoses which helped many "milder" Autistic recognize they are autistic. While the "Rain Man" stereotype has been harmful to autistics in that people are expecting us to act like him or denying we are autistic because we are not like him, it is not the fault of the people involved with "Rain Man" that a lot of people over three decades later can't get beyond the stereotype.

Is the Rain Man stereotype a problem these days for a younger generation though, because almost everyone I know today, that was born in the 80s, hasn't even heard of that movie, and would probably therefore, not think of it, when they think of autism, would they?

It's actually a very popular search term in google "What is autism"

Type it....and it takes the young google user to a plethora of media write-ups that source Rainman. So even people who weren't born when the movie came out are by proxy introduced to the movie.