Are people bothered by non-autistic actors playing autistic?

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kraftiekortie
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08 Mar 2021, 3:03 am

It might be hard to direct autistic people. There might be many “takes” which cost money l

Of course I would like an autistic person to play an autistic person.....but that can prove to be difficult.

At least, a Down Syndrome person was played perfectly by someone with Down Syndrome (Corky in “Life Goes On”).



Tim_Tex
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08 Mar 2021, 3:05 am

I’m not, and if an autistic person wants to play an NT, I’m ok with that too.


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Pepe
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08 Mar 2021, 3:13 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
It might be hard to direct autistic people. There might be many “takes” which cost money l

Of course I would like an autistic person to play an autistic person.....but that can prove to be difficult.

At least, a Down Syndrome person was played perfectly by someone with Down Syndrome (Corky in “Life Goes On”).


That is what I thought.



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08 Mar 2021, 3:16 am

ironpony wrote:
Pepe wrote:
ironpony wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s never been said that any of the characters are autistic.


Oh well if they do not say then should people be offended by his character personality being played for laughs, if it's never explicity said? I always just thought he was socially awkward and nerdy, but not autistic.


'He' is autistic.
Believe me. 8)


Why though? If the show does not say so, then who are we to say he is autistic if it's not stated?


Are *you* autistic?
Have *you* watched the show?

Trust me, Smelly Shelly is an autistic character. 8)



KT67
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08 Mar 2021, 6:32 pm

ironpony wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s never been said that any of the characters are autistic.


Oh well if they do not say then should people be offended by his character personality being played for laughs, if it's never explicity said? I always just thought he was socially awkward and nerdy, but not autistic.


I see autistic traits affecting personality as a personality type esp when it's as HFA as his so it's just funny to me.

Funny relatable too so it's not always a case of laughing at.

I used to have my set of chairs when I lived with family. Now I live alone there is no point in that in terms of marking territory but I still don't sit in the 'guest chair'.

Even the sensory stuff. The way the show portrays it is funny and I have sensory sensitivities myself to do with taste. Funny relatable.


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ValerieStrawberries
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09 Mar 2021, 4:54 pm

I'm not I'm just here to enjoy the show.



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09 Mar 2021, 7:34 pm

I think it depends on the portrayal and how the role was researched. In the case of Sia's movie "Music", it wasn't just the fact that Maddie Ziegler is neurotypical. It was also the fact that Sia admitted to using Autism $peaks and meltdown videos for research and didn't contact any autism support groups.
Contrast this with Pixar's Sparkshort, "Loop". The lead character for this short (which you can watch on Disney+, btw) is both non-verbal and autistic. She is portrayed by a non-verbal autistic girl, and Pixar found her through ASAN.
I see it like this: if I were to make a movie about Michael Jordan, I wouldn't cast a Caucasian as Michael Jordan. I'd cast an African-American actor.


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ironpony
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09 Mar 2021, 8:17 pm

Pepe wrote:
ironpony wrote:
Pepe wrote:
ironpony wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s never been said that any of the characters are autistic.


Oh well if they do not say then should people be offended by his character personality being played for laughs, if it's never explicity said? I always just thought he was socially awkward and nerdy, but not autistic.


'He' is autistic.
Believe me. 8)


Why though? If the show does not say so, then who are we to say he is autistic if it's not stated?


Are *you* autistic?
Have *you* watched the show?

Trust me, Smelly Shelly is an autistic character. 8)


I've seen a few episodes of the shot, here and there and I am autistic yes, why?



simonthesly74
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20 Mar 2021, 8:23 am

When feasible, I feel like it’s preferable to get autistic actors to play autistic characters... but I understand that it might not always be.

For me it depends on how non-autistic actors portray autistic characters. For a negative example, what I’ve seen of Sia’s Music the depiction is extremely stereotypical and insulting. But for an positive example of a NT actor portraying an autistic character: I don’t think anyone could do Abed on the NBC sitcom Community better than Danny Pudi.



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21 Mar 2021, 10:03 pm

American characters are not always played by real Americans. Klingons are seldom played by real Klingons. Actors act as the character, even if they are a different nationality, native tongue, religion, or age. It's make-believe. So, a well-played realistic result is what matters to me.

We just finished watching The Bridge Seasons 1 & 2. The Sonya Cross character is supposed to be an Aspie even though the actress is not (apparently she is ADHD, however). The result was good, nonetheless (of course, they had a good consultant :) ). We could see some of my traits in Sonya Cross.

And as far as autistic actors playing not autistic characters...it may have happened.


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IsabellaLinton
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21 Mar 2021, 10:12 pm

I really like the portrayal of Max Braverman, on Parenthood.

I think that actor did a great job, and the character was well-written.

Spoilers:





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24 Mar 2021, 2:57 pm

It doesn't bother me much, however it seems that at times they will portray persons on the spectrum as more of a caricature than a person. But, as is so often the case, I may be missing the point entirely.



xenon13
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27 Mar 2021, 6:29 pm

Since we're better-looking and since the film industry considers this to be of great importance when casting people their failure to cast us is puzzling.



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27 Mar 2021, 6:41 pm

No, I have better things to worry about.


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ironpony
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28 Mar 2021, 4:16 am

Oh okay, well it's not just some people in Hollywood wanting autistic people to play autistic. For example Scarlet Johannson got fired from a role, because people on social media did not want her playing a transgender character, since she herself is not trans.

But I don't think actors should have to be related to the characters they are hired to play. For example, I am trying to break into the movie business and make short film projects. I hired a homosexual actor to play a hederosexual role. The reason I chose him was because I felt his acting was the best of all the actors who auditioned. But it's not like I am going to say, "oh well he is gay, so he cannot play a straight role, because that is politically incorrect". I need to choose the best actor for the role, regardless of how personal traits that may not be similar to the character.

If that makes sense?



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28 Mar 2021, 4:33 am

well I am a bit bothered by the pop artist or whatever she is that seems to have a weird obsession with the child actor she claims she basically has to mother or she will get in movie roles that she does not think are good for her not sure what the story is with the younger girl actor or like where her parents are in all this...but for sure seems the err pop artist that basically acts like the owner over this younger girl actor already had planned to cast her as the autitic person but just made like a show that she tried hiring an actual autistic person and it was too hard so she just defaulted to the younger actress that she seems to have a very weird obsession over. Like is that poor girl ok, why is a like 40 year old woman so interested in a teenager girl actress.....? And even bascally demands she does not take roles that she think would be bad for her. Like is it a younger actress you respect or are you trying to recruit them as a pet?

I mean I am just curious does this younger actress have a family? is anyone concerned about her? and like why do you keep making youtube vidoes saying disturbing things of how obsessed you are with this younger actress. Not you specifically those are questions I would ask to the pop artist that released that terrible movie. Like if a grown man was seemingly using a teenager like that the media would be all over him...but its ok if a woman is doing it to a underage girl?

Alright I guess the girl actor is 18 now but from reading up seems even before she was 18 this Sia character decided she like basically owned her and inserted herself as a mother figure for that yong woman. though certainly seems she cares a lot more about her fame than any regards to her pet daughter that is not even related to her. I mean sure I guess if I had the impression this younger actress had fully consented to that kind of thing I would not care, but almost seems this horrible Sia woman is doing all she can to try and control every aspect off her god daughter pet thing that she swears she cannot even remain sane if she doesn't use Maddie for every project she does ever. Which also kinda conflicts with her claims that she made her best effort to get a real autistic person to play the autistic role in the movie. I mean if she has to use maddie for every project or she will just litterally lose her mind...I have a hard time buying that she actually made good efforts to cast an actual autistic person for the role. And thing is if she did not have it attempted to be presented as an autism awarness thing I would not have cared a bit...but that it was portrayed as sometthig to bring autism to more peoples attention and their autistic character was just a caricture of all the worst autism traits and basically treated like an object throughout the movie....the movie was never even about the autistic girl it was about how the people around her went on with their lives, while she was just stuck in perpetual childhood forever....and I guess because everyone came together because of her, without actually ever helping her she was just an object in other peoples story that brought them all together without even once being treated like a real person. Because apparently the only way she saw realtiy was through weird dancing sequences meant to portry what autistic people see when we are out and about...yeah for sure we always are just imagining total chaos and party streamers falling around everywhere we never just want to be left in some more peaceful quiet to just chill a minute. /s


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