Adam was a brilliant movie about Asperger Syndrome

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CentralFLM
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21 Jul 2011, 11:45 pm

A lot of us here on Wrong planet have watched Adam (2009) the movie about a man with AS who forms a relationship with his NT neighbor. There are some who liked it and some who didn't. I loved it!! ! I loved it because it was realistic. I loved it because it showed the life through the lens of someone with AS, but at the same time showed it through the lens of the NT who doesn't go through what we go through.

Say what you want to about the ending, but how often have you as an a man or woman with AS ended up alone in life or alone right now? This is life for us. So him not ending up with the girl in the end was the best ending they could have picked to serve the story. His love interest loved him but needed more from the relationship. She wanted someone to be able to look her in the eyes and communicate love the way NTs communicate love. This doesn't mean that Aspies don't have anything to offer in a relationship, we just love in a different way and most NTs need to be loved in a different way. That is ok. For the writers to put a nice red bow at the end of this movie with man and woman holding hands walking off into the sunset would have been more of a disservice to the story and frankly I would have been insulted because they would have been playing to the NT mainstream audience's desires.....not what is reality.

The metaphor of the raccoons discovered in NY central park and Aspies not belonging on this Planet is simply brilliant. This movie didn't try to lampoon Adam's character by making him something he is not. They didn't try to make him into a stupid cartoon character or make the condition of AS as a joke. The writers and directors showed the positive sides of being an Aspie but they showed the negative limitations, rigidness, and personal struggles that we go through. The way that they showed his relationship with his friend Harland was on point. When Adam's friend was trying to socially communicate and say goodbye to Adam before leaving for good to California you could sense his friends deep need for Adam to socially reciprocate that affection that we simply can't do in the same way.

If you haven't seen this movie go get it. I purchased a used copy on Ebay for $5.
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krissgale
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21 Jul 2011, 11:58 pm

Nice review about the movie.
I still not watched this Asperger Syndrome movie. but now i am admit myself to go watch it. I hope it will be interesting and well enjoyable to me.



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22 Jul 2011, 12:21 am

I've heard plenty of complaints about the movie's portrayal of AS, but Adam was much closer to me than the characters in Mozart and the Whale. I didn't think it was a great film overall, but it's pretty enjoyable and – for me, at least – a refreshingly accurate portrayal of AS. Mary and Max has it beat, though. Not only does it portray AS accurately, it's a terrific film overall.



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22 Jul 2011, 12:30 am

I thought that the movie Adam was a good idea but I did not think that the movie went far enough. For example Adam had an obsession with space travel so the movie could have been about an autistic astronaut. Space travel is usually not controversial in itself unless the most obscene nuclear power is used. If Adams girlfriend was an environmentalist that would have been the end of their relationship.



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22 Jul 2011, 2:15 am

I felt that even Forrest Gump was smarter and more high functioning than the Adam character. I felt like some NT just read a diagnosis chart of Aspergers and tried to fit all of the characteristics in Adam and the movie. While no Aspies are the same, Adam was more on the low functioning side...and someone that looks like Rose Byrne wouldn't have anything to do with someone that acted like that on a romantic level anyway.



Arian
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22 Jul 2011, 3:56 am

I loved it and really felt akin to Adam :). Thought it was really thought provoking and handled in nice digestible chunks, especially the bit at the beginning where Adam gets fired the moment his father dies. Thought that was very indicative of the surrent social attitude towards anyone a bit different.


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22 Jul 2011, 4:59 am

mary and Max is better though.

Anyone whose seen it says it's the best AS film, it's just charming.


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22 Jul 2011, 5:02 am

nilescrane wrote:
I felt that even Forrest Gump was smarter and more high functioning than the Adam character. I felt like some NT just read a diagnosis chart of Aspergers and tried to fit all of the characteristics in Adam and the movie. While no Aspies are the same, Adam was more on the low functioning side...and someone that looks like Rose Byrne wouldn't have anything to do with someone that acted like that on a romantic level anyway.


I'm at roughly at the same functioing level as Adam, he's not LFA.


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22 Jul 2011, 6:18 pm

I haven`t seen it yet but I`m planning on it. My friend just told me about that movie. I watched the trailer and thought it was adorable! I love when he gave Beth a hug!


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22 Jul 2011, 9:43 pm

Why do all AS movies have to be about a relationship?


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Jory
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22 Jul 2011, 9:47 pm

MagicMeerkat wrote:
Why do all AS movies have to be about a relationship?


What else would they be about? Bill's obsession with tropical fish? Our inept social skills are what makes people want to make movies about us.



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23 Jul 2011, 11:04 am

Jory wrote:
MagicMeerkat wrote:
Why do all AS movies have to be about a relationship?


What else would they be about? Bill's obsession with tropical fish? Our inept social skills are what makes people want to make movies about us.


Temple Grandin's movie wasn't about a relationship, it was about her. I'd personaly love to see a fantasy or sci fi movie where the person with AS is the only one who know how to save the world or something via their obsession.

Bill could have went on to be a very famous marine biologist.


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23 Jul 2011, 6:30 pm

Jory wrote:
MagicMeerkat wrote:
Why do all AS movies have to be about a relationship?


What else would they be about?


Unemployment?



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23 Jul 2011, 7:13 pm

Has anyone here watched the movie "Adam" with a bunch of NTs?
Did the NTs understand what Adam meant when he was asking Beth if she'd been ahem.. "[excited]... last night in the park"?

When I've talked about the movie with them, every NT seems to think that scene is about vestiges of bestiality. They don't GET that it has nothing to do with the raccoons specifically.

I think Adam was a good movie, and low key enough that it would appeal to a wide audience (the better to get the idea out, my dear)... But I'm pretty sure a lot of the truely "Aspie" moments in the film went right past NT audience members ... there was no translation track to explain WHY:

Why Adam didn't answer when Beth knocked on the door at 8:11. Why they showed him sitting in a chair staring at the clock. Why he felt their little moment in central park to be intimate.

I know why... NT audiences are watching the movie (from what I've been told by many) and seeing the odd behaviour, but not the reasons/rationale behind it.

So it brought AS to the table, yes, and may even help a few parents and people out there clue in on themselves or their kids, and make a few of us feel more comfortable in our skins - we aren't alone. It's just too bad it didn't have the chance (it couldn't in its format I suppose) relay the logic and whyfor behind the main characters' responses to life.



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23 Jul 2011, 7:15 pm

OddFiction wrote:
When I've talked about the movie with them, every NT seems to think that scene is about vestiges of bestiality.


And my understanding of the NT mind decreases even more...



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23 Jul 2011, 7:36 pm

Jory wrote:
OddFiction wrote:
When I've talked about the movie with them, every NT seems to think that scene is about vestiges of bestiality.


And my understanding of the NT mind decreases even more...


I should clarify:
I'm talking about the scene where he asks her if the trip to the park got her aroused (as being where NTs think "bestiality?").
I'm not talking about the park scene itself.