inaccurate portrayal of Aspies on tv

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Hello all,

I just glanced through the other thread about undiagnosed Aspies in tv and literature, and it got me thinking about an experience I had last year.

I am a fan of Grey's Anatomy, and a couple of seasons ago they had the actress Mary McDonnell guest star on one episode as an Aspie doctor. It was clearly stated in the episode that her character was supposed to have AS, and a pretty big deal was made about it at the time. However, her portrayal of the character made me wonder whether she, the director, the writers, or in fact anyone on the set had ever met an individual with Asperger's before--it COULD NOT have been more inaccurate. The voice, the speech, the mannerisms, the way she described herself-everything was off.

And then, at the end of the episode, one of the other doctors was asked if she was familiar with AS, and she replied "Of course; significant impairment in social situations." As if that was the ONLY symptom. McDonnell's character did technically have difficulty dealing with the other doctors, so I guess according to the writers' definition the actress did a great job. GRRR.

It frustrates me that this episode may have been some of the viewers' first ever exposure to Asperger's, and now they all think that we act like that character. In fact, someone had suggested to me that I might have AS, but then I watched that episode, and decided not to look into it, because the character was absolutely nothing like me. This decision delayed my self-diagnosis by about a year.

Has anyone else ever experienced this type of frustration? Where a character in a movie or tv show was clearly stated to be on the spectrum, but then that character was portrayed poorly?

If they wanted an accurate portrayal they could just hire someone who actually has it. It's not as if someone with Asperger's would be anything like a professional actor. But people don't really care about accurate portrayals, they just want entertainment.

I don't know what kind of show you are talking about but it seems like lots of shows, especially crime/medical, like to throw in every disorder and disease they can find.

All I know is we will never be happy about any movie or TV show with an aspie character in it. They will always exaggerate the symptoms or use stereotypes.

I know of exactly two characters who were said to have AS:

-Wally Stevens, LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
-Jerry Espenson, BOSTON LEGAL

I think both were a bit exaggerated, in different ways. Wally needed things to be in patterns of five, all the time (something which resulted in his crime being exposed). Jerry's mannerisms and vocalizations, plus his habit of keeping his hands on his legs at all times (hence his nickname of "Hands") seemed a bit over the top at times BUT as the series progressed, he got "better" at keeping such things under control (difference between a one-shot guest star and a character who ended up becoming a regular).

These may be actual AS traits, sometimes, for some people, but they were definitely exaggerated for dramatic effect.

True, unfortunately. The same happens with other conditions (have you seen the way the various incarnations of LAW AND ORDER have portrayed schizophrenia? ).

Television and movies will always want to grab audiences' attention, and, as buryuntime said, if exaggerated portrayals of various conditions gets the ratings, then those kinds of portrayals will continue.

All that can be done to counter these stereotypes is real-world education.

You mean that one episode where a man raped two young girls and he said these men did it and the officer realized he isn't a pedophile, he is a schizophrenic?

I think I remember that ep. I was actually thinking of a couple of others:

-SVU: a man kidnapped a little boy thinking it was his own son and that he had to protect him from the dangerous beings that only existed inside his own head; as soon as he got medication he became lucid and was VERY apologetic. Turned out the "hospital" he was in deprived him of his meds and turned him out into the streets because he witnessed a crime and they didn't want anyone to believe what he said.

-SVU: a woman with schizophrenia was raped and had a very difficult time explaining what happened or ID'ing the one who did it.

My point: often portrayed as dangerous, incompetent or both.

It's entertainment. Is any of it an accurate picture of reality?

Aspiness is boring. So is schizophrenia. Or divorce. Are whatever thing they are trotting out for dramatic effect. So they have to amp it up or nobody would watch.

I think Hollywood favors entertainment over accuracy in general.

The entertainment industry portrays just about everything inaccurately.

Unfortunately it does end up being very detrimental to people I think.

+1 I think the problem is that it is so easy to take these portrayals as fact because they are presented as such, even though in reality they are merely entertainment. It seems pretty irresponsible to me.

I'm sorry about your delayed diagnosis kat_ross.

kat_ross posted (in part): ...It frustrates me that this episode may have been some of the viewers' first ever exposure to Asperger's, and now they all think that we act like that character. In fact, someone had suggested to me that I might have AS, but then I watched that episode, and decided not to look into it, because the character was absolutely nothing like me. This decision delayed my self-diagnosis by about a year. Has anyone else ever experienced this type of frustration? Where a character in a movie or tv show was clearly stated to be on the spectrum, but then that character was portrayed poorly?
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It can be helpful to be aware that not everything one sees on TV, hears on the radio, or reads in the newspaper about challenges such as Asperger's, Autism, ADHD, and so on is accurate. The forces behind the news media are often audience ratings and entertainment and some of what is available is only entertainment, not education at all. In the worse cases it is miseducation which plants incorrect ideas into viewers' heads, however, part of the news media doesn't care since what they want is a storyline/whatever which receives good ratings (and therefore good ad revenues). Again, it's not about truth, it's about entertainment and viewer ratings. Also, the news media is known to put doctors on the air without checking their credentials carefully and the scientific basis for some of the ideas the doctors express on the air. The news media will often just blindly swallow anything any doctor says even if it turns years later to be a fib (lie). It's unlikely the news media will change very much very quickly at all (my view). Even the medical profession will protect doctors (such as the Michael Jackson doctor accused of killing Michael Jackson) and allow the doctor to practice medicine on customers pending a court trial. That's simply how the current system - the news media and the medical guilds work.

there is a TV movie called "Dustbin Baby" where a girl with AS plays a character with AS. it's a rather minor character and they don't say she has AS in the movie but i read an article about it in which they say the character was meant to, and i applaud them for casting a girl with asperger's for the role.

here is one of her scenes. i think the character is named Poppy.

she's sitting to the left of the lead character April in the classroom (left from your point of view, not April's left), and then is also April's roommate - at 1:40 she has dialogue

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeiU-McWfg&feature=related[/youtube]

Oh my

Portrayal of schizophrenia in House - (episode called "The Socratic Method") - not completely wrong but a bit OTT
Portrayal of autism in House - it was describing the worst case

But then, drama is what they want....

However the portrayal of AS in Holby City was quite interesting

Dr Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds is quite convincing, but he is not representative of Asperger's in general, but perhaps of a tiny subset of people. Even so, his character and his consistency of portrayal do show how complex any particular character can be, and how useless the one label is.

"Reid is speculated (by actor Matthew Gray Gubler) to have shades of schizophrenia or a minor form of autism, likely Asperger's syndrome. Reid is also socially inept. Morgan, and other members of the team sometimes have to tell him to be quiet when he fixates on something, and he sometimes unknowingly changes the subject of a conversation. This most likely has to do with his possible Asperger's syndrome."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Reid

Q: Tell us about Dr. Spencer Reid.
Matthew: "He's an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger's Syndrome. Reid is 24, 25 years old with three PH.D.'s and one can't usually achieve that without some form of autism."
http://tvdramas.about.com/od/criminalmi ... gubint.htm

And let us say another thing about "House". It is almost a given that a patient is going to flip out in some very over dramatic way.

I think British shows portray AS quite well, from what I've seen.
Yes some shows exaggerate it but then again every person with AS or autism is affected differently.
The Closer and Without a Trace portrayed it quite well. Even if one was HFA and more severe then the autistic boy from Without a Trace. But I thought those two shows did ok.
Law and Order always get it wrong. My mum now thinks everyone with Bipolar is crazy and tries to kill themselves because of an episode she saw. I will set her right. I think NCIS did a really really stereotypical HFA character too. Really like Rain Man.

I've not seen many autistic characters in Australian shows. Just The Black Balloon and Shine. But those are movies. There's not much awareness about AS in the mainstream over here, if Communication Shutdown is anything to go by.

But basically the characters are over the top so NT's can actually see it. I may be generalizing but some that I know don't do subtly.