I watched the 3rd series of the British TV show "Skins" on Netflix recently, and I was actually heartened when it showed the geeky spaz character J.J. revealing that he's on the autistic spectrum. It was especially heartwarming seeing him warm to interaction with the girl character he is attracted to, and showing his mother starting to cry in happiness at seeing him behaving so normally. That was really inspiring.
Too often certain personality types are just depicted as being the consequence of people being weak, cowardly, or hysterical. In the end, they just decide to "get over it" and "be a man." But this TV show had it more realistically. J.J. learned to trust this girl and feel a connection with her, and was able to be relaxed around her. I haven't seen enough to know whether they're realistic about the level of progress this represents, but hopefully they won't pretend like he's "cured" of being on the spectrum just because he made a friend and got laid.
Spectrum types are treated only as totems in US TV, not as people. They're either faceless, stereotypical geeks who are only there to do the scientific leg work for main characters, or they're obnoxious bastards (like House) who entertain the audience by being equally clueless and indifferent to people's feelings. It's unusual to come across a spectrum character who is taken seriously, who is positive and capable of making progress, so I applaud the writers of "Skins." It's both very entertaining, and very emotionally engaging (even when it's being preposterous).
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"If you must label the absolute, use its proper name: Temporary." -God Emperor of Dune
26 Sep 2010, 8:13 am
