Rainman

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I agree with Hyperborean. It's a wonderful movie and I greatly enjoy it; it's both funny and very moving.

However, it does show only one type of presentation of autistic or autism-like behaviors, and I wouldn't call Raymond "high functioning" -- he needed a lot of care. He was also a savant, something not all autistic people are.

The film is a good thing in as much as it does put autism out there to a huge public. But as Hyperborean points out, in another sense it has hampered the general public's understanding of autism because now every autistic person who is "higher functioning" than the Raymond character, who suppresses sensory issues more than he is portrayed doing, or who does not display astonishing and highly out-there savant skills as he does, gets told by skeptical "all-knowing" NTs: "You can't be autistic -- you're nothing like Rainman."

This is now the universal response of most of the public when faced with the rest of us on the autism spectrum. It gets old.

I have actually never seen Rainman. I'm a little bit reluctant to in a way, because all I've ever heard about it is that it's where a lot of the negative autism stereotypes in our current culture come from. I don't even know what it is about, other than "something about an autistic man".

I was actually really upset a few weeks ago when I finally realized that a screen name I chose on a whim on another site was kind of similar to the name of the movie, but I didn't change it because it has nothing to do with the movie or the character and everything to do with my love of rainy weather.

This is now the universal response of most of the public when faced with the rest of us on the autism spectrum. It gets old.

Last edited by bookworm360 on 29 Nov 2015, 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Quill, you should go ahead and see the film because it really is a good movie; it's beautifully made and acted. It's well worthwhile just in and of itself.

This holds true despite the varied after-effects that it has had on the general public's conception of autism, most of which is not really the fault of the film itself but rather of the simplistic thinking of Joe Public, not just regarding autism but just generally. That's just the way of things.

What we need is simply more films showing more varied types of autism, ideally. But please do check out Rainman, it's still a great movie.

In fairness this was the 80s. This is before Asperger's was even a diagnosis. The fact he could speak was their basis for him being "high functioning". I guess it's relative to what autism was at that time.

Actually that's a good point -- I'm forgetting how long ago this movie was released. I can see how just being able to talk and interact would make him deemed high functioning back then, relative to the later awareness of Asperger's.

You have to understand that before Rainman that Autism in the general public if it was known at all was known as a rare childhood disease that robbed the person of all humanity, and for which lifetime institutionalization or inversive ABA therapy such as shock treatments were the treatments. Rainman was extreamly high functioning for what was known in that era. Rainman was not the the only thing moving understanding, prior to Rainman there was Lorna Wings work and odd/off new wave/alternative pop groups such as The Talking Heads, Devo, B-52's but Rainman had the most impact.

The fault of the Rainman stereotype lies not with the makers of the film who were working with the best information about autism known at the time and unlike even today they used the word Autism. The fault lies with charitable organizations who in fundraising present Autism in the worst light, the sensualist mass media, the TV networks who present Autistic characters as some variation of the Rainman stereotype (Big Bang Theory, Scorpions), the general public who could not move past Rainman.


I would fault the filmmakers with presenting a way way to positive view of institutionalization, although it was starting to change most were still hell holes, people committed there were people given up on.

Okay, I'll do that. Thanks. This whole thread has actually been really interesting to read.

goodmovie ... defnitlygoodmovie...

Quill, I am really glad you did not make your screen name after the movie Quills. Although that is another brilliantly written movie, it is one of those movies that was so disturbing I had to keep my eyes closed half the time and I will never see it again.

But I also really encourage you to see Rainman. Like I said in my original post, it still remains one of my all time favorite movies. When I first saw it, it had just come out for the first time in the movie theater and I remember really identifying with all the patterns and noticing them and they really comforted me. At the time I had absolutely no idea why I found them so comforting or how intensely I was identifying with them. I was not diagnosed until last year and I did not find out I was on the spectrum until three years ago. So I saw the movie for the first time about 24 years before I had any idea about what Autism was or that I was Autistic.

But I remember really kind of identifying with a lot of what Raymond (Rainman) did and just kind of understanding it without knowing why I was understanding it. Now when I saw it again the other night, I really understood and I felt even more connected to him. Often times we like to compare ourselves with Raymond. I have told people that when I first found out I was Autistic that is all I knew about Autism but I was not like him. But now that I saw the movie again decades later, I realize that I really am like him, and in fact very much so.

My body is not as stiff as his and I did not spend the decades of my life in an institution like he did so I am much more comfortable in the outside world and I have no savant skills whatsoever, and I do understand money. But other than that, I am very much like him in so many ways. I have my routines that are important to me, I meltdown if some of them are broken, I have meltdowns from sensory overload, I have communication issues, I stim, take things literally a lot, I sometimes can't tell when someone makes a joke, I am attached to very few people very deeply like he was to Vern, I am extremely drawn to patterns, I am visual. I am often childlike, innocent, overly trusting and naive. I really am very much like him in almost every way. I am even an excellent driver! I am not as obvious or as extreme sometimes but sometimes, every now and again, I actually am. And what is really funny is that when I had my very kiss ever, which was on my wedding day, I described it the exact same way he described his first kiss, "Wet!"

But now I don't think I am going to say that I am not like Rainman anymore. What I will say is, I am like him, just in softer severity.

But do see the film Quill. You can see it on youtube actually. The youtube picture quality is not great but at least you can see the movie. It's about the relationship between Raymond, the Autistic man and his baby brother Charlie. Charlie, played by Tom Cruise, never knew he had a brother because Raymond was institutionalized when Charlie was a baby. So the movie takes place when Charlie learns for the first time about his brother and finds him. The movie is about their relationship. It really is a magnificent film. And it warms my heart that the Oscar was given to Kim Peak for it.

Yeah. Hearing "You're not autistic because you're nothing like Rainman" gets old.

Thanks for telling me a little bit about the movie and letting me know it is on Youtube! I will be sure to watch it when I get a chance, and I'll do my best to keep an open mind. The rest of your post was really interesting, too! I didn't even know there's a movie called Quills, so no, I definitely didn't name myself after it!

I am glad to tell you about Rainman. Please let us know if you like it when you get a chance to see it.

Quills was about the fictional character Le Marquis De Sade who was a sexual deviant and an author in France in 1800 or so. He was put into an insane asylum and the movie is about the ten years he spent in that particular asylum. It is a very well written movie and very intelligent but the some of the sexual stuff in it is really over the top for me and I could not handle it. If you are sensitive to that sort of thing like I am I would skip that movie.

Rainman is sexually pretty clean, only one bedroom scene between Charlie and his girlfriend, but they are completely covered. I would not let little kids see it but that's just me. But it's actually a pretty funny scene. And Tom Cruise's character throws a few choice curse words around. So I think Rainman had a PG rating. But definitely check it out and let us know what you think.

I liked the movie too. The character Raymond is based on actually didn't have autism though. His name was Kim Peek and he actually had FG Syndrome. I learned about him a documentary called "The Boy With the Incredible Brain" which I liked - I'd recommend watching it if you like that kind of documentary. (edit: oh this was already said... oops...sorry).

Funny thing is, I've never heard anyone actually say every autistic person is like Rainman... but I've heard that Rainman isn't representative of autism a gazillion times. I almost think it's one of those myths where everyone claims this is constantly said but it actually never is. Kind of like how people claim to know someone called La-a (pronounced La-dash-ah) when in reality nobody in the USA actually has that name. Bizarre.

I have read numourous posts and blogs from people who have been told you can't be autistic because you are not like Rainman.

If the Rainman charactor were real he would easily meet the DSM 5 ASD criteria.

WelcomeToHolland -- I don't think it's a myth, partly because someone did, in fact, actually say these very words to me. I am one of the people to whom someone said, and I quote as precisely as memory can serve:

"I don't think you can possibly be autistic, you don't seem to be like Rainman. You know Rainman, did you see that film?"

I have posted that here on WP in other threads, at one time or another when things like this have been discussed, and other WP members actually said they too have been told the Rainman thing.

If one is take that on trust -- and I know I'M telling the truth, for one -- then it's not a myth "where everyone claims it's constantly said but it actually never is."

Someone actually said it to me, others here have said someone said it to them. It's said, no myth.