Meet The Robinsons - Eccentric characters and Aspergers

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I saw Meet The Robinsons last night and it was so so good! Quite a treasure. I rented it because I loved one of its theme songs, "Little Wonders" so much, which was written for the movie: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6EVIIcLLo

It got me thinking though, about all the eccentric characters that childrens books and movies are filled with, and how often they're like depictions of aspergers traits. It seems offbeat characters with aspergers qualities are used as sidekicks or assistants a lot too, like Alice in Wonderland for instance, is full of them.

Anyone else have any favorite eccentrics from childrens books or movies that seem Aspergery?

Well, it's not a children's book by any means, but I am certain that Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is an aspie.

OOOH!! ! I read that book not to long ago for English class! I liked it. Jay Gatsby was likable. He did seem to be aspie-ish, especially how he didn't like crowds so much. And how he had those big plans to meet Daisy somehow, I cant blame him. I sometimes make big plans like that to have even a small chance to meet someone I know or do something I want to do or something like that. Does his love for Daisy count as an obsession as in narrow point of interest or obsession as in he's obsessed with Daisy only love wise? -PG

I love that movie!! !

Thanks for responding! I actually haven’t read the Gatsby, I hate to admit… I’ll have to read it now. Other characters from adult literature I can think of is Quoyle from The Shipping News, which was an amazing novel. From childrens or YA Novel (I really enjoyed this novel as an adult) is “Young Uncle comes to Town” which features a kind of Mary Poppins like magical eccentric uncle who comes into town and turns it upside down. It was really amazingly brilliant and funny writing. http://users.rcn.com/singhvan/YuncleUS.html

I've read Holes and I thought Zero was very Aspie. If you read the book you'll understand why.

I Loved Holes!! I actually kind of thought the same thing. And excellent writing to boot.

I just saw "Martian Child" last night too - and I haven't been so totally happy and moved by a movie in a long, long, long time. Beautifully done all around.

I like The Riddler from Batman, The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, Morph (before Mr. Sinister brought him back all twisted, and yes I know that he was only good and alive for the first two episodes) from the X-Men animated series of the early 90's.

Luna "Loony" Lovegood from Harry Potter seems pretty aspie.

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Luna_Lovegood

Scroll down to personality.

"Luna is an open-minded, serene, unique; some might say odd, girl with many beliefs and traits that others consider strange, which earn her the nickname of "Loony Lovegood". She is intelligent having been sorted into Ravenclaw, and has a habit of stating the blunt truth about things, as well as for accidentally turning up when things are happening. Her voice is distant and dreamy(yet on one occasion the dreamy quality vanished when she heard Hermione saying that her father's magazine is rubbish), and she would often quickly fade away from a conversation if she did not find it interesting. She has a steadfast faith and a calm demeanor, her and Hermione occasionally become frustrated with one another being mirror opposites (yet still maintain their friendship) of each other. She does not care what others think about her, which may be one of the reasons why she has few friends, though she is ok with this fact being quite comfortable with herself and who she is though she would like to have friends. She is very loyal, and truly cares about the few friends she has. She is often the subject of ridicule, with other students stealing and hiding her things. She takes this in stride though, being patient and accepting of the others around her, and believing that her hidden things would show up again eventually. Luna seems to have some artistic skill, as there are various things in her house that she painted with things such as flowers or insects.

She is well known for comforting others. Luna is a powerful witch along the lines of Ginny, and she was one of the few left unharmed after all three battles she had participated in. She is also a big Quidditch fan. As such, she is the complete opposite of Hermione in almost every way."

Actually, Martian Child is not really youth literature but it could be, I think its both. Young Uncle comes to Town is my favorite eccentric character from childrens lit.I heard that there is an autistic character in "A Wizard Alone" by Diane Duane and "The Only Alien on the Planet" both YA novels, but I haven't read either yet.

Martian Child is about a science fiction writer (played by John Cusak) who, after his wife dies, decides to adopt a child. Its based on the true story of a famous science fiction writer (he wrote for star trek too) who adopted a boy, who thought he was a Martian, so its about this eccentric child who seems to have all these extra-sensory abilities, and this writer whos used to living in the 'alien' world, but not for real. I thought it was really great.