Tuesday Mumbles: Autism in Media/Hollywood Autism

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following is based on my own opinion. If you feel offended or triggered by my articles, do not take them personal.

Happy Tuesday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.

When I posted my poem from college “Ode to Asperger’s“, I got some comments from people who managed to say they empathized with the poem. I have to say to those people thank you on that. This time, we’ll talk about something that I’ve been hearing about from time to time: The portrayal of Autism in media.
Folks are a bit curious in what ya boy’s talking about? Well I’ll tell you I’m not ragging on autistic people in media, but more how media portray autistic people better known as “Hollywood Autism”. Whether they’re good or bad, they can become annoying when folks use those as the typical examples. This is something personal for me because ya boy here, is a high-functioning autistic (also known as Asperger’s Syndrome) and I’ve seen media portray autism as those types of stereotypes.

First, I’m sure you’re wondering “What’s wrong with portraying autistic people in a positive light?” Nobody has a problem with that, unless it’s a positive stereotype is favorable beliefs held about a specific group (eg. Asians being skilled in math). For Autism, that’s the “savant stereotype” that portrays autistic folks as some super genius. Such examples of that trope can be found in movies like Rain Man, where Dustin Hoffman’s character Raymond is autistic and able to be a master mathematician. Another example that really is stretching it is portrayed in the movie The Predator in which the character Rory McKenna not only is able to decipher the Predator’s tech and alphabet, but its hinted that it’s an evolutionary benefit. Seriously?! What kind of crap is that?! They think that because people are autistic that they are all super geniuses? Not every autistic person’s a savant and I can bet not every autistic person can master a language that fast. Though there is another trope and stereotype that exists and boy does it it get ya boy angry.

The second, and more common that irks me is what I would call the “Mongoloid” trope. In some media, it portrays them as someone with the mental capacity of a child but with the body of an adult (even as strong or stronger) which usually ends up making them more pitied and makes the belief that autistic people cannot live a functional life regardless of the situation. One such example of this is the character Lennie from Of Mice and Men. The portrayal of the character ends up having his own unknown strength that harms animals and people. The next example I found was from a movie called The Black Balloon, a film made in 2018. Charlie Mollison is portrayed as very autistic as he does things commonly portrayed such as inappropriate behavior in situations and meltdowns. Though not really trying to portray this bad, it ends up making the character pitied than treated as anyone. Though this trope can be a bit disturbing and can end up viewing those on the spectrum as helpless and unable to be productive in society.

By now, you’re asking me “so is there any good portrayals or should we just give up?”
I would say that maybe it’s not as easy to portray autism. I mean, you do have some portrayals in media that show autistic people that’s not the Hollywood variant. It’s varies from person to person and isnt’ something that is typical between people. After All, that’s why it’s called the autism “spectrum” for a reason. However, there are some good examples that show autistic characters that are not the Hollywood variant. Such examples varies between media, but Julia from Sesame Street to Billy from the 2017 Power Rangers movie I and many others out there found to be good examples. It may take some time (and a fine comb) to find that good medium that portrays autism neither as some next step in human evolution or some curse that makes us unproductive in society. Also, as a person on the spectrum as well, I would love to see media portray autistic people as no different than anyone else out there. I can guarantee ya boy’s not some next step in human evolution or a drain on society. Ya boy’s still gonna be ya boy.