Aspies For Freedom

Hi all: I just saw the weird 'n wonderful cult hit, Napoleon Dynamite.  Am I the only person who sees the lead character as having Asperger's?

Napoleon is physically geeky, doesn't make eye contact, has arcane interests that he's very knowledgeable about, and a totally unique way of putting language together.  And there he is in the midst of a provincial NT environment that does not know what to make of him.  

And somehow, like a lot of Aspergers kids, he wins by having a kind of off-beat creativity, some profound areas of talent and an uncanny ability to see through to what is really important in people and life.  

I really recommend it for a lot of laughing and feeling like that kid could be yours (or you).  

jmb
Mom of the fabulous Blue, a 4 1/2-year old aspie

I don't know what this is. TV show, film?

Sorry, it's a film.  Came out last summer but did not make a big splash.  It is a low-budget, indy production made in Idaho.

Here's a page with links to the trailer, but you really have to see the whole thing to appreciate it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/trailers

And this is the official web site for the film: http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/napoleond.../index.php

enjoy

jmb

Napoleon is the man.  And I've never really thought of him having aspergers, but it makes sense.

BTW, it is a movie Amy.  Napoleon Dynamite

Heh, I thought about Asperger's Syndrome the entire time I was watching that movie, although I'm not entirely sure that Napoleon's behavior was supposed to be characteristic of any particular condition. Incidentally, that movie is hilarious. It's on my list of DVDs to own.

All I could think about watching that whole thing was why am I wasting my time watching it? I was hoping that the actual actor wasn't that annoying in RL. I wasn't really looking at anything particular like Aspergers or anything when I was watching it anyways.

Here is something interesting from an interview with Jon Heder (Napolean Dynamite on his feelings of Napolean:

Source: http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/filmmaking.asp?ID=103

I think the interesting thing is he is a twin and he is also recently married and is into animation and such. He's definitely not as 'nerd' looking in his pictures as Napolean is.

Actually, he turns out to be super-cute in RL.  wonder if my teenage nieces are aware of that.  ('')


But seriously, even the fact that Mr. Heder says the character is "socially impaired" is kind of code for AS, isn't it?  And when you see the movie, the fact that Napoleon doesn't make eye contact or keeps his eyes closed when he talks to people suggests a non NT-person at the very least.  Plus, he has these arcane interests, like obscure animals, dirt bikes, etc.  His entire understanding of social interaction is interestingly rule-based as well -- for instance, he has somehow developed the notion that girls want to date boys who have "skills," but he has no intuitive sense of what kind of "skills" girls actually like.

So he sets about acquiring skills, but he just has no internal radar about what is going to be appealing to the girls he wants to meet.   Needless to say, the skills he develops are kind of esoteric and unconnected to anything that resonates with the NT social world.

And yet, if you have the right mindset about it, he is totally wonderful and interesting -- like an artist who is just beyond our comprehension.  

It is how I often think about my daughter, Blue.  Once, the children in her special-ed pre-school had to draw a picture and write a story about something they "care about."  Everyone did pictures of their mommies and daddies, because the whole thing was supposed to be about families, etc.   Blue drew a picture of a strange machine that put colored spots onto cats as it whirled them around in a crazy cloud of colored spots.  That is what she cared about.  

They called us in to a meeting to discuss that one.  Lots of head shaking and worried, lip-biting frowns from the people who run her special ed program.  "We do not care about machines," the social worker explained patiently.  "We are supposed to care about other people."  

My husband and I walked out, shaking our heads.  Because we thought that Blue and the machine were just  f***ing brilliant and amazing.

jmb
Mom of the fabulous Blue, a 4 1/2 year old aspie

I think it's more likely he set out to make the character nerd/geek-like and just stumbled onto some things with no intentions in creating the character to be in any way like an Aspie. Just likely consequence in that some of those things in the character seem similar but likely were never ever thought of in that context. Some people that are also shy and such avoid eye contact and some of the other social cues and such doesn't always mean Aspie, I have a cousin like that but he's not Aspie by far. He has a more limited interest in computers, especially graphics but just has no idea how to deal with most people in that he is a nerdy type. He is in his mid-20's and no girlfriend but I think it's just he's likely not really gotten himself to the point that he knows what he wants well enough for a girl to notice him possibly.  I've met people like Napolean Dynamite in school and would never have ever thought of them even now as remotely on the Autism Spectrum.  I guess just that's how I would view them, they often didn't have the 'stimming' and other things that I have dealt with and such and it's just they tended to use those 'limited interests' to make up for any lack of social issues they had.  There are other things out there that can cause social problems, look at the family he had, it wasn't exactly the most functional one I've seen.

Napoleon dynamite = MY LEAST FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME

I idnetified so strongly with the main character that I couldnt watch the movie all the way through because of the stupid stuff he does.

When I was on holidays in Melbourne, I saw this movie. I also thought the main character could easily have been Aspie. I would also strongly suspect the same of his older brother. I thought this movie was very well made and enjoyable to watch.