Aspies For Freedom

Can anyone rec a film where an Aspie/Aspies in general gets shown in a positive light?

I cant, maybe there isnt one?

Now, there's got to be something. I know there's films where the loveable eccentric winds up on top, I just can't think of any specifics.

Maybe I should have specified that the character doesn't have to be an official Aspie, just one where it's pretty easy to guess.

The scientist in Back to the future?

Elling

Elling? What?

I dont know what Elling is either.  :?:

Neither do I.

But what about the movie "Amelie"? Two eccentric but innocent and likeable loners. Quite a lot of anxiety and stalking, then a happy ending.

How about the movie 'Flubber', with Robin Williams (the original movie was 'The absent minded professor', filmed in the 1960s). If he wasn't an Aspie, I don't know who is!

Ursula

Well I thought Amadeus was a pretty good portrayal, in so far as the Mozart character reminded me of me.

No, not the musical aspects (though I do like Mozart, particularly "The Magic Flute") but the way he liked a night out on the town, but was otherwise inept socially; often he'd seem to compliment others on a piece they'd written, only to carry on and say it was dross in it's original form, but he managed to breath some life into it. Then there's the way the inside crew of composers at the Emperor's court detested him, and did so even more when they realised he was far better than they (been there, found that) and the way he would even disagree with the Emperor himself (which just wasn't done in those days).

I reserve judgement on whether it was historically accurate, but as a study of a real Aspie genius at work, it takes some beating (it's far more consistant than, "Good Will Hunting" for instance, whch made the usual wrong assumptions that anyone who's a genius at maths, say, will also have eidetic memory, will have read every book in the library, and easily masters foreign languages, historical and legal issues and arguments, etc.).

Of course, I haven't seen many films since I became familiar with AS, but amongst the older stuff, don't forget characters like Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle is a probable Aspie, and based the Holmes character very much on his own way of thinking) but why not consider books too?

Two excellent books written by probable Aspies are "Into the Dark Continent" by HM Stanley (and note in particular the very negative assessment of him in the foreword, and then how you assess his own reasoning for some of the "inhuman" decisions he's supposed to have made; you may end up thinking him a most sensible chap, albeit lacking in PC) and "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by TE Lawrence (of Arabia); again, you'll find the foreward referring to the popular (?) notion of his egoism and selfish ambition, but in the book itself he's uniformly self-effacing, and gives unstinting praise to others who made a similar or greater contribution to the war effort.

The fact both these guys were Welsh has nothing to do with my reccommendations! 8)

Basil Rathbone was such a good Sherlock Holmes, by Jove!

Sherlock Holmes was quite undiplomatic when he explained the superiority of his own reasoning, I recall. Definitely the aspie type.

I loved the old Sherlock Holmes films, and have read some of the books, the only thing that would say no to aspieness was his excellent judge of body language, but he no doubt studied it and taught himself!
Also the Amadeus film was excellent, I also have a laugh that could try the patience of a saint  :lol:

But was it portrayed as body language in the current sense or just his keen observational talents being aplied to "bodies"? I seem to recall reading Conan Doyle was quite an "abrassive" (and caring) character, and had many fallings out with "establishment" figures.

Holmes seemed to be able to deduce someone origin's, occupation, location and so on from sublte nuances in language and movement, it supposedly was the origins of forensic science.

I was watching an anime yesterday called Read Or Die, and the main character has a lot of AS tendencies. She's hooked on books, and spends her entire paycheck in one day. The clerks of all the bookstores in town know her, and are willing to let her pay later in some cases. She reads *constantly*, and embarks on an adventure to get a stolen book back.

She's also a special agent, and the book in question holds knowledge that could destroy humanity, however she doesn't quite seem to notice that, and it's pretty clear that she'd have done it anyway.