Aspies For Freedom

http://www.sexualhealth.com/article.php?...3&topic=75


what do you think of this article why its on a site called sexaul health i have no idea.

An interesting list of movies, most of which I have not seen, even though I am a bit of a buff - my obsession is movies.

I note there are no Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek movies listed... Holmes, Spock, Data and, yes, Worf... can all be seen as fictionalised Autistic types... though I appreciate not perfect types.

I think that the Author was falling into the same trap as the one being argued against, that ONLY movies which commit the 'sins' are noted. What about the wonderful way the crew of the Enterprise gather around and accept Spock, Data and Worf? How about Dr. Watson respecting and idolising Holmes and the fact the fictional detective usually won out at the end?

One movie listed there is 'Being There' which I certainly have seen (I have seen more than one of them) and have in my collection. The Peter Sellers character 'Chancy Gardener', whilst arguably Autistic (in the same way Holmes, Spock, Data and Worf, are arguably Autistic), is a naive simpleton thrust out of his sheltered life into an outside world who mistakes his naivety for genius. The film-makers are concerned more with satirising the foolishness of American society than with depicting an Autistic man. Personally, I do not see Chancy Gardener as an Autistic... he makes eye contact, he does not stim, he does not overload - he is just a simpleton and naive - this an Autistic character does NOT make.

Movies are NOT text-books. History is mangled (even in relatively acurate movies like 'Cromwell'). Christian denominations and beliefs are often misrepresented and confused. Geographical reality is often ignored as in 'The Mouse that Roared'. Science is thrown to the wind 'Jurassic Park' and mythology is mashed up 'Clash of the Titans'. It happens all the time to all kind of things because - it is the nature of movies. Movies are entertainment and nothing more.

Movies are visual, and therefore the subjects need to be visual... hence why 'Rainman' had to be such an extreme case. This is why Christianity is more often than not, represented by the Roman Catholic Church in movies... because it is the most visual denomination - denominations such as the Baptists are just not visual enough.

History, even in movies such as 'Cromwell' has to be condensed and simplified because nobody is going to sit through a movie that lasts at least 19 hours long, appears episodic, is a poorly told story (entertainment-wise) and has no satisfying conclusion - not to mention the fact that the history does not always focus on the protagonist, whereas a story about the man has to keep him in focus - in the thick of things.

Whilst the article is interesting, the author simply does not appreciate the necessities of movie making.

My wife, an asthmatic, cringes everytime somebody depicts the use of inhalers in movie or TV productions. However, if inhaler use was acurate on film... then frankly would you be prepared to sit while somebody holds their breath for a slow count of ten then exhales and then repeats it a second time? Pretty boring entertainment, eh? That would certainly stall the plot.

A good article.  I might have included Pookie (Liza Minnelli's first movie), and Real Genius (for the totally-aspie girlfriend character)  And where is Napoleon Dynamite and other more recent movies such as Snow Cake?

what about gil grisom the leader of the las vegas crime lab on CSI....as a possible asipe

Wow! I've only heard of 4 movies on that list, and only seen 2 in part, only one of which was in full.

Neither of the subjects in the 2 I have seen in part were autistic. Forrest Gump has no social problems, does not stim, does not overload, etc. The main character of Little Man Tate does not exhibit any "symptoms" that are not symptoms of giftedness, even if there is some overlap with autism.

That is part of my point. The gathering of material has been done in a subjective pattern rather than an objective one.

Spock and Sherlock Holmes, for instance, are probably not included because, whilst the characters are as autistic as others in the list, they are welcomed within the worlds of their stories - which goes against the Author's thesis. Those are the two characters most often held up as fictional Autistics in forums I have seen... and no, I do not believe Spock is a good example.

The article displays a very liberal and not very specific view of what constitutes an Autistic character. I guess the Author wanted an impressive list.

That's just a sign of incompetent film-makers.  A good one could make that work.

Could even be used as a plot device =p - someone rushing taking their inhaler only to find 30 seconds of chase scene later they collapsed because they didn't get time to do it properly ;p

Nope, not a sign of an incompetant film maker in the least.

Movies are not about taking time to do everything in an accurate manner... the thing for a competant film-maker to do is to have things done in a CINEMATICLY appropriate and believable way.

Bullets don't make people fly backwards in real life... they often do in the movies.

How often do you see people brushing their super white teeth in the movies?

In 'The Empire Strikes Back', Luke Skywalker spends months training with Yoda on Dagobah, while Han, Leia and Chewbacca spend what seems only a few days avoiding Darth Vader and visiting Lando - both times running parallel in the movie.

Not once in the 'Lord of the Rings' did anybody wash or visit a toilet.

In bar fights... how often do people in real life keep fighting after a chair has been smashed over their head?

Taking Athsma inhalers properly would normally halt the plot and THAT would indeed be BAD movie making.

Actually I read that long ago. It's on that site because the articles writer is a sexual consellor on that site. her speciality (on this site anyway) is Autism & sexuality. Probably because she has AS herself. http://www.sexualhealth.com/experts/view/34/

i had a pwoer glove...not that great

I have 'Carrie' on DVD. Her problem was not that she was Autistic, but that she was mentally abused and telekinetic - not a good mix.

Do you know that Carrie Fisher would have played the role of Carrie, but she objected to the nudity and ended up playing Princess Leia in 'Star Wars'. Brian DePalmer ('Carrie') and George Lucas ('Star Wars') were holding a shared audition for their two movies. In the end, Carrie was played by Sissy Spacek of course.

One movie character which is largely based on Autism is Leonardo DiCaprio's character opposite Johnney Depp in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape'... during research DiCaprio came across an Autistic person and a lot of what he observed from this Autistic, he utilised in his characterisation.

However, in the screenplay and novel, Arnie is not supposed to be Autistic... the Autistic part of the characterisation was from the research the actor did alone.

I'm not sure if Carrie was autistic. I would say she was very very angry and with good reason, although that didn't justify wiping out all those people.

:roll: Way to do a low-rent carbon copy of my ideas...

I didn't realise Arnie was meant to be autistic and thought he was just meant to be a little bit slow.