(no subject)
May. 5th, 2005 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kippurbirdApparently Autism and Aspeger's syndrome is still the in thing in Hollywood.
What was it? Tuesday night? There was a Law and Order Special Victims Unit and Law and Order Trial by Jury crossover. Angela Landsbury and Alfred Molina guest stared as a Mother and her son. The son was going around assaulting cleaning women and the mother was covering it up. Through out the course of the episode, I noticed that the son, was acting rather strange. I would have said Autistic, but they never mentioned it, so I figured that he was just "ecentric". At least they didn't mention it until well into the show. Then they found out that he was AS and that he might be misinterpiting the women's expressions as coming onto him. Alfred Molina actually played a very convincing AS person. However my mom had some qualms about the episodes. She said that now everyone was going to think that AS people are rapists and that the Refridgerator moms are the reason why AS people are AS, because Landsbury's character was very distant from her son, a typical Fridge mom description.
And I've been thinking about that. Are people that gulible as to think that now Autistic people are potential rapists and that it wasn't that this rapist just happened to be autistic? The answer I've been coming up with is, yes. People are that dumb. That's one of the reasons why a lot of them don't think that I'm autistic. Because I don't act like Rain Man, and he's the defintion of autism to the normal person out on the street. People seem to get their knowledge of disorders and thinks like that from TV and the movies and they think that it's right. I mean I've seen several depictions of Autistic people in the media. There was the kid from Mercury Rising. That was a terrible movie about Autism, but an excellent Bruce Willis film. Then there's Grissom, from CSI, who I'm conivnced is AS. There was an episode of Seven Days that had a fairly acurate portrayl of a person with autism and the same sort of gift as the kid in Mercury Rising. In Wiithout a Trace they had a missing kid with autism that was done fairly well, though I do have some qualms about some things, but they can't all be perfect.
In some ways these different types help expand the idea that there are different types of autism. But in some other ways it helps create more sterotypes. And people don't know which are correct and which are just the writer's fantasy.
What was it? Tuesday night? There was a Law and Order Special Victims Unit and Law and Order Trial by Jury crossover. Angela Landsbury and Alfred Molina guest stared as a Mother and her son. The son was going around assaulting cleaning women and the mother was covering it up. Through out the course of the episode, I noticed that the son, was acting rather strange. I would have said Autistic, but they never mentioned it, so I figured that he was just "ecentric". At least they didn't mention it until well into the show. Then they found out that he was AS and that he might be misinterpiting the women's expressions as coming onto him. Alfred Molina actually played a very convincing AS person. However my mom had some qualms about the episodes. She said that now everyone was going to think that AS people are rapists and that the Refridgerator moms are the reason why AS people are AS, because Landsbury's character was very distant from her son, a typical Fridge mom description.
And I've been thinking about that. Are people that gulible as to think that now Autistic people are potential rapists and that it wasn't that this rapist just happened to be autistic? The answer I've been coming up with is, yes. People are that dumb. That's one of the reasons why a lot of them don't think that I'm autistic. Because I don't act like Rain Man, and he's the defintion of autism to the normal person out on the street. People seem to get their knowledge of disorders and thinks like that from TV and the movies and they think that it's right. I mean I've seen several depictions of Autistic people in the media. There was the kid from Mercury Rising. That was a terrible movie about Autism, but an excellent Bruce Willis film. Then there's Grissom, from CSI, who I'm conivnced is AS. There was an episode of Seven Days that had a fairly acurate portrayl of a person with autism and the same sort of gift as the kid in Mercury Rising. In Wiithout a Trace they had a missing kid with autism that was done fairly well, though I do have some qualms about some things, but they can't all be perfect.
In some ways these different types help expand the idea that there are different types of autism. But in some other ways it helps create more sterotypes. And people don't know which are correct and which are just the writer's fantasy.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 08:29 pm (UTC)I think there's some innate dread about the way a character, who is part of some group that is considered somehow not normal, will be portrayed by the gernal public. Some excellant portrayal could open minds and give insight to these types of people, but others just perpetuate stereotypes.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 04:08 pm (UTC)OH! I'm gonna call you. I have to do a documentary by next thursday on anything I want and was having some troubles with an idea. But maybe we can do one on yours and your families life with Autism? I'll give you a call later tonight.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 08:46 pm (UTC)Short answer is yes, they are.
Of course, you and I both know that Autisic people are no more likely to be rapists than anyone else.
People don't just have such negative views about autism because of the media. The TV shows, the movies, etc, they're just mirroring what people in general are really thinking, though sometimes in a warped fashion.
The heart of the matter is that most people don't understand Autism at all. They don't understand people who have it. And as we all know, people tend to be afraid of things that they don't understand. They don't know why Autisic people act the way they do...they don't even really know what ausitism is. They just bunch it in there with all the other mental things that you hear about.
It's sad that most people don't take the time to learn, to understand instead of just making assumptions based on what they see on TV or hear rumors about.