Complaint With Modern Comics For Possibly Causing Stigma

[FayetheAspie]

I have a problem with the way modern comics are done because I think it may encourage the stigma that many neurotypical people have about people who have autism and other conditions. It seems like the villains are all portrayed with obvious recognizable traits of either autism or another disorder. The shows will often start out with them seeming like a nice person who is just a little "off" in some way that is often fairly consistent with a real disorder and then has them turn into a total psychopath after being ignored, bullied ,or having a traumatic experience. I think this contributes to the fear response that our little personality or mannerism quirks seem to induce in many neurotypicals. They recognize traits from these shows and assume that we must all be dangerous because the fictional characters are.

 

[Jonn]

Can you give an actual example?

 

[AutisticMilly]

I don’t read comics, so I can’t comment on if this is true or not, but I definitely notice it when watching horror movies. Many characters that are killers or monsters have traits that can be associated with neurodivergent people (not speaking, making involuntarily noises, speaking in a monotone voice, etc.) I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but I know for sure that some (usually older) movies use developmentally disabled characters to make things more “creepy”, which is unacceptable. It just proves my theory that many autistic/neurodivergent folks already know- neurotypicals find people different than them to be unnerving. (And before someone comes for me, I’m using neurotypical as a descriptor, not an insult).

 

[Outdated]

Propaganda for encouraging and promoting bigotry has been around as long as humanity, in spoken word and story telling. Most of it comes from people in close knit religious groups that avoid having much interaction with people outside of their own group.

 

[Jonn]

It just proves my theory that many autistic/neurodivergent folks already know- neurotypicals find people different than them to be unnerving.

Blame the evolutionary process.

 

[TBRS1]

In literature, this type of character is called "the other" (not to be confused with "the outsider." The outsider is usually the hero, the other almost never is).

The main defining characteristic is that they are, in some way - mentally or physically - abnormal. The abnormality represent something like a "twisted soul," making the character inherently dangerous.

This used to be a standard literary and movie trope. You actually see it much less often these days because, yup, people realized it's mighty rude and demeaning, and they shouldn't do it.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Is this thread suggesting we're not cereal killers? Cause I really couldn't bring myself to eat Corn Flakes alive!

 

[FayetheAspie]

Can you give an actual example?

example #1.
 The 2019 film Joker. Arthur Fleck has depression, pseudobulbar affect (pathological laughter),maladaptive daydreaming, and most of the symptoms are due to a head injury. Then he gets attacked starts out as self defense but then proceeds to finish the whole group off making him a criminal. From there devolves into a completely deranged psycopath.
example #2
Edward Nygma on Gotham. Ed appeared to have a form of high functioning autism which included an obsession with knowing facts and with riddles and a strong dose of the investigative trait personality wise (all three of which traits seemed highly relatable). Then all of a sudden he turns into a deranged psycopath who also has dissociative identity disorder ( which doesn't automatically imply psycopathy in real life either seeing as how DID is actually caused by severe childhood trauma).