Movies About Aspergers Syndrome or Autism

[Guitar Nut]

A fairly recent Nicholas Sparks movie called Dear John. The main character's father has A.S. He's obsessed with coin collections, extremely shy, makes no eye contact, cooks a meatloaf EVERY Saturday, a lasagna EVERY Sunday etc. It's a good love story if you're into those kind of movies.

 

[AsIstAga]

I've often wondered if, among other issues, Tom Hanks' depiction of Forest Gump displays many ASD traits!?
Also (as Stephen Spielberg has been listed as an Aspie) I believe that ET shows an alien who doesn't belong here in this world, often startled by sensory overloads & social interaction (understandably so) the children who prove to be true friends help him, despite his differences to reach his goal of going home.
One other possibility is the John Cusack movie Martian Child, the kid most likely falls on the spectrum!

 

[AsIstAga]

...just thought of another! Edward Scissorhands, director Tim Burton is thought to be on the spectrum as well. And anyone who is can see the link that the title character, played by Johnny Depp, has to those of us who understand the struggles...

 

[GoofKing]

That's just it thought, their though to be on the spectrum .. . :/ I dunno, it seems like every famous or talented person is somehow on the spectrum. I know I can't prove it otherwise and I'd like to see Asperger's in a more positive light in the media, but I can't help wonder if this would create new stereotypes or make people want to be Autistic because they think it would make them good or better than everyone else.

I guess I'm just a bit worried is all ...

 

[wyverary]

I don't usually weigh in on the "does this character/famous person/dead person have AS/Autism," but I am utterly convinced that the two main characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are on the spectrum. Clem is loud-mouthed and clearly has boundary issues and doesn't really know how to behave herself, and Joel is the classic "highly-introverted, creative, can't-make-eye-contact" almost stereotypical Aspie.

 

[gonzerd]

I wanted to marry his character, LOL. He was so awesome. :-D

Lolz, ever since I read the original comic (I had to order it from the local comic book store and wait for three weeks) I've had a thing for the Enid character. Seeing it mentioned here, I'm wondering now if the she might have some aspieness. She seems to live and experience things on a different level, which becomes more apparent to her as she grows apart from her friend who seems to be all about adulthood and this next step in life, this thing were people all of a sudden change roles, or become different, and it feels like life is just playing different parts at different ages, while as an aspie, or at least to me, those evolutions always felt very unreal to me too, and made me feel "sick of everybody", as Enid says. And the yardsale where she can't part from her old stuff. And a social straightforwardness or awkwardness (the two go hand in hand), but also being very much in her own world. But maybe I'm reading it wrong.
And Seymour (the Steve Buscemi) is very aspie-like, that's a given.

 

[gonzerd]

I don't usually weigh in on the "does this character/famous person/dead person have AS/Autism," but I am utterly convinced that the two main characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are on the spectrum. Clem is loud-mouthed and clearly has boundary issues and doesn't really know how to behave herself, and Joel is the classic "highly-introverted, creative, can't-make-eye-contact" almost stereotypical Aspie.

This movie! Only saw it once I think, maybe twice, one more view straight after the first, and I don't think I'll see it again anytime soon, not because I would like too but because I just know I'll be ****ing crying.
I saw it a very dark time (grandfather dead, mother dead, fired and girlfriend leaving), so that might have something to do with it (a lot probably), but I recall feeling some strange connection to it. I still feel like that, but I think it was already before I saw the actual film. Just a feeling there was something about that movie and that I really had to see it. I wasn't very aware of Aspergers yet, I was just beginning to look into getting a diagnosis of some form, but it did give me very sad and hopeless feeling about the situation and relationship I was in at the time. A sense that I was actually different and then the loneliness that comes from that. And the soundtrack with those ultra-sad Beck songs. Those could have something to do with it too.

 

[rollerskate]

This movie! Only saw it once I think, maybe twice, one more view straight after the first, and I don't think I'll see it again anytime soon, not because I would like too but because I just know I'll be ****ing crying.
I saw it a very dark time (grandfather dead, mother dead, fired and girlfriend leaving), so that might have something to do with it (a lot probably), but I recall feeling some strange connection to it. I still feel like that, but I think it was already before I saw the actual film. Just a feeling there was something about that movie and that I really had to see it. I wasn't very aware of Aspergers yet, I was just beginning to look into getting a diagnosis of some form, but it did give me very sad and hopeless feeling about the situation and relationship I was in at the time. A sense that I was actually different and then the loneliness that comes from that. And the soundtrack with those ultra-sad Beck songs. Those could have something to do with it too.

Yeah I'm not crazy about the ending myself because it just leaves me feeling like there's no hope in the world... Even Enid and Seymour, as great a couple as they are, don't last... :-(

 

[gonzerd]

Yeah I'm not crazy about the ending myself because it just leaves me feeling like there's no hope in the world... Even Enid and Seymour, as great a couple as they are, don't last... :-(

See, I can't even recall the ending. I might have blocked the memory. Maybe I'll give it another view next week or so, and look at it from an aspie point of view.
I just had a quick skim through Ghost World and the ending with Enid leaving town on that imaginary bus... I'm always trying to think of it as an open ending, but I can't help to see it as a metaphor for suicide.

 

[rollerskate]

See, I can't even recall the ending. I might have blocked the memory. Maybe I'll give it another view next week or so, and look at it from an aspie point of view.
I just had a quick skim through Ghost World and the ending with Enid leaving town on that imaginary bus... I'm always trying to think of it as an open ending, but I can't help to see it as a metaphor for suicide.

Precisely. Same here.

 

[rollerskate]

And now I have that super depressing theme music from the movie stuck in my head LOL

 

[gonzerd]

Precisely. Same here.

Poor Enid. My imaginary self was still hoping to meet her someday.

And now I have that super depressing theme music from the movie stuck in my head LOL

Let's have some super non-depressing theme music then:

(don't shake the baby!)

 

[GoofKing]

I dunno if this was but the main protagonist almost has the same way of looking at the world like I do and I love this scene of him being totally immersed into something for days lol

He just seems like a bit of an Aspie without being one lol

 

[Spinosaurus kin]

That's just it thought, their though to be on the spectrum .. . :/ I dunno, it seems like every famous or talented person is somehow on the spectrum. I know I can't prove it otherwise and I'd like to see Asperger's in a more positive light in the media, but I can't help wonder if this would create new stereotypes or make people want to be Autistic because they think it would make them good or better than everyone else.

I guess I'm just a bit worried is all ...

Have some respect for the drones (general public). They aren't that impressionable.
I guess I wouldn't mind a more positive light on the autism spectrum, but a sympathetic light I would consider more appropriate.

 

[AsIstAga]

I guess I wouldn't mind a more positive light on the autism spectrum, but a sympathetic light I would consider more appropriate.

Has anyone seen the latest retelling of the Superman story? It's semi similar to an Aspie "meltdown" when he is in school and his senses begin to heighten (hearing, sight...) he is instantly reduced to panic attack and runs from the laughing classmates to hide in the janitor's closet until his mom comes to help! I tend to think many of the comic book writers could have been spectrumites trying to shed a positive light and a hopefulness to their own inner world of exaggerated fantasy characterizations. Anyone else think this theory holds any truth??

 

[KassieMac]

Yup, I think his character is a bit exaggerated for comedy's sake but it is shocking sometimes how well I get his eccentricities. This struck me with the first episode when he was like, "that's my seat. I always sit there." And then launched into a technical explanation of why. I have to admit his character helped me to identify a lot of my own oddities that I always thought were normal before I had ever even heard of Aspergers.

I don't believe that Sheldon (The Big Bang Theory) is exaggerated at all. At least two of the creators came from careers in technology & engineering, and they state that the characters' traits are based on people they've known & worked with. Yes, even Raj with his Selective Mutism, they actually knew a guy who couldn't speak in front of women unless he was drinking. I've worked & lived in that culture, and the BBT characters would probably be the more eccentric of the group, but not outside the range. Amongst them, I seemed like one of the more 'normal' people. I wish I'd stayed there, or at least kept in touch with a few of them … but I can't reach out now because I'm ashamed of how my life has turned to crap.

Since the show is so popular, I've tried to use it to connect with people, but we seem to see it completely differently. It's like they're not even watching the same show. One woman could only comment on Sheldon's short-sleeve over long-sleeve t-shirts (which I honestly hadn't ever noticed), but claimed to be a huge fan. Do people really do that, spending hours watching shows just because they're popular even though they don't get the humor? Or maybe it was because she finds them ridiculous and is laughing AT them, like some NTs do to us?

 

[islandria]

We just found Big Bang last year and I kept telling my husband that Sheldon reminds me of me. (Not totally - just his way of taking things literalky and 'being in his head' about friendship and sort of saying or doing the right thing because you think thst's what you're supposed to do for the sake of being socially acceptable.

I didn't know til I looked at this that Sheldon was considered an aspie character'.

 

[KassieMac]

We just found Big Bang last year and I kept telling my husband that Sheldon reminds me of me. (Not totally - just his way of taking things literalky and 'being in his head' about friendship and sort of saying or doing the right thing because you think thst's what you're supposed to do for the sake of being socially acceptable.

I didn't know til I looked at this that Sheldon was considered an aspie character'.

The producers won't use the label, and their RL friend may not be diagnosed. But how many of us choose not to pursue diagnosis … or don't tell anyone when we do … or can't get doctors to hear our concerns? I like that I can relate to him, and that he has real friends. I used to see that as hope that I could find real friends too, but now I realize that if it was common (or even possible) it wouldn't be unusual enough to write a tv show about.

 

[Spinosaurus kin]

I don't believe that Sheldon (The Big Bang Theory) is exaggerated at all. At least two of the creators came from careers in technology & engineering, and they state that the characters' traits are based on people they've known & worked with. Yes, even Raj with his Selective Mutism, they actually knew a guy who couldn't speak in front of women unless he was drinking. I've worked & lived in that culture, and the BBT characters would probably be the more eccentric of the group, but not outside the range. Amongst them, I seemed like one of the more 'normal' people. I wish I'd stayed there, or at least kept in touch with a few of them … but I can't reach out now because I'm ashamed of how my life has turned to crap.

Since the show is so popular, I've tried to use it to connect with people, but we seem to see it completely differently. It's like they're not even watching the same show. One woman could only comment on Sheldon's short-sleeve over long-sleeve t-shirts (which I honestly hadn't ever noticed), but claimed to be a huge fan. Do people really do that, spending hours watching shows just because they're popular even though they don't get the humor? Or maybe it was because she finds them ridiculous and is laughing AT them, like some NTs do to us?

I know first hand that Sheldon isn't exaggerated, my friends and I behave very similar to him, but just the presentation is a less than positive light. I do feel that laughing at someone's inability to connect to others, and trying to make him seem like less of a person for it (child, animal, alien and robot jokes) is on the mean-spirited side.
Have you ever watched a comedy show and enjoyed it without laughing? You know, the ones with fart jokes and stuff? When I was a kid I did.
I guess the humour is more relatable to us and so it may not be as easy for NTs to get it, but I know plenty who would understand the jokes and references. Then again, I do go to a grammar school.

 

[Stacey]

I was attracted to Steve Carells character in 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'...I'm attracted to Steve Carell full stop. Such a great film.
Let me elaborate on that...his voice is like caramel. What a man!