New show "Mr. Robot" recommended to me as having "autistic" lead

[royinpink]

Thought this might be of interest to a few people whether he is indeed represented as having Asperger's/ASD later on or not.

My coworker is a VERY enthusiastic person who can make absolutely anything sound like the most magical occurrence to grace the Earth. One day she was talking about her latest TV interests, and "Mr. Robot" was among them, which she described as an incredibly cinematic and compelling show about an "autistic" techie who is recruited to join some revolutionaries and take down the "top 1%". I decided to check it out because hey, I need a new TV show and I will watch any crap with aspie characters in it.

However, there is no mention of Asperger's/autism on the show. The only signs I can see are an aversion to being touched, social anxiety, and some awkward eye contact. He's seeing a therapist, but more for his anxiety and some possible delusions.

Anyway, from the tech side, it is also getting attention, because, as this review puts it:

So there I was, watching the pilot and making notes for what I fully expected to be a "7 ways Mr. Robot doesn’t understand computers" piece, when I suddenly found myself… impressed. Instead of the camera zooming through the innards of a laptop, there was Elliot, typing in a terminal window. Instead of using magical computer-god powers to find somebody’s phone number, he walked up to them and got it with some good old-fashioned social engineering. And when Elliot eventually did try to use a program to break into an account, he collected personal information about the subject to speed up the brute force attack — and then it didn’t even work.

A lot of that attention to detail comes courtesy of creator and executive producer Sam Esmail, who, it turns out, has similar feelings about the way computers have been portrayed in the past.
​

If any of that sounds interesting, the pilot episode is on YouTube (trailer here), but the writer (an Egyptian inspired by the Arab Spring and a self-proclaimed 'former, bad, low-level hacker') is taking over directing on subsequent episodes.

If you have opinions on the show, please do share.

 

[watersprite]

I was absolutely commanded to watch it by my son, and did so last night. I do not watch tv, but I bent my rule to accomodate him.

It manages to work in the usual social hooks most media has, which I will abstain from mentioning as they tick me off and might be triggers. It has appeal to some, because of the, so far, anyway, lack of errors depicting computers.

It also purports to honestly show anxiety and humbleness of the protaganist while still fantastically allowing for desirable and tasty "candies" such as being flown in the corporate jet to save the company from hackers, successful sexual conquest albeit with a drug dealer, assertive social interaction window dressed with some awkward social anxiety, and the physical beauty of the lead carefully presented rather than an exhibitionist presentstion which most television and movies use.

Personally I can see how it sucked in an audience already, but it is a clever game since the story supposes to take down the powers that be, and part of being controlled by the powers that be....is watching television and other media which is or can be a form of being influenced if not controlled by said media.

 

[royinpink]

I do not watch tv, but I bent my rule to accomodate him.

I used to not watch TV...I have re-taken it up since starting therapy? I effectively banned myself from TV and videogames when I went to college because I become too obsessed with them and will binge-watch episodes to get my sense of completion. I also can't focus on anything else if they're on in the 'background'.

Therapists asked why I was, uh, punishing myself in this way, so now I am allowing myself a certain degree of escapism to 'decompress' after work and trying to manage it while keeping in mind my weaknesses in this area...

assertive social interaction window dressed with some awkward social anxiety

Ooh, ooh, I can comment on this! Because I watched the writer's talk at Google! Um, yeah, so one of the Google employees asked how the lead gets the courage to confront people, and the writer basically said it's about vulnerability--the lead is vulnerable to showing his true self to people, and that actually makes him acutely aware of others' vulnerabilities, but when he is wearing a 'mask' or not being his true self, he gets a confidence he doesn't normally have.

...make of that what you will, in terms of resemblance to real social anxiety. But I do know there are some who are socially anxious who do well on acting on stage, where everything is scripted, for similar reasons. Isn't that the basis of a play or novella of some sort, as well? Someone who was only real when he was acting? What's the name of that... Oh! "Who Am I This Time?" by Kurt Vonnegut

it is a clever game since the story supposes to take down the powers that be, and part of being controlled by the powers that be....is watching television and other media which is or can be a form of being influenced if not controlled by said media.

I think I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure how else a show like this would get made if not by a major cable network. Does that make the message any less relevant? Anyway, I can't watch it on the network anyway, or even the free pilot episode on YouTube, since it's not available in my country.

Or do you mean that it's not just hypocritical to be on a cable network but that the message itself is somehow controlling? Because I'm not so sure about that. The media has to use the fears and interpretations people already have to deliver its messages--it doesn't create them. Where that becomes dangerous is when it becomes like an echo chamber, telling a "single story" of a people or an event, or when it plays on insecurities to get people to buy stuff. I see how that's a problem with repetition. But where the writer is given a lot of creative license like this, I see it more as a work I can take individually on its own merits, for better or worse. If it ends up giving into cliches later on, well...that will suck?

 

[Datura]

I just started watching this show as it recently started airing in my country. I have enjoyed it so far and really hope it keeps up the pace.

Interestingly, my mom introduced me to it and keeps saying how the lead character reminds her of me. Mostly she brings up his bleak pontification, tendency to zone out, and aversion to touch. At the same time, I look at him and think, "is that really how I come across to people?"

I also think that kestrel has a point. What good is anti-establishment sentement when it is being mediated by the establishment itself? Do such shows rouse people to action, or merely placate their frustrations via escapeism, that they might return to work the next day and buy the products advertised during the breaks? I find this situation quite similar to what happened with The Hunger Games, wherein an ostensibly anti-consumerist nerative was co-opted to sell media and merchandise, likely with no regard as to socially responsible trade practices.

 

[Judge]

I also think that kestrel has a point. What good is anti-establishment sentiment when it is being mediated by the establishment itself?

Depends on the context of the creator. In their case, it's purely entertainment. Not truly intended to enlighten much of anyone. I doubt network shareholders would approve if they thought that it was the writers' actual intent to foster very real anti-corporate sentiments.

This is always a concern when someone produces fictional material whether it's "The Big Bang Theory" or "Mr. Robot". That the public loses track between fact and fiction, where questionable or even harmful stereotypes can abound.

But the bottom line is that fiction- whether in literature or other forms of media has been around forever and isn't going away.

 

[Harry1965]

I love this show!