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Rain Man

Ken

Ken

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Has anyone actually seen the movie Rain Man? I mean recently? It was released in 1988.


I saw it a few decades ago and have remembered it ever since. Since my diagnosis, I thought the movie was very inaccurate. I felt it does not represent autism at all. I thought it was just a Hollywood production.

However, I watched it again about a week ago and realized that I didn't get as much from the movie when I first watched it back in the late 80's as I did this time. I think it is a matter of awareness. It turns out that I could relate to much of Raymond's role. Just a few examples; I also do not do well when being interrogated or questioned. I also have trouble with things wildly different from what I am used to, like Raymond's experience with an escalator. I distract and disorient easily. My expressions and mannerisms never match my true emotion.

No, I'm no savant by any degree, but I have met several autistic savants in my life and they were all that amazing.

With this recent viewing, I feel much better about the depiction and relevance than previously. It's like a whole new movie to me. One I can really appreciate. I watched it two night in a row!
 
Rainman isn't strictly about autism. It is also about a separate condition known as savant syndrome. It doesn't surprise me that it doesn't represent what it's about to everyone's satisfaction.

The thing about autism is that every autistic person is different. If you look for a long enough time, you will find an autistic person who resembles the character closely. You could make a movie that closely matched my own symptoms, and the same people would be complaining that it doesn't properly represent autism because it doesn't match their own experiences. There's no universal representation that everyone will accept.
 
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As I recall Rain Man's character was loosely based on a real life individual named Kim Peek who was thought to be autistic, but it turned out he had some other disorder. This film was done in '88 so knowledge about autism and autism awareness was lacking back then. It would be another four years before Asperger's Syndrome started being known about and diagnosed. I think when the doctor in the film described him as high functioning, he probably meant high functioning for someone with severe level 3 autism. And then finally it's all pure fiction of course.
 
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Au Naturel said:
Rainman isn't strictly about autism. It is also about a separate condition known as savant syndrome. It doesn't surprise me that it doesn't represent what it's about to everyone's satisfaction.

The thing about autism is that every autistic person is different. If you look for a long enough time, you will find an autistic person who resembles the character closely. You could make a movie that closely matched my own symptoms, and the same people would be complaining that it doesn't properly represent autism because it doesn't match their own experiences. There's no universal representation that everyone will accept.
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As the saying goes; If you've met one autistic person, you've met them all one autistic person.
 
@Ken
I agree with your view of the movie.
First time I watched it; I had not been diagnosed either.
Then I watched it again and there are personality traits that you listed that I relate to also.
I'm not Savant either.
 
Au Naturel said:
Rainman isn't strictly about autism. It is also about a separate condition known as savant syndrome. It doesn't surprise me that it doesn't represent what it's about to everyone's satisfaction.

The thing about autism is that every autistic person is different. If you look for a long enough time, you will find an autistic person who resembles the character closely. You could make a movie that closely matched my own symptoms, and the same people would be complaining that it doesn't properly represent autism because it doesn't match their own experiences. There's no universal representation that everyone will accept.
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This is what I was going to say. An autistic character has to be something, and I never got offended by Rain Man. I think it's a good movie.
 
Even with the US and Australian series "Love on the Spectrum", real people, real situations, albeit with a camera in their face, I found it difficult to relate to them. None of them acted or thought the way I do. I am thinking, perhaps, many on the series were ASD-2, and not ASD-1. At any rate, whether it be actors portraying someone on the spectrum, or actual people on the spectrum, I am thinking the producers of this sort of media are seeking out people with plainly obvious behavioral "quirks" or the actors have to portray this for the audience.

I am thinking, given my experience with autistic children, reading much of the childhood ASD literature, etc., that perhaps, the producers of this sort of media are not understanding that children grow up to be adults, and do not behave the same way, for the most part. I've said this many times how our hospital staff can work with autistic children day in, day out, and yet not recognize the autistic adults working right next to them, as physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc.
 
Au Naturel said:
Rainman isn't strictly about autism. It is also about a separate condition known as savant syndrome. It doesn't surprise me that it doesn't represent what it's about to everyone's satisfaction.
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Indeed, it is not really about autism. It is about Charlie Babbit's (Raymond's brother) lessons and learning about life and what is important. Especially learning that money is not the most important thing in life and learning to love his brother that he previously never knew he had.

My question is; have you seen it recently. When I saw it recently, I realized that it wasn't as far off as I remembered it. I was going by decades old memory, when I had a lot less life experience. I find that makes a lot of difference. Life experience has a huge effect on perception and understanding.

But, for what it is, I think it is a really good movie.
 
Interesting. I hadn't seen the movie and sorta avoided it because it didn't seem to be recommended in the autist community and I am not a fan of Hoffman. But now knowing the full story and the real person behind it I believe I will check it out. Though I dislike the actor I am also aware he is capable of turning in a very good performance.
 
When the movie came out, I was working as a projectionist at a local movie theater. It played at the theater for like six months, so I saw it more times than I could count. It was an entertaining movie that I'd recommend. Dustin Hoffman did a solid job in the role; kind of a savant version of Ratso Rizzo. I haven't been taken by everything Dustin has done over the years, but that movie had one of his better performances. This was well before I knew anything about autism. As previously stated, the core of the movie was about two long-lost brothers bonding. I never expect Hollywood to be a great source of information about anything. The industry is more about entertainment than education.

When I want to be educated, I look elsewhere. The PBS NewsHour has done some informative pieces on the subject. Here is just one of them.

 
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