When Hollywood turns Asperger's into a joke

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25 May 2014, 11:44 pm

Personally, I like Sheldon OK (even if I have been known to comment, "PLEASE tell me I'm doing better than THAT!") I suspect that all 4 of the guys of BBT have some degree of Asperger's; myself, I watch the show to laugh at poor Penny, the token neurotypical.

After a childhood spent comparing myself to Steve Urkel and Frank Burns (whoops, dated myself there), Sheldon Cooper is frankly endearing.

On the serious side: It's better to be a joke, the subject of humor (even the butt of the joke) than to be That Which Must Not Be Named.

Seriously-- What is more dangerous to your ability to walk down the street: Being equated with Sheldon Cooper, or being equated with Adam Lanza??

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Jaden
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26 May 2014, 12:20 am

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

I actually think it's a good thing more movies and television shows are introducing aspie characters. I mean, at this point they are definitely portrayed in a stereotypical manner, but they have to start somewhere, and starting with characters like Sheldon Cooper is better than doing nothing at all.

Yes, they do have to start somewhere, no they didn't have to start with stereotypes. Because of the fact that people are ignorant of the truth, they're going to take it at face value and start thinking that's typical for AS. I'd call that a proliferation of ignorance, not a measure to stifle it and educate people. Doing nothing at all would have actually been better because of the fact that it's a proliferation of ignorance of the condition. At least then we could try to educate them with real examples and facts instead of a ridiculously over-acted and sometimes even completely wrong character that was made up for a show.

The problem with society is they think education starts with fake examples, wrong, education begins with real life, where real people deal with real issues. People take tv shows too seriously, and that's where ignorance is spread.

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mr_bigmouth_502
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26 May 2014, 3:24 am

Jaden wrote:

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Don't forget, most people are thick-headed idiots, relatively speaking, and in order to catch their attention you need to do it with something outrageous, something that stands out. The way I see it, characters like Sheldon Cooper could be used to reel these people in, and make them aware of autism spectrum disorders, then these characters could become better developed over time, and since people would finally be paying attention, we could eventually show them what "real" aspies are like, and they would get it. If you tried putting a "real" aspie character on a typical sitcom in this day and age, it would just go right over most people's heads, which would lead us nowhere.

Of course, what do I know? I'm not a typical sitcom watcher. I barely even watch TBBT anymore, since it's gone downhill what with Howard and Sheldon having actual love interests. Sheldon was better as a quirky, megalomaniacal nerd, and Howard was better as a desperate horndog. On the plus side, Bernadette is smoking hot.

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26 May 2014, 6:31 am

KingdomOfRats wrote:

vermontsavant wrote:

KingdomOfRats wrote:

regardless of how many years down the line we get,all films will still build profiles on stereotypes,the masses do not recognise less stereotypical behaviors so wont find anything else relateable,afterall its the uninformed masses that puts the coke and hookers in the homes of the film crews; not the minorities from the fringes of society.

the profile of institutionalised,severe plus savant HFA was first properly shown in rainman,being brought up in oldskool institutions made a lot of HFAs appear low functioning which is why so many HF autists who have grown up in mainstream society feel unable to relate,but in own view,the best film representation of HFA have personaly seen woud be snowcake;
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448124/
a rareity as its based on a female.

and the most realistic example in films have seen for LFA is the black balloon;
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865297/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
coudnt relate to the profile more even now as an adult,and had gone through the same resentful shaming treatment that the autistic lad gets from his brother; although had gotten acutely worser than that from sister.

no one shoud ever have even half decent expectations from hollywood,then will be pleasantly surprised if a good autism profile comes along.

i was in a institution massachusetts at the age of 14.they pulled me out of class at 10am and sent me to the main building.i thought i was in trouble but it was the social worker Amy.she said we were going to the movies,i was miffed why would she do this.

we drove to worcester mass in her car and caught the mattinae of Rainman.not many people on this forum were even alive when rainman first showed in theatres.where does the time go

what was her reasoning behind doing it?

as for youngsters being barely alive by the time rainman came out, this is likely why rainman is hated so much on WP as we are a largely youngster led community.

the reason she took me to the movie was because autism was so rare then that it was the only thing she knew to give me something or someone to relate to.
the only reason i mentioned the age of the movie was reflection.that time just passes you by.the memorie i shared seems almost like yesterday,now im almost 40

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Acedia
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26 May 2014, 2:46 pm

Aspinator wrote:

My feelings are that yea, Hollywood is portraying Aspies as laughing stock but at least the foot is in the door. If you remember how an alcoholic was portrayed a couple of decades ago; ( think of Otis on the Andy Griffith Show) and all the numerous ways alcoholism was portrayed; there was a reoccuring gag that alcoholics always saw pink elephants. Thank goodness it is not that way today. Hopefully this will expose more people to HFA and will lead to more positive changes in the future.

No, this will contribute to the over-diagnosis of an already romanticised condition, and attract more people to wrongly self-diagnose.

---

leniorose
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28 May 2014, 10:24 am

I also watch TBBT. I sometimes associate with Sheldon, and sometimes with Leonard. Bernadette and Amy. I like the show because it's still humorous and displays a variety of what Aspies might be like. I always thought that Sheldon was a somewhat realistic portrayal in the sense that Aspergers is sometimes combined with other traits or disorders.
At any rate, I like the show because it prompts me to laugh at myself.

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28 May 2014, 11:46 am

Someone I know who has AS hates TBBT and doesn't find it funny and finds it stupid and thinks Sheldon is just a jerk and the TV show did it intentionally and knew what they were doing.

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28 May 2014, 11:09 pm

Acedia wrote:

Aspinator wrote:

No, this will contribute to the over-diagnosis of an already romanticised condition, and attract more people to wrongly self-diagnose.

---

At least it'll attract more attention to the cause of people who do genuinely have ASDs.

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29 May 2014, 6:33 pm

ehymw wrote:

IMHO all the guys in TBBT and two of the three girls could be considered portrayals of Aspergers.

Yeah, definitely.

I didn't use to like the show, but I found the later episodes to be much better, which made me watch some earlier ones and now I'm hooked on TBBT!

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30 May 2014, 8:41 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/when-hollywood-turns-aspergers-into-a-joke-20140521-38ojx.html

I'm sorry but Hollywood generalizes EVERYTHING. If people take what they see on TV seriously then it is the audience that has the problem not Hollywood. Admittedly these are common traits of Asperger's but the degrees very from person to person. As a person who identifies with Sheldon on Big Bang I find his character quite enjoyable because it makes me feel less alone in the world. I may not be exactly like him but I can certainly empathize with him. Ironic since I don't show empathy as much.

I will add that one observation I've had with the series as it progresses is how they highlight the weakness in the characters and overtime show the maturity of them and how they were able to adapt. This shows the human factor in Aspie's which is one thing hard to see because of the lack of empathy. This all shows that people with Asperger's are not stuck in one place and can move on in life. This gives a sense of hope in those who suffer and give a sense of understanding in those who observe it.

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30 May 2014, 9:46 am

Personally, I can relate to Brick on The Middle a lot. The others, not so much, although I haven't seen some of the other shows mentioned, or have only seen an episode or two.

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30 May 2014, 4:06 pm

0bey1sh1n0b1 wrote:

ASPartOfMe wrote:

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/when-hollywood-turns-aspergers-into-a-joke-20140521-38ojx.html

I'm sorry but Hollywood generalizes EVERYTHING. If people take what they see on TV seriously then it is the audience that has the problem not Hollywood.

People do start believing what they are told often and do believe what they see on TV.

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30 May 2014, 4:50 pm

Quote:

I'm sorry but Hollywood generalizes EVERYTHING. If people take what they see on TV seriously then it is the audience that has the problem not Hollywood.

The audience does have a problem, yes, but Hollywood knows that as much as anyone here, and they use that as a selling point for their shows because they know people will watch it for examples and "information". It's all a game to them, they don't care about who might be effected adversely and they certainly don't care about the truth. Hollywood proliferates the ignorance of the audience with their actions. Plain and simple. Mainstream news media is the same way, they only sell a story that will get them ratings and recognition.

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31 May 2014, 8:42 am

I don't watch it but I'd rather be a joke than be stereotyped as a killer.

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31 May 2014, 10:12 am

There's a fine line between making jokes about things, and being simply mean about something. Sheldon Cooper, to me, is sort of there for us to go like "haha look at this autistic, let's all be glad we don't have to live with him". Even though they said he is not meant to have asperger's, it's still pretty obvious that they keep pushing asperger's-like behaviors into his personality, you know?

I'll be glad when there are autistic characters in popular media that are not just stereotypical; that aren't just obsessed with math or science, aren't savants, and aren't oblivious to every and all social cues thrown at them. While there might be aspies like that in real life, it seems like that's the only kind the Hollywood recognizes, if that makes sense. Autism is a spectrum, and every individual on that spectrum is different. We aren't cookie-cutter stereotypes.

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02 Jun 2014, 8:33 am

Jaden wrote:

Quote:

I'm sorry but Hollywood generalizes EVERYTHING. If people take what they see on TV seriously then it is the audience that has the problem not Hollywood.

Can you blame Hollywood for making a selling point. I as an Aspie would probably make fun of my quirks as well to sell an audience too. Black comedians go up on stage and joke about their own race. Live a little and laugh a little. Now is the audience miss informed? Again if this is their source of information then wow that is sad. However there are plenty of other channels that post documentaries and information so it's not like Hollywood is forcing us to accept certain things as truth.

dottsie wrote:

Admittedly we can be a little hard to live with and have relationships with. The whole point of comedy is to poke fun at our quirks. Ever seen a roast. Yeah they don't hold back. If you start to get offended then change the channel but you guys need to understand that comedy is supposed to be offensive.

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