The Rain Man Discussion

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I think it's time: we should discuss this movie, and why Dustin Hoffman bombed the traits.

I know many folks would think this should be in the Entertainment section, but I think this movie played way too big a role in the beliefs about Autism to be there.

Let's discuss the scenes he showed particular "traits", and why he was wrong with much of it.

One of the reasons I want to do this is because many of the things I believe he got wrong...well he did, but it might be for reasons other than what I'm thinking.

The biggest one I keep thinking of is as they're about to get on Quantus, and he starts screaming like crazy. I'm under the impression it's sensory overload and anxiety, but I could be wrong.

Another one I keep thinking of is how he has a certain specific choice of food per day; well, we are ritualistic with what we eat...but as far as I know, it has nothing to do with what day it is; more specifically, I think we just have a ritual to always eat the same food over and over, and whatnot.

I'll discuss this stuff more thoroughly in a bit, but I'll post more as this discussion kicks off. I want to hear what everyone else has to say.

It's an accurate depiction of someone with HFA and the aloof variant of social behaviour (Lorna Wing and my experience). It was based on several individuals with autism, as per the psychiatrist who worked on the film.

If you don't identify with it, cool; I don't identify with the guy in that latest hit film about Asperger's, but I identify with Rain Man in many, many ways (Simon from Mercury Rising is the closest to me).

I have mixed feelings about Rain Man.

It's a good movie, and maybe even an accurate portrayal of what someone with autism could be like. However, it's not representative of how autism affects every person. I would never suspect I have autism based on the movie.

Now, if Dustin's character took us to a place with all kinds of patients on the spectrum from severe to mild AS, the viewers could see that Autism covers a wide range of behavior models and that Dustin's character isn't to be associated with the word "autistic."

The movie isn't about autism. The movie is about two brother's relationship. Another movie a lot of people get mixed up on is Silence of the Lambs. A lot of people think it's a movie about serial murder when its a movie about woman's rights.

I know what you mean about the food thing.. but I think if someone got really attached to the idea of different days being associated with different food, they might act like that. It might be how like Thanksgiving is associated with a turkey dinner. Or like how kids get a different lunch at school every day and maybe Thursday is nacho day, and so they look forward to it, and the whole school would be sad if there weren't nachos on Thursday. So I don't think it's TOO unbelievable.

This simpsons clip pretty much sums up the whole film:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkQrqbBOw34[/youtube]

Jesus, Homer has autism?

I totally missed that one.

I identify more with Adam than I do with Rain Man. I'm more independent than Rain Man, and I'm not ritualistic about certain food on a certain day. I hardly ever rock back and forth. I have a stronger personality than Rain Man, and I do have a concept of money.

The reason that I identify with Adam, if because my obsessions with The Kinks and Swinging London are as stong as his obsession with Astronomy and space travel. The thing to keep in mind is that obsessions are just that, and they're not drugs. An aspie becomes obsessed with their special interests. A druggie gets hooked on street drugs. An obsession is a strong love for a special interest. An addiction is when a person gets hooked on a substance. I was never hooked on anything in my lifetime, though I did have a lot of obsessions.

I think it's the generalizations people make that bug me the most...like people hear about autism and say, oh can't all people with autism count cards and figure out how many toothpicks are on the floor just from looking? And they have to watch certain TV shows or they freak out?

And I'm not even exaggerating that much!

The problem is a media effect called framing. Framing is when media causes someone to view something a certain way. Rain Man is the only film known for having an autistic character. People will therefore associate autism with Rain Man. If there was another famous movie about someone with autism, and the case was different from Rain Man's, people would associate Autism with that one character. It's just the way society works. Here's an article on framing.

Stereotypes seem to be used in Hollywood to exhibit pretty much all traits an Autistic person could have, but if not that stuff gets exaggerated. I believe for money, they would make more money making an Aspie film like Adam or Mozart And The Whale than make something about me.

I don't spend every meal eating Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. In fact I eat a lot of different things and if I eat one thing in particular too often I'll probably never eat it again. In fact I lived on M&C for a couple weeks to save money and I hate it.
My apartment is a mess. Nothing is in order. With the new graveyard shift and new sleeping patterns I'm too tired to clean a cooking area after I eat and it gets gross. Unsanitary much? Sheldon Cooper would probably end up killing me to put me out of my misery if he would see the mess I just now cleaned up. The only thing in my apartment that is in a particular order is my CD collection which is in alphabetical order by artist and album release chronology only because there are so many.
No routine for me. My life is a mess because I'm always unprepared and I end up almost late for work due to laundry being done at the last moment, no food available to be cooked because I don't think about buying groceries until I'm hungry and I screw up by overspending on stuff I don't need.

But they could always use my life story make a movie on The Dude's nephew. And I like weed too.