Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun
Yeah I'm unsure about how well people on the spectrum are able to deliver acting performances tbh. Not to tar everyone with the same brush or anything, but it strikes me that the self-analysis, channeling other characters, finding different motivations etc. would be difficult for some?
|
Yes and no - I think there are many autistic actors out there capable of playing great characters who are autistic. However I personally (as the parent of a child with autism and nonverbal learning disability) think that the part that's being overlooked by the "outraged community" is that the character isn't just an autistic character, they are a
non-verbal learning disabled character... and yes I have doubts about how well a non-LD autistic actor could sensitively portray learning disability.
Ironically, in this case, I think the Twitter Autistic Community is guilty of stereotyping in insisting that the best person to play a non-verbal autistic child with learning disability would be a verbal autistic person WITHOUT learning disability.
ALSO - and this is a huge one for me - being autistic is not a character trait and does not define personality! Frankly the idea that the best person to portray this specific person and their character (and Sia says this is based on someone she knows) is a case of "any old autistic person will do, they're all the same" is actually really ****ing offensive. The best person to play this girl is the person who best captures their individual personality... whether they happen to be autistic or not.
So yeah. My honest opinion is that the section of Autistic Twitter that's up-in-arms about this needs to frankly **** off because just being autistic doesn't mean they have any experience of or know anything at all about, firstly, complex non-verbal learning disability, but more importantly, the personality of the person the story is based on.
My daughter loves to dance, in a really sort of wild & free "interpretive style", and she was OBSESSED with the video for "Chandelier". Watched it over and over, copying the dancing (minus the cartwheels, though she gave it her best shot
) and I think she "saw a lot of herself" in Maddie Ziegler in that video. I think she'll potentially do a great job.
Also I'm like 90% sure Sia is on the spectrum, so...