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Lately, Reddit consumer Stocklit requested concerning the worst onscreen portrayals of characters with disabilities — they usually’re actually dangerous. Listed here are 18 occasions neurotypical actors performed autistic or intellectually disabled characters…and did NOT do a great job.1.
Freddie Highmore performs Dr. Shaun Murphy, a surgical resident with autism, on The Good Physician. Whereas the present was wildly standard, lasting seven seasons, many individuals felt the present fed into stereotypes about autism — particularly autistic folks being savants with particular abilities. Murphy additionally reveals problematic behaviors and feedback which are blamed on his autism, just like the time he doesn’t respect pronouns.Folks with autism, particularly, discovered the portrayal problematic. As Sarah Kurchak writes for Time, the character “struck me as extra of an amalgamation of non-autistic folks’s misconceptions, fears, and fantasies about autism than a nuanced exploration of what it is truly prefer to be somebody like me.” Oh, and none of the writers or solid members on the present had been autistic till the seventh season.2.
Elizabeth Shue’s efficiency because the titular character in Molly is borderline unwatchable. Within the movie, she performs an autistic lady who acts like a baby. She pees her pants, shouts “NO!” rather a lot, and will get bare randomly…earlier than surgical procedure to actually repair her autism, putting this film within the “disabilities should be mounted” trope. Oh, and he or she has tremendous listening to, for some motive, in case you forgot the “autistic folks=savants” trope. They threw in some incest vibes and the r–slur for good measure.3.
Gigli was crammed with issues — do not get me began on Jennifer Lopez’s character asking for oral intercourse with “gobble gobble” — however one of many worst components was Justin Bartha’s portrayal of a person with an unspecified incapacity. Bartha gave what was known as a “cringe-y” and “wildly offensive efficiency” of the character Brian, counting on a very exaggerated, stereotypical portrayal. The Guardian wrote, “The character (and the efficiency) got here off as a slapdash Rain Man riff when the movie got here out, and time has actually not improved it.” The character was additionally little greater than a plot gadget.4.
The Blind Facet would not actually assign a selected incapacity to Michael Oher, however it portrays him as having an especially low IQ and obvious cognitive points. Oher himself criticized this portrayal, saying, “I felt prefer it portrayed me as dumb as an alternative of as a child who by no means had constant tutorial instruction and ended up thriving as soon as he acquired it.” Portraying Oher as doubtlessly having cognitive impairments simply fed into the white savior narrative of the movie. Oh, and there was the wildly dumb half about Oher scoring low on every part however “protecting intuition.”5.
John Travolta’s portrayal of an autistic man who’s obsessive about an actor in The Fanatic was referred to as “too scatter-shot and offensive to be humorous” and a “woefully misguided, over-the-top, fence swinging efficiency delivered filled with equal components actorly indulgence and ignorance.” Different critics referred to as Travolta’s efficiency “cringe-worthy” and mentioned Travolta “comes throughout like a grown man attempting to mimic a first-grader.”One other mentioned the movie was “a brainless, exploitative folly which provides John Travolta free rein to mine the historical past of cringe-worthy autism portrayals for an offensively garish Frankenstein pantomime of unhinged obsession.” The movie additionally suggests autistic individuals are obsessive and harmful, explaining Travolta’s messed-up habits away together with his autism.6.
The very premise of The Lawnmower Man is offensive. Within the movie, a scientist experiments on a person with an mental incapacity to make him smarter (and, within the course of, extra aggressive). Not solely does this perpetuate the concept folks with disabilities should be “mounted,” it additionally makes use of the r–slur. Jeff Fahey, who performed the primary character, additionally performed him as a “cringe-worthy” caricature, in line with this assessment, “together with his over‑the‑high mannerisms and picket supply robbing the character of any shred of credibility or humanity.”7.
IMDB reviewers referred to as Rosie O’Donnell’s portrayal of a girl named Beth with a incapacity in Driving the Bus With My Sister a “grotesque caricature” and “insulting.” This assessment from That Movie Man wrote, “O’Donnell’s efficiency is all comedic gurning, overly-affected gesturing and unintentionally foolish voices. … Her complete efficiency is consistently one or two notches too excessive. It appears like an offensive impersonation of any individual with Beth’s situation, relatively than a plausible or transferring illustration.”8.
Sia casting neurotypical dancer Maddie Ziegler as a nonverbal autistic lady in her movie Music was…actually a alternative. The film was panned and referred to as ableist, with opinions noting Ziegler’s efficiency was like a caricature of an autistic individual. It additionally confronted criticism for its portrayal of the usage of restraint on autistic folks, which isn’t beneficial and could be harmful and even deadly.This instance can also be particularly dangerous as a result of approach Sia dealt with the criticism. Backlash to the movie was robust even earlier than it got here out, and Sia solely made issues worse in the course of the movie’s promotion. At one level, when an autistic actor referred to as her out for not casting somebody like her, Sia replied, “Possibly you are only a dangerous actor.” Sia additionally said she “truly tried working with a good looking younger lady, nonverbal on the spectrum, and he or she discovered it disagreeable and worrying.”9.
It wasn’t a lot that Jacob Tremblay’s portrayal of an autistic youngster in Predator was problematic (although he’s one other instance of a neurotypical actor being solid in a neurodivergent position), however the movie did play into different problematic autism tropes. Specifically, it strengthened the notion that autistic individuals are savants – however it did this to an excessive, suggesting they’re evolutionarily superior. One author referred to as this depiction a “regressive, ill-conceived disaster.”A Salon assessment extra diplomatically referred to as it “unusual,” asking, “Does it actually assist members of the autistic group to be lowered to a broad stereotype — even a optimistic one — as an alternative of depicted as people with their very own distinctive quirks and foibles? If a film perpetuates a stereotype with the most effective intentions, does that make it any much less problematic? And if an autistic individual is considered as a prize to be received due to his or her autism, is that not nonetheless a type of objectification?”10.
The Accountant additionally paints autistic folks as savants, with an Inverse assessment stating it “shortly devolves into the form of glib savant stereotype that has plagued the autism group since Rain Man.” The assessment additionally factors out that at one level, “a neurologist operating a college for youths with psychological problems that Wolff attended as a baby tells a brand new couple that their son may develop as much as be particular as nicely, positing some form of X-Males-like academy that preps new generations of autistic super-agents.”“Something actually progressive the film tried to convey concerning the dysfunction is meaningless, as a result of the conclusion you draw from it’s that autism is what helped him and others like him to turn out to be superhuman killing machines,” the assessment continues. The movie additionally reinforces the concept folks with disabilities, and autism particularly, are harmful.11.
Each Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribis had been criticized for his or her roles within the rom-com The Different Sister, the place they performed two folks with mental disabilities who fall in love. Famed critic Rober Ebert wrote in his one-star assessment that the “offensive” movie was “shameless” in its use of their disabilities as “a gimmick, a prop and a plot gadget.” He continued, “It treats the characters like cute little performing seals” who spout dialogue meant to show their incapacity, “with excellent timing and an fringe of irony and drama. Their zingers slide out with the precision of sitcom punch strains.”12.
Shaun Cassidy and Linda Purl’s performances as two folks with disabilities who fall in love in Like Regular Folks are additionally not nice, notably Purl’s. As one Letterboxd consumer factors out, Purl “is a cartoon along with her whiny voice and her deeply offensive show of over-the-top mannerisms. It is the very worst efficiency I’ve ever seen from her.” The movie additionally reinforces the notion that individuals with disabilities do not or should not have autonomy, particularly on the subject of romantic relationships.13.
Adam Sandler by no means truly performed a personality with a selected incapacity, however a lot of his characters are implied to have low social and mental prowess. His character in The Waterboy was particularly known as “gradual”, which is typically understood as an ableist reference to possessing an mental or studying incapacity. The character was even referred to as the r–slur. His character’s “slowness” is performed for laughs, as is his stutter.14.
There’s One thing about Mary additionally makes use of the r–slur and performs Warren’s incapacity for laughs, in addition to a plot gadget to impart Mary’s “goodness” on the viewer. Warren is very a lot performed as a stereotype, and even co-director Peter Farrelly said there was one factor he’d change concerning the character. “I might have used an actor with an mental incapacity as an alternative of one other actor. Though, by the way in which, the actor in it was unimaginable, there’s too many actors on the market with mental disabilities who do not get these alternatives,” Farrelly mentioned, reflecting on his determination to solid an actor, W. Earl Brown, and not using a incapacity.15.
Technically, Duddits (portrayed by Donnie Wahlberg) from Dreamcatcher is an alien, however he’s portrayed a minimum of at first as having a incapacity…which in itself appears to name folks with disabilities “alien.” The r–slur is used a number of occasions, and Wahlberg’s portrayal is lower than favorable — he additionally has, for no actual motive, a lisp.16.
Kevin Bacon’s portrayal of a person with a incapacity who befriends a younger Evan Rachel Wooden in Digging to China was additionally lower than best. The Seattle Occasions wrote in its assessment, “Bacon is a gifted actor, and it will be good to report that he pulls it off, however in an excessive amount of of Digging to China, his twitching and posturing is transparently the work of an actor attempting too laborious.” Whereas maybe not the worst instance on this record, Bacon is a neurotypical actor, and his efficiency fails to reside as much as something resembling actuality for folks with disabilities.17.
Group America: World Police parodied a bunch of celebs, however its portrayal of Matt Damon felt further problematic. Within the movie, they portrayed Damon as wildly dumb, solely capable of say his personal title. In line with Damon, the motive for this was: “The puppet got here in trying form of mentally poor they usually did not have time to vary it, so they simply made me somebody who may actually solely say his personal title.” This reasoning reveals that the joke of Damon’s character was not simply that he was dumb — they had been clearly attempting to color him as having a incapacity (suggesting that individuals with disabilities are dumb), and enjoying it for laughs.18.
And at last, whereas Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of an autistic man in Rain Man was, on the time, near-universally praised, within the ensuing years, followers have discovered some issues — specifically that Kim Peek, on whom Hoffman was primarily based, didn’t have autism. He was a savant, however not all savants are folks with autism (and vice versa), as we have established on this publish. Although it is value noting the character was additionally primarily based on Invoice Sackter, who was recognized as having a incapacity.
