Investigating autistic presence and expression on film and TV. We push beyond the obvious and seek out autistic themes and concerns in films from across the cinematic spectrum. We consider the ethics of performing autism, while also celebrating the autistic pleasures offered by the camerawork and the soundscapes. We delve into the works of cult directors who have hit upon an autistic way-of-seeing, perhaps without ever intending to. We entertain new possibilites for re-thinking beloved films in a neurodivergent light. Join regular contributors Janet Harbord, Georgia Bradburn, John-James Laidlow, David Hartley and Alex Widdowson for their fascinating and diverting discussions of a whole suite of suprising and challenging films. This podcast is brought to you by the Autism Through Cinema project, based at Queen Mary, University of London and funded by the Wellcome Trust. For further information on the wider project, visit our website at autism-through-cinema.org.uk and follow us ...
Episodes
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Welcome to the terrifying dystopia of Terry Gilliam's astounding sci-fi fever-dream Brazil. Our special guest this week is Neurocultures Collective member Benjamin Brown who offers Gilliam's cult classic as an exploration of the maddening labyrinth of neurotypicality endured in the form of social etiquette, bureaucracy, and conformity. We are thrilled by how the richness of the mise-en-scene rewards repeated viewing, and the entertainment value of the madcap performances of Jonathan Pryce, Michael Palin, and Robert De Niro. We reflect on how the film questions what typicality is, and what it means to suddenly feel like the outsider - and what might be discovered in that outsider position. We also draw attention to autistic forays into satire, including the wonderful 'Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical (ISNT)', as archived here: https://erikengdahl.se/autism/isnt/
Small apologies for the slight loss in sound quality in this recording - we had a bit of trouble with Benjamin's microphone, but hopefully you'll still be able to hear his contributions, especially if you listen through headphones. Joining Benjamin are the regular hosts David Hartley, Janet Harbord and Alex Widdowson.
Contact us on cinemautism[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like to contribute, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Friday Jan 14, 2022
The Reason I Jump is the most contemporary film we've covered so far, and we were glad to be able to sit in actual cinema auditoriums to watch this complex and fascinating documentary. We enjoyed the audiovisual treats of the film, we appreciated the international outlook, and acknowledged how unusual it is to see minimally-verbal autistic individuals on screen. But we had plenty of questions about how the narratives of autism are presented. We address some of the controversies surrounding Facilitated Communication, while also reflecting on whether the film has been made for a neurotypical audience and, therefore, may just be another in a long line of voyeuristic films about the condition. Are the subjects infantalised? Should the scene of meltdown have been included? Is there too much Othering going on? Our discussion generates a lot of questions, but we still find elements of the film that we will continue to value and treasure. A fascinating discussion!
The Reason I Jump is available to rent on YouTube, Google Play, and Amazon, among others. It is directed by Jerry Rothwell and based on the book of the same name by Naoki Higashida, translated by David Mitchell.
Discussing the film in this episode are Janet Harbord, John-James Laidlow, David Hartley and Alex Widdowson.
Friday Dec 24, 2021
Friday Dec 24, 2021
Merry festivities! Happy yuletide, one and all, and welcome to... Halloween Town? In a our special festive episode David, Ethan, John-James and Janet gather around the logfire to consider the tales of the musical animation The Nightmare Before Christmas. We were entranced by the protagonist Jack Skellington as an optimistic dreamer who seems to be on a different wavelength to those around him, while his eventual beau Sally watches from the fringes. Perhaps their eventual union is based on neurodivergent romantics? A community of disability is identified among the residents of Halloween Town, and how that helps us relate to the nonsensical nature of the movie musical. We also considered the rumoured autism of creator Tim Burton and how this shapes our interpretation of his singular cinematic vision.
Want to contribute to our discussions? Email us on cinemautism@gmail.com with your thoughts on this film, or any of the films we've considered so far.
Have a great festive season - we'll be back in January with more episodes.
Friday Dec 10, 2021
Friday Dec 10, 2021
We take to the racetrack and speed, drift and power our way through the colourful world or Pixar's Cars this week, as brought to us by special guest Ash Loydon. Ash is an autistic illustrator and huge film fan, and his enthusiasm for the exploits of Lightning McQueen and Mater are utterly infectious. We reflect on what it is about the smooth edges and expressive faces of John Lasseter's cartoon vehicles that appeals to Ash and his autistic family, and how such franchise can appeal to the tendencies of autistic people to take pleasures from collecting and collating memorabilia. We also enjoyed the sensory world in the lovingly created landscapes of the film, and considered how the careful pacing appeals to the autistic mindframe. We consider the cars themselves as living objects, and greatly enjoyed the depth of the fantasy of the extended world.
Ash Loydon's art can be seen on his website http://ashsarthole.blogspot.com/ and follow him on Twitter for his latest news: https://twitter.com/AshtonLamont
Joining Ash today were John-James Laidlow, David Hartley, Janet Harbord, and Alex Widdowson.
If you're enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and you can review us on Apple Podcast. We're also very happy to receive feedback or comments - just email us on cinemautism@gmail.com
Friday Nov 26, 2021
Friday Nov 26, 2021
We take a grisly turn this week with a foray into the violent, haunting, and dangerous world of Dario Argento via his bizarre 1985 giallo horror Phenomena (known as Creepers in the US). Jennifer Connolly stars as an american schoolgirl adrift in a Swiss academy while a brutal killer stalks the wilderness outside. We were intrigued by the eponymous phenomena of telepathic insects and enjoyed the film's brief considerations of insect minds as a form of neurodiversity. We also enjoyed Argento's signature cinematic energy as a potential expression of autistic sensory intensity, but we struggled with the excessive violence and ableism of the film's final melodramatic act. We also gave due consideration to the chimpanzee Inga, who we all agreed was the film's finest actor...
Our extra special guest for this episode is autistic researcher, musician and beekeeper Dr Gemma Williams. We loved having Gemma on the show and we would urge you all to check out her research papers and her brilliant musical output. You can find links to all of Gemma's work here:
Alongside Gemma, you also hear the thoughts and opinions of our regular hosts John-James Laidlow, Janet Harbord, and David Hartley.
Follow us on twitter @AutismCinema and send us your reflections on our discussions to cinemautism@gmail.com
Friday Nov 12, 2021
Friday Nov 12, 2021
We take the whimsical streets of Paris for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's cult classic Amelie in today's episode, brought to us by our very special guest autistic film journalist Lillian Crawford. We take great pleasure in revisiting Amelie from an autistic perspective, finding neurodivergent expression in the heightened audio and visual richness of Jeunet's film. Amelie herself is a character who uses various autistic techniques to figure out the people she meets, by using objects and wordplay rather than direct communication to reach her understandings. Things are not entirely rosy: concerns are raised about the film's adherence to heteronormativity, as well as a lack of non-white characters, as well as its sanitised vision of a picture-perfect vision of Paris.
Huge thanks to Lillian Crawford for bringing this film to the podcast. We've all become big fans of Lillian's writing on film, and we'd very much encourage you to seek her words out. Visit her website here: lillcrawf.co.uk and follow her on Twitter here: twitter.com/lillcrawf
You also heard the voices of our regulars John-James Laidlow, Alex Widdowson and Janet Harbord.
Friday Oct 29, 2021
Friday Oct 29, 2021
We welcome special guest Natalie Marcus to the podcast, who brings along the curious romantic comedy Lars and the Real Girl (2007) for discussion. The film depicts a shy and socially awkward man played by Ryan Gosling who buys himself a sex doll, calls it Bianca, and treats it as his real girlfriend. Rather than a gratuitous and crude sex comedy, or a saccharine depiction of an autistic outsider, we were surprised to find a gentle and careful film that does an honest job of exploring alternative social existence. We talk around themes of social rehearsal, the animism of objects, and the incorporation of neurodiversity into communities. There are some concerns raised around the patriarchal control that Lars has over Bianca, but we welcomed the way the film attempts to show how learning important social lessons around gender can be enriching.
On this recording you hear Natalie Marcus, David Hartley, John-James Laidlow, Georgia Bradburn and Janet Harbord.
Have any thoughts on this film?
Email us on cinemautism@gmail.com or tweet us at @AutismCinema
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Peter Robinson's documentary Asylum places a film crew within an experimental psychiatric home set up by the radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing, where they observe and interact with the schizophrenic patients who live there in the late 60s. The Autism Through Cinema team discuss the film in relation to the anti-psychiatry movement, counter-cultural ideologies, and the ethics of film crew intrusion into the lives of the documentary's subjects. We reconsider the footage in the light of the neurodiversity paradigm, and bring many of our own personal and familial experiences with care institutions to bear on what we've encountered in Robinson's film. We wonder about Laing's own charisma and authority in his brief appearances, while also linking our thoughts out to other films that feature 'asylums' like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Girl, Interrupted. Finally, at the last moment, glamour model Katie Price makes an unexpected appearance.
Content warning: we do discuss experiences within psychiatric institutions, so please take care if this is an issue for you.
In this episode you hear Alex Widdowson, Janet Harbord, David Hartley, and Georgia Bradburn.
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Friday Oct 01, 2021
In this very animated episode, the team turn their attention to a pair of SparkShorts from Pixar that deal directly with autistic experience; Float (2019) by Bobby Rubio, and Loop (2020) by Erica Milsom. Followng this, they pull apart the imagery, metaphors and characters of Adam Elliot's stop-motion feature length film Mary and Max (2009). They consider what animated film can do for the depiction of autism that is not as easily acheived in live-action, while also debating the ethics of working in collaboration with real autistic individuals. Loop, for example, features the vocal contributions of minimally verbal actor Madison Bandy, while Mary and Max was directly inspired by Elliot's real-life autistic penpal. We also consider the depiction of trauma, the relationship between autism and age, and the use of caricature and the grotesque.
In this episode you hear Janet Harbord, Alex Widdowson, John-James Laidlow, Georgia Bradburn and David Hartley.
For more on the Autism Through Cinema project, check out our website: https://www.autism-through-cinema.org.uk/. Follow us on Twitter at @AutismCinema, and send us messages on cinemautism[at]gmail.com
Friday Sep 17, 2021
Friday Sep 17, 2021
We've addressed concerns in past episodes about autistic characters being portrayed by non-autistic actors. Well here, with Rachel Israel's romantic drama Keep the Change, we get the opportunity to enjoy a film with a predominantly autistic cast. Brandon Polansky plays David, an aspiring filmmaker whose life takes an unexpected turn when he's assigned a partner from his Community Centre workshop in the form of the vivacious and energetic Sarah, played by Samantha Elisofon. We find the presence of non-professional autistic actors to be a refreshing and exciting change from the norm, while also delighting in the representation of autistic individuals as deeply emotional and romantic. There were some concerns about how we were supposed to relate to David as a character who makes a number of distasteful decisions, but we were utterly charmed by his beau, Sarah, played with such energy and verve by Elisofon. We consider the representation of learning difficulties in relation to Sarah's misunderstanding of jokes, as well as the exploration of autism in relation to gender.
Keep the Change is being screened as part of our Autism and Cinema season on Tuesday 28th September at 6pm. There will be a talk hosted by Steven Eastwood and the Neurocultures Collective afterwards, and tickets are still available on the Barbican website: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/keep-the-change-screentalk
If you have any thoughts or comments about this episode, feel free to email us on cinemautism@gmail.com
On this episode you hear David Hartley, Janet Harbord, Georgia Bradburn and Alex Widdowson