Autism Through Cinema

Vision (2009) dir. Margerethe Von Trotta with Dr Gemma Williams

The 12th Century polymath abbess Saint Hildegard von Bingen is the subject of our film this week via Margerethe von Trotta's compelling historical drama Vision. We're joined again by special guest Gemma Williams for whom Hildegard von Bingen has been something of an 'autistic special interest' for a while. We consider the themes of feeling othered and outcast, but also the strength those positions give for the forging of an individual path. We're careful to not retrospectively diagnose Hildegard as autistic, but reflect on the importance of identifying historical figures who may have been neurodivergent for the project of neurodiversity in the present day. Hildegard is a quietly revolutionary figure who stands up against the stringent rules of her day, and subsequently becomes a figurehead for the similarly neurodivergent seeking a place in the world. Following this idea, we soon identified another neurodivergent candidate in the film in the form of Hildegard's obsessive follower, Sister Richardis.

A shout-out as well to the musicians Lingua Ignota and Hildegard von Blingin' who we think our listeners might enjoy following this discussion! In today's episode you heard Dr Gemma Williams, John-James Laidlow, Ethan Lyon, and Dr David Hartley.

Contribute to our discussions or suggest future episodes at cinemautism@gmail.com     

Chungking Express (1994) dir. Wong Kar-wai

Do you like pineapple? If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? Chungking Express asks a lot of questions of us and of itself, and we wonder how it fares when interrogated from an autistic perspective. We find that this dreamy, genre-bending, love story about longing, loss, and chance encounters is soaked with neurodivergence, from Cop 663's consideration of the emotions of the objects in his flat, to Faye's stimmy dancing and repetitive taste in music. We also enjoy Kar-wai's aesthetic choices as he darts between frantic camerawork and slow-motion tableaus, and a soundtrack to die for. Basically, quite a few of our regular hosts cherish this film as one of their all-time favourites and we have a great time discovering it anew.

It was lovely to welcome back Lillian Crawford for this recording, who is joined by Janet Harbord, John-James Laidlow and David Hartley.

Brazil (1985) dir. Terry Gilliam

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. 

The Reason I Jump (2020) dir. Jerry Rothwell

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.   

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) dir. Henry Selick

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. 

Cars (2006) dir. John Lasseter

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

Phenomena (1985) dir. Dario Argento with Dr Gemma Williams

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:

https://linktr.ee/DjzemaLouiz

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

 

Amelie (2001) dir Jean-Pierre Jeunet

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.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) dir. Craig Gillespie

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

https://www.autism-through-cinema.org.uk/

Asylum (1972) dir. Peter Robinson

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.