Hi All. I have been watching a lot of House lately, and just started “Extrodinary Attorney Woo”. I am curious to know what you all think of their portrails of Autism. Is it pandering? Representation? Romantisation?
Also see “The Good Doctor”, “Atypical”, “Love on the spectrum” etc.
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Good representations I’ve seen:
- Abed Nadir (Community)
- Tina Belcher (Bob’s Burgers)
- Jonah Byrde (Ozark)
- Woo Young-Woo (Extraordinary Attorney Woo)
These characters all made me feel validated and seen, while not being put in their respective shows only to make fun of them. Sometimes their autism is used to create humorous situations, like Tina and Young-Woo, but it’s never done in a mean-spirited way.
All of the Belchers are great representation, though none are canonically Autistic.
I <3 the belchers
They literally say Tina is autistic in the first episode of the show.
Louise: She’s autistic. She can’t help it.
Tina: Yeah, I’m Autistic.
Hugo: Bob.
Bob: Just a sec. No, you’re not autistic, Tina
Is that the reference? Cause that looks pretty definitively like a child mocking another child and not a diagnosis or canon confirmation. The only other reference in that episode is a callback joke to this bit.
Okay and the same could be said for Abed Nadir or Jonah Byrde, or basically any other character mentioned in this thread. But these characters are all obviously autistic coded in their respective shows. The reality is that show writers are extremely hesitant to make their characters explicitly autistic because then they have to treat that character as an ambassador for Autism.
Cool. See my first comment where I said all of the Belchers were good representation (meaning coded-as and good reps of) but not canonically autistic. So, what point were you trying to make?
Also, Abed is canonically Autistic, just not diagnosed (as per show runners)
I’ve never gotten an acoustic vibe from Tina.
She really brings more of an electric energy to the show
I’ve only seen one episode of Woo, and it felt to me like they were treating her autism as a magical attorney super power. I wasnt sure if that was valued representation or not, hence the question. I guess its not wildly different to seeing neurotypical characters with extraordinary abilities. I did enjoy it though, and will keep watching.
Love me some Troy and Abed in the Mooorrrrninngg :D
I really loved Woo, partially because the show really takes the time to get into how she gets around things like sensory issues. She’s a savant, which is rare.
Woo definitely gets better, but you have to acknowledge that there are some “super power” autism people out there (I personally fall more on that side of the spectrum). That being said, they don’t shy away from the other side of the spectrum and they don’t claim that one kind of autist has more worth than another.
Yeah, I get that its a spectrum, but I dont know the distribution, hence why I am seeking opinions here.
I guess i was just worried that it sets up an unrealistic expectation/stereotype, that may not be beneficial?
“Oh you have autism? Thats so cool, whats your super power?” - This kinda of thing. Kind of the Autism version of “Oh, your asian, you must be good at math”.
Ill definitely watch the rest of Woo anyway, I did enjoy the first episode.
Don’t worry, it definitely paints a complete picture. You’ll see once you reach episode 3. Episode 10 was my personal favourite though. It felt very validating seeing some of the struggles she experiences in that one.
Cool, good to know, thanks!
I was friends with a guy in my youth who definitely had savant aspects. Things he was interested in mostly. For example he loved cars. Not motorcycles, not big rigs, just cars.
In a 4 hour car ride he would look out the window and give details about the cars and at the end of the ride you could ask him about car models that we’d seen between certain mile markers. He had it all catalogued in his head and could tell you what order the cars were in, their color, year, options, weight, GVWR, motor type, style, transmission type, really just about anything.
