![]() Newt is socially awkward and is often unaware that his actions may cause people to feel uncomfortable, but even so, he doesn’t spread the stereotype that autistic people are unempathetic. He is also an example of a positive autistic-coded character. Newt is a magizoologist who protects magical creatures. The new Fantastic Beasts films star Newt Scamander as their hero. Someone who sees Sheldon and recognizes his characteristics in an autistic person may be influenced by The Big Bang Theory’s portrayal of people with those traits, which only perpetuates the cycle of misinformation about autistic people. In real life, defending someone’s misogyny based on neurodivergence perpetuates sexism and rape culture. He harasses women he is attracted to and at one point compares a character’s behavior to a female monkey and asks invasive questions about her menstrual cycle. Sheldon also gets away with misogyny due to his lack of awareness of social conventions. This is a view that already harms the autistic community, in that people assume we are callous and robotic. He is also a savant when it comes to math and science, which plays into the idea that all autistic people are geniuses in certain areas.īecause Sheldon is made up entirely of characteristics associated with autistic people, he can be said to be coded as such, and this is why he is harmful.Īs mentioned in my previous article, Sheldon is portrayed as lacking empathy and not caring how his actions affect others. These are all recognized as autistic traits, although the character of Sheldon dramatizes and misunderstands them. He has a rigid routine, eating the same foods on the same days and having his own special spot on the sofa. He info-dumps about his special interest, astronomy, without realizing that others may not want to hear him talk about it for so long. He is often rude to others without understanding why, dismissing people’s concerns and bluntly stating his honest opinions without regard to how it will make someone feel. Sheldon is completely unaware of social conventions. I talked about Sheldon in my previous article, but I’d like to elaborate on what codes him as autistic, since he is never explicitly said to be so on the show. The prime example of a character coded as autistic is Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. ![]() Let’s start with the piece of controversy from last time: The Big Bang Theory. For example, a character made up of Jewish stereotypes, such as having a big nose and being greedy, would be hurtful to Jewish people. Even when representation isn’t explicit, coded characters can still spread harmful stereotypes. Since there were some comments about this, in this article I am specifically looking at characters who are coded as autistic.Ĭoding is when a character is given a set of traits which are associated with a particular group but is not explicitly stated to be part of that group. In that article, I mentioned characters like Sheldon Cooper, who aren’t stated to be autistic but who are coded as such. A few weeks ago, I discussed some helpful tips on successfully portraying an autistic character.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |