cross-posted from: https://lemmy.autism.place/post/476283
I’m trying to see what we look like in NT settings from a 3rd person view. Most of the examples I know are shows about autism specifically, but I’m looking for a more natural NT setting type of thing.
Edit: Looking for a normal show in which one of the main characters are autistic, but autism is not the central focus. My brain feels like it’s gunked up lately, so having trouble explaining things. Like trying to run in a nightmare. iassgdgdsflsfd
Main character of dungeon meshi / delicious in dungeon
Star Trek: Discovery has Cadet Sylvia Tilly, a character who’s not identified as autistic but is very coded as such (e.g. in her first scene, she seems to have trouble with picking up on social cues and talks a lot, and she had to get a different fabric for her bedsheets because of “special needs”). her portrayal is very respectful and positive, and as all the characters get to know each other they make an active effort to be understanding and accommodating towards her and treat her like the capable officer she is
To be honest I wouldn’t read too much into that. Discovery was so obnoxiously on the nose with its representation I’d bet if Tilly was supposed to be autistic or neurodivergent in general she’d have been introduced as such, with half a dozen situations where it is brought up artificially.
Atypical was a great representation. The main theme is the main character’s autism, but people around him treat him different ways. His mom is over protective but his sister treats him completely normal. His best friend essentially ignores it and learns tons from him. The varied reactions and ways they interact with him are great from everyone in the show.
I love that show and Sam! He’s right, too. Olive Garden doesn’t have unlimited bread sticks. There has to be some sort of limit. Even if you can eat one bread stick in 30 secs like a machine and you go there on the day they’re open the longest (Friday for 12 hours), that’s 1 bread stick x 2/min x 60min/hr x 12hrs = 1,440 bread sticks. They’re not going to keep the place open until you decide to finish eating bread sticks, especially because you’re eating all the bread sticks. It’s complete bs.
I’m tempted to say Abed from community (the TV show) the representation could be considered subjectively accurate.
The social situations are a bit contrived though, given it’s focus as a comedy, so it may not be useful as a representation of real life interactions.
If you ask me, a ton of musicians look and act like they have autism, and that’s incidentally the most positive such relationship I’ve seen, because it’s people who lack (normal) natural expression overexerting themselves to accomplish it in a setting where that’s expected and accepted, and then people actually enjoy it, so great.
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for but if you want a good example of how we think differently then it’s 100% the Onions (satirical news) ‘Michal Falk’ character. Absolutely hilarious. He is my inner monologue when I didn’t take my ADHD medicine and have caffeine. My favorite quote is “can you stack your family?”
They’ve only done 3 videos but they are amazing: https://youtu.be/D04wb7P_v-4
https://youtu.be/m5ROoNT7-ZI
https://youtu.be/vb5rHthCXoAomg lmaoooo 🤣🤣🤣 I’m laughing at the patience the interviewed had to expend on this dude. “You don’t care about the 23 dead Taliban,” is totally something I would say omg I can’t stop laughing 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve also been looking for shows with autistic characters, where autism isn’t their main feature or the focus of the show.
If you like D&D and have a Dropout subscription, I really liked the portrayal of one of the characters in Fantasy High season two. I can’t remember her name right now, but it’s the phoenix lady. I really resonated with her a lot and I cried several times because of the ways she was treated or the ways she understood or misunderstood certain situations. I don’t know if the person who played her is autistic but I felt like he had a really kind and generous understanding of what it can be like for us.
Next recommendation which is what got me thinking is The Accountant. It’s not really my thing, it’s like an action / shooting flick where the main character is autistic. He is a maths savant which is kinda bleh, but I felt it was more like “it’s an unrealistic action film where the main character is just OP” rather than “he’s autistic and that’s why he’s supernaturally gifted”. Anyway, the way he interacts with one of the other accountants is kinda awkward and autistic, but also very sweet and shows he cares and listens to her wants. But it was honestly nice that he was just a guy with autism, rather than an Autistic PersonTM, if you see what I mean
Walter White in Breaking Bad? Dunno how officially canon the autism has to be.
Luz Noceda from the owl house is very not neurotypical. situations can be a bit high fantasy, but some of them are oddly grounded like her getting scammed early on
