Pissed Off
I am not a "rock the boat" type of person, but this passage in a movie review of August Rush bothered me on such a deeply personal level, I had to do something:
"He's a blank slate, complete with glazed-over eyes and a slack-jawed smile. I don't think August is intended to be autistic, but that's how Highmore plays him. Highmore cries frequently and wears that stupid grin a lot, but he never emotes. It's impossible to accept August as a human being because there's nothing about him that seems real."
*fumes, rages, snarls*
I suppose I could have been more "frothing at the mouth" in my emailed response, but I was going for "coldly scathing":
Mr. Berardinelli,
I frequently read and and enjoy your thoughts on various films. However, this phrase from your review of "August Rush" stopped me in my tracks:
"He's a blank slate, complete with glazed-over eyes and a slack-jawed smile. I don't think August is intended to be autistic, but that's how Highmore plays him. Highmore cries frequently and wears that stupid grin a lot, but he never emotes. It's impossible to accept August as a human being because there's nothing about him that seems real."
My own son -- a 5 year-old on the mild end of the autism spectrum -- is one of the most animated, vivacious children you might ever meet. He faces life without a trace of guile or cynicism -- simply with a pure, undiluted joie de vivre. When he feels happy, he feels it with every ounce of his being. He also has amazing spacial and visual abilities, and I am often awestruck at the intricate, detailed Lego creations he constructs and the shapes he discovers in places where most of us see nothing. I am not saying that he is representative of the entire autistic population, but I will say that I find it highly offensive for you to lump the descriptor "autistic" in with phrases such as "glazed-over eyes", "slack-jawed smile", and "stupid grin".
How many autistics do you personally know? They may express emotions differently than you or I, but they certainly have them. And they are most certainly "human" and "real".
You are, by all means, entitled to your opinion of "August Rush", but the next time you feel this way about a film character, I strongly suggest that you choose your words with greater tact.
I couldn't even bring myself to sign this with a "Sincerely". :/
UPDATE:
Okay, to his credit, the guy just emailed me back with this:
"My apologies. I would agree that I employed bad judgment in my choice of words. My intention was not to equate "autistic" with "glazed-over eyes", "slack-jawed smile", and "stupid grin." Re-reading the sentences, I can see how that association might be made, and it's due to poor writing in that paragraph. That's not an excuse, but an explanation. The offending sentence has been removed from the review."
Well, GOOD.
"He's a blank slate, complete with glazed-over eyes and a slack-jawed smile. I don't think August is intended to be autistic, but that's how Highmore plays him. Highmore cries frequently and wears that stupid grin a lot, but he never emotes. It's impossible to accept August as a human being because there's nothing about him that seems real."
*fumes, rages, snarls*
I suppose I could have been more "frothing at the mouth" in my emailed response, but I was going for "coldly scathing":
Mr. Berardinelli,
I frequently read and and enjoy your thoughts on various films. However, this phrase from your review of "August Rush" stopped me in my tracks:
"He's a blank slate, complete with glazed-over eyes and a slack-jawed smile. I don't think August is intended to be autistic, but that's how Highmore plays him. Highmore cries frequently and wears that stupid grin a lot, but he never emotes. It's impossible to accept August as a human being because there's nothing about him that seems real."
My own son -- a 5 year-old on the mild end of the autism spectrum -- is one of the most animated, vivacious children you might ever meet. He faces life without a trace of guile or cynicism -- simply with a pure, undiluted joie de vivre. When he feels happy, he feels it with every ounce of his being. He also has amazing spacial and visual abilities, and I am often awestruck at the intricate, detailed Lego creations he constructs and the shapes he discovers in places where most of us see nothing. I am not saying that he is representative of the entire autistic population, but I will say that I find it highly offensive for you to lump the descriptor "autistic" in with phrases such as "glazed-over eyes", "slack-jawed smile", and "stupid grin".
How many autistics do you personally know? They may express emotions differently than you or I, but they certainly have them. And they are most certainly "human" and "real".
You are, by all means, entitled to your opinion of "August Rush", but the next time you feel this way about a film character, I strongly suggest that you choose your words with greater tact.
I couldn't even bring myself to sign this with a "Sincerely". :/
UPDATE:
Okay, to his credit, the guy just emailed me back with this:
"My apologies. I would agree that I employed bad judgment in my choice of words. My intention was not to equate "autistic" with "glazed-over eyes", "slack-jawed smile", and "stupid grin." Re-reading the sentences, I can see how that association might be made, and it's due to poor writing in that paragraph. That's not an excuse, but an explanation. The offending sentence has been removed from the review."
Well, GOOD.