Movies/Books

ASD IN MOVIES/BOOKS

As you may or may not know, the whole reason I chose "Living with an Autistic Brother" as my topic for this project was because the book: "The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. In this book, Christopher (our protagonist) is a teenage boy who has Asperger's Syndrome. The book is based around Christopher's life and the way he thinks. This was only one of the two media forms that involved a character with an Autism Spectrum Disorder that I had encountered.

The other being the movie: "The Black Balloon" which is an Australian film directed by Elissa Down. The basic synopsis from Wikipedia: "Fifteen-year-old Thomas Mollison and his family move to a new home in the early 1990s. He is anxious because he has to start at a new school, and make new friends - all he wants is to do is fit in and be regarded in the same way as everyone else. However, it seems he struggles to achieve this goal. Although his family appears to be a fairly happy one, Thomas often feels isolated; it seems as if his mother only dotes upon his brother, Charlie, and does not pay any attention to him. Thomas, however, is devoted to his brother and shows affection for him. Charlie is Thomas's older brother who lives with autism, as well as Attention Deficit Disorder." (x) This movie definitely connected with me mainly because of what Thomas (the sibling) goes through. I remember there's a scene in the movie where Thomas ends up crying in the bathroom late at night because of his conflicted feelings about Charlie's disorder. Sometimes I find myself thinking about that which only leaves me with a strange feeling of extreme guilt because Dong can't help the fact that he has Autism. The movie is definitely something that expresses the life with living with an autistic family member is like. I recommend you all see it because it'll help you understand and shed a few tears.

Thanks for reading,

Byeee