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Post by sgev1977 on May 5, 2021 16:15:49 GMT
I don’t think the YFIP girl is autistic. She said in that NYT article that she was just extremely angry because some personal tragedies and just wanted to attack successful people. She admitted she kind of was racist and misogynistic meanwhile supposedly trying to be a SJW. She mainly attacked successful women (who probably she thought they didn’t deserved their success because they were women and non-white). She claimed she didn’t delete the thing as a reminder of how wrong she was but that’s stupid. That site is full of lies and misquotes so the ethical thing is to delete it.
It actually reminds me a little to the “This is a Feminist” shirt. BC wore it after a magazine that interviewed him asked him to do it when they were doing this feminist campaign along a prominent feminist group. But then another feminist group questioned the campaign and decided that feminist male are the worst (there are actual comments linked any celebrity who supposedly claimed to be a feminist to rapists!) so now you have articles criticizing BC and others for wearing that shirt. It’s some internal thing between political groups but because society is obsessed with celebrities, they just use them as examples of everything that is wrong against their “internal” rivals!
EDITED I saw a lot of fans angry at the YFIP girl because they were horribly harassed on social media by “activists” just for being fans. Self-righteous people could be very vicious especially with anonymity. But I believe in people growing up, maturing and accepting mistakes. She could do better and being more explicit about her apology? Sure! She also totally should had deleted it but admitting that she was wrong and that affected innocent people (not necessarily the celebrities but fans) is a huge step and I’m glad she did it. So good for her!
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Post by onebluestocking on May 5, 2021 16:19:46 GMT
I thought that JLM used his toddler son as inspiration? I don't remember him talking about the autistic school. Did Danny Boyle and Nick Dear do interviews about visiting the school as Frankenstein preparation? I assume that BC got the brunt of the protests because he talked extensively about it, and of course is more famous.
Yes, severely affected children disrupt the family, just as any other disability. But if you try to picture that Autism Speaks ad, showing a blind, wheelchair-bound or Down's Syndrome child, in black and white with sinister music and voice over describing how they embarrass their parents and ruin their marriages? And consider that many parents reacted to the atmosphere of panic, by trying all sorts of conspiracy theory therapies ranging from lead poisoning treatments, to dosing boys with female hormones. Understanding the culture at the time helps to relate to this controversy now. Autistic people seek positive representation, and what they usually get is either insensitive caricatures of the severe end of the spectrum (like that Sia movie), or movies and TV shows using autistic traits for high-functioning characters, but claiming the characters aren't autistic.
Of course, all of this will settle down with time. Given where we are right now, though, I can see both sides.
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Post by sgev1977 on May 5, 2021 16:44:36 GMT
I don’t think BC extensively talked about it. He said his bosses took him and his co-star to a school on a radio interview. Lee Miller said exactly the same during a Q&A with fans. I think BC also mentioned it on a video introduction for the play but if I’m not wrong he mentioned people who lost mobility and had to learn to walk during adulthood (that’s where Lee Miller mentioned his kid). And then there is that interview years after the play, in which he actually said he didn’t play his characters as autistic because he saw those extreme cases at that school and he doesn’t want to simplify things (that could be interpreted as he didn’t actually based his character on those kids at all but it was interpreted as he only based “the monster” on them and not the geniuses, even when the creature is actually very intelligent in the play). That’s what I recall.
During the run, his most famous quote was saying it was about bad parenting. That it was about bad relationship between parents and their kids. I don’t think the school or autism in general was widely mentioned at all. Or at least it wasn’t a big factor until that site on Tumblr posted a long ridiculous entry about him and some SJW made a lot of fuss about it.
EDITED Also BC’s comments were very hard to find. Usually someone accused him using the out of context and bad intentioned comments on YFIP site but they didn’t have any links. I think after a long time they “obtained” the video commentary and the newest interview now both filtrated by a toxic site interpretation.
EDITED, I was thinking that the only thing I’m not sure about it’s if Dear and Boyle actually have autistic kids. I don’t remember where I read that and I fear that maybe it was on social media. I directly read that the visit to the school was organized by the production, tho. It wasn’t just a BC thing as these people are suggesting for years.
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Post by queenzod on May 5, 2021 18:33:36 GMT
No, I don’t think that girl is autistic, either. What I was talking about is the young autistic women who have read that “quote” on YFIP and gotten upset about the implication that autism = monsters, which is not at all what BC said, meant, or implied. Anyway, it’s always going to be misinterpreted and an upset to people until she takes it down, which she should. That’s why I think she’s not really sorry. She likes the attention it’s brought her; it puts her in a position of power. And until she recognizes the fact that it *continues* to hurt people (not just the celebrities who have been pillaged over it, but also the regular people upset over the implications of the wrongfully quoted comments), and takes it down will I think that’s she’s able to properly reflect on what a horrible, uncalled for thing she’s done.
Also, BC has said that he doesn’t like to label his characters. Because that’s a reductionist viewpoint and you’ve just distilled all the interesting and wonderful expanse of human behaviors into a listing from the DSM.
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Post by mllemass on May 5, 2021 18:47:35 GMT
I remember that video they used to show in theatres at the start of Frankenstein.
They spoke about having gone to observe adults who were recovering after suffering a brain injury. These people had to re-learn how to move and walk and talk. I thought Benedict said he got the inspiration for his movements on stage from that.
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Post by sgev1977 on May 5, 2021 18:48:22 GMT
Ok, I just found the quote about Dear and Boyle having autistic kids. It’s from... guess where? YFIP!!! Lol Probably taken from the radio interview with Graham Norton which I clearly remember but forgot that bit or I wasn’t sure about it! I won’t post the link because it’s a shitty site but BC talks about “we” (in plural) going to two schools (not one!) because they (Dear and Boyle) have kids with autism. Again, the question is why BC is the main responsible for this when even the site that created all the fuss posted a quote in which it’s clear the brains behind this where well... the main brains behind the play!!!
Obviously, the quote is resumed with “he compared autistic kids with Frankenstein monster” which is manipulative, bad intentioned and a complete lie.
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Post by sgev1977 on May 5, 2021 19:35:25 GMT
Slightly OT but I remember that when that left wing conspiracy theorist journalist first attacked the Brexit film (actually then it was just a leaked first draft!), she went after BC even when she knew the author of the script because he had invited her to participate in the project. She agreed with a Breitbart News editor that BC was “evil” (his main reason for that apart of the script was that he campaigned for Syrian refugees meanwhile doing Hamlet). Immediately, the great James Graham as the gentleman who he is defended him and the project. It was him and not BC, the main responsible for anything in the script. I remember another playwright criticizing her for daring to go after the actor and not confront the person she knew was behind the project and who she had already discussed it.
Of course, BC wouldn’t be affected by her and her bizarre behavior on Twitter even when she still has a lot of followers but it showed that what she really wanted was attention so she went after the famous one instead of discussing the issue as an adult with the actual brain behind it.
It’s not exactly the case here. Here it was more about fandom wars! But again, if someone had a sincere qualm the right persons to discuss it would had been the playwright and the director. Now, it’s just a bunch of lies and the most horrible fake accusations and wishes. Literally, death wishes! It’s all very unhinged.
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Post by onebluestocking on May 5, 2021 19:38:30 GMT
It's the writer's job to decide if the character is autistic or not, and it is wise to avoid this controversy, especially if they aren't experts about it. It's also understandable that real people with autism would like to see themselves positively represented in TV and movies, like any other group. I can see why they feel their traits are being used like props or costumes. Again, I see both sides.
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Post by prudence on May 5, 2021 19:43:57 GMT
I think it's largely a controversy for people who have not seen the play or read the book and don't understand that the Creature is more human than his creator and the lesson is he should have been treated with love, compassion, and respect.
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Post by queenzod on May 5, 2021 19:48:14 GMT
OBS, I think in many cases their mannerisms ARE being used as props in a misguided effort at inclusion, but a lot of the time it’s badly done and wrongheaded. And you’re right, groups like Autism Speaks really aren’t helping at all. But then, lots of movies aren’t involved in subtly or nuance. They just paint with the largest brush and hope people will “get it.” I don’t think they’re being malicious about it, though. It’s just a furtherance of ignorance, if it doesn’t go down well. OTOH, people take offense at anything and everything these days, so no matter what you do someone’s going to be upset and twist it around to suit their own agenda. I mean, if you can take a 3 minute speech at the end of a play asking for some folding money to help children fleeing a war and turn it into a 5 year long crusade against said actor and the ongoing refugee crisis, then what can’t be done?
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