dsudis:

Your timing is spot-on, because I have just been sitting here researching precisely how Problematic it is to have loved The Accountant as much as I did–because I really, really loved it but I am not a person with autism and so my opinion of it is not going to have that perspective. (I went into the movie having seen no trailers or publicity for it–I knew it involved Ben Affleck, accounting, and guns. So to me the whole angle of the character being autistic was a surprise, and I didn’t go into it looking for how that portrayal was going to be.)

So in The Accountant Ben Affleck portrays a dude who is sort of a fusion of The Math Genius and The Ultra-Competent Stone Cold Action Hero Badass. With autism! And we see some glimpses of how he came to be this person, which, spoiler, is not through any kind of humane or clinically approved course of therapies or education in coping skills to deal with an allistic world. 

I’ve seen review headlines complaining that this movie is portraying an idea that autism turns you into a superhero and/or killer, but this is a bit like saying that having your parents murdered in front of you turns you into a superhero and/or killer. That’s the origin point, but also a lot of other fucked up shit has to happen to turn Bruce Wayne, or Chris Wolff, into the people we see fighting crime as adults. (”Falling off a train turns you into a superhero/killer” might actually be an even better comparison, given some of the training inflicted on Chris along the way.)

The first person I texted after the movie ended was my brother, whose 11-year-old son, my oldest nephew, is autistic. I was eagerly reccing it to him, and then had to hesitate and say that maybe he wouldn’t want to see it, because as much as I was thinking about my nephew while watching what young Chris was put through, it would be a thousand times more so for my brother and sister-in-law–and, yeah, I genuinely don’t know if my nephew could ever bear to watch this movie, or would find anything to enjoy or want to connect with in it. 

What I’ve read makes me think that the people involved in the movie did their best, and what they believed was enough, to present a thoughtful and nuanced and ethical and accurate portrayal of an autistic character; there is also this scathing review from an autistic woman which argues that the result is full of harmful stereotypes and is aggressively unfriendly to autistic viewers, particularly in scenes of sensory overload. I think it’s entirely possible for both of those things to be true–it’s possible to try really hard and think you did well and still fuck up badly and be hurtful, and it’s not for me to say that it’s not hurtful to people who say it is. 

For me–I loved the character of Chris, and thought that he was very much in the mold of a lot of characters I have loved who feel very outside of things, who struggle to connect, who feel that they are not quite succeeding at Being A Person in the way that other people effortlessly do. I have all of those feelings myself to varying degrees. I think that if you love Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, or Semi-Feral Lurker Derek Hale, you’re probably going to have A Lot Of Feelings about Chris Wolff, and the way that he goes along being different and having a life that he finds meaningful and satisfying and good even if it looks strange to anyone else.

That doesn’t undo the harm other people feel from it; I see a lot of nuance and thoughtfulness in the movie and the characters, but I can also see where others may view it very very differently and see a lot of stereotypes being furthered. So, idk. It is a movie with problems, it is a movie that I think was made with good intentions, it’s a movie that has drawn negative reviews from people with autism, and it is a movie I liked. All of those things are true at the same time.

Thank you for your reply!  I totally think all of those things can exist together, and I really appreciate your nuanced discussion of it with multiple perspectives in mind.  It’s a conversation I find very interesting and relevant, and while I still don’t know if I’ll end up watching it at some point or not, I do really appreciate your thoughts.

It’s hard for me to engage with too much insight, as of course I haven’t actually seen it and so can’t speak to it, but I find your point about the character mold really interesting.  I love Bucky Barnes, and identify with him in a lot of ways, and I can totally see how Chris could be similar.  Those themes of connecting and being A Person in a certain way (or not) are very relevant to me.  However, as a neurodivergent person with SPD, it may not be the best avenue by which to explore those themes.  Which can be fine, because not every piece of media has to meet my needs.  Me (likely) not getting benefit from it certainly doesn’t negate people who do!  I’ve seen posts from autistic people saying how amazing it was to see this representation, and posts from other autistic people saying it’s terrible representation.  There’s certainly no one answer (in this or most things), and no one has exactly the same needs anyway.

I do think there’s a broader trend of media which focuses on a particular marginalized or minority group not actually being accessible to that group due to what it depicts or how it does so which, generally speaking, is not ideal.  To be clear, I don’t mean to say whether The Accountant does this or not, because I don’t feel like I personally am in a position to evaluate it without knowing more about it.  It’s just got me thinking, and I hope you don’t mind me using this as a jumping off point to work through my own thoughts.