Despite what many people may think, neurodivergence and mental health issues have existed long before their diagnoses. The creation of labels and terms is partly what has led to an increase in diagnoses, though Autism today remains highly underdiagnosed, leading many to misunderstand what it actually is. Sadly, this lack of understanding can lead to (possibly unintentional) inaccurate representations of Autism in media.
Writers often take inspiration from real life, giving their characters the traits of the people around them; however, what may appear to the writer as just a personality trait or a ‘quirk’ can often actually be undiagnosed Autism. This leads to characters that are not canonically Autistic and yet display traits of Autism, regardless of the writer’s intention. Acknowledging that these characters may be Autistic as well as the reasons their traits may not be understood as Autism by a neurotypical audience is essential to reducing stigma around Autism and challenging bias and assumptions.
So, we’re here to take a look at some of the stereotypes you might see in films or on television. Here are four categories that Autistic-coded characters in media most commonly fall into…
1. The Quirky Girl
There is a lot of overlap between the ‘Quirky Girl’ and the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ trope. A Manic Pixie Dream Girl is an unusual, but beautiful, female character who only exists to give the male protagonist a new zest for life. ‘The Quirky Girl’ is similar, but with more agency and autonomy outside of her love interest. These characters often serve as a highly sanitised and romanticised version of Autism or neurodiversity. This trope can be detrimental to Autistic women in particular, as ‘The Quirky Girl’ rarely has bad days or has any of the less ‘unique’ traits that may come with Autism, such as meltdowns or a dislike of physical touch, leading to unrealistic expectations from romantic partners and friends.
Perhaps the best example of ‘The Quirky Girl’ is Jessica Day, the lead in New Girl. Jess is fun and outgoing, with her social awkwardness portrayed as charm and her lack of boundaries played off as a desire to help those around her. Because of her conventional beauty and ‘ideal feminine’ presentation, many of her traits are interpreted positively and overlooked. The Autistic traits that Jess displays are intense special interests, misunderstanding social cues and a strong sense of justice.
Women are commonly underdiagnosed with Autism, which explains why viewers may overlook Jess’ Autistic traits. There may also be the unfortunate element of neurotypical viewers not associating Autism with ‘functioning members of society’ who have jobs and close personal relationships (often due to the lack of overt media representation). Jess’ beauty may also be a reason why neurotypical viewers do not associate her with Autism. Unfortunately, many people have the incorrect idea that beauty and Autism cannot coexist, leading to comments such as, ‘You can’t have Autism, you’re too pretty.’ Acknowledging that characters like Jess may be Autistic could go a long way towards undoing this stereotype.
Other examples of the trope include Phoebe Buffay in Friends and Amélie Poulain in Amélie.
2. The Scatter-Brained, Eccentric Genius
The ‘Scatter-Brained, Eccentric Genius’ is the character with artistic or academic merit that struggles to look after themselves or behave ‘normally’ because they’re so absorbed by their work. Just as the ‘quirky’ trope is synonymous with women, the Genius is usually always male, as a woman behaving like this would likely be berated for neglecting her duties or viewed as unfeminine (see Jo March in Little Women).
A perfect example of this trope is Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Johnathan Larson in Tick, Tick… BOOM (as Larson was a real person, I will only be referring to Garfield’s portrayal of him). In the film, we see Larson neglecting his personal life – his partner, his bills, and his future – in order to finish a musical that he has been working on for seven years. The Autistic traits displayed here are executive dysfunction and hyper-fixation.
In media, these traits are often portrayed as positive, with a single-minded focus on one’s work being viewed as admirable when their work directly benefits society. Society excuses the behaviours of those with talent and this is often true for the Autistic community: society tolerates Autistic people who create great things – the savants, the tech wizzes, the artists – and discards those who don’t. Again, this trope provides a very romanticised portrayal of neurodivergent traits, with the character usually accomplishing their goal and being beloved and embraced by society once their worth has been proven. This trope rarely shows what happens to those who fail to achieve their goals or those who are marginalised by society.
Other examples of this trope include Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (who is not canonically autistic, according to the creators) and Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock.
3. The Emotionally Distant Outsider
The ‘Emotionally Distant Outsider’ characters don’t adhere to social conventions or behave in an expected manner and often struggle to emote in a ‘normal’ way. These characters can be male or female but may lack the conventional beauty required for their actions to be interpreted positively.
A popular example of this trope that has gained a lot of traction online within the Autistic community is Wednesday Addams (from the Netflix show Wednesday). Wednesday is deliberately positioned as an outsider, being a new student at Nevermore Academy, but remains distant from the other students due to her mannerisms. The Autistic traits displayed by Wednesday are difficulty understanding others (theory of mind), difficulty interpreting social cues, and trouble understanding intonation (or ‘prosody’).
This is the most commonly seen trope when discussing Autistic-coded characters, and yet often the most overlooked because the outlandish behaviour of these characters is usually used for comedic purposes. Neurotypical viewers may distance themselves from the realisation that this character displays Autistic traits, as the characters in this trope may remind them of someone they know in real life. Acknowledging the possibility that the weird kid in class that you laugh at could actually be Autistic is too uncomfortable for most people.
Other examples of this trope include April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation, Dina Fox from Superstore, and Captain Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
4. The Openly Autistic Character
This character is canonically Autistic and can range from being a good representation to being a stereotyped atrocity, as these characters are rarely written or performed by Autistic people. Negative portrayals of minority groups in media can perpetuate stereotypes and negative beliefs surrounding these groups. Historically, Autistic people have suffered a great deal due to negative beliefs. For example, poor treatment in mental institutes or murder at the hands of the Nazis (the term ‘Asperger’s’ is no longer used, due to it originating from Nazi doctor Hans Asperger). Poorly handled Autistic characters can feed into the belief that people with Autism are unusual, dangerous and altogether undesirable. On the flip side, portraying Autism as some kind of super power (see the ‘Mildly Autistic Super Detective’ trope) is equally unhelpful. This portrayal of hyperintelligent, almost omnipotent Autistic characters leads to limited understanding and unrealistic expectations.
There are two main types of openly Autistic characters: ‘Autism plus’ (Autism plus learning difficulties; formerly known as ‘low-functioning Autism’) and Autism without learning difficulties (formerly known as ‘high functioning autism’). These openly Autistic characters often have the largest impact on what viewers believe Autism to be, so when they are handled poorly, it can be very damaging to the Autistic community.
An example of an openly Autistic character would be Abed Nadir from Community. Abed could also fall into the ‘Emotionally Distant Outsider’ trope, however unlike other characters, he is canonically Autistic, meaning all choices around his character are intentional. The openness of Abed’s Autism is incredibly important, as the show sometimes demonstrates his friends accommodating and accepting him as opposed to the onus always being on him to conform. The Autistic traits Abed displays are social confusion, limited socio-emotional reciprocity, intense special interests, stimming and shutdowns.
AWLD examples in this trope include Sam Gardner from Atypical and Dr. Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor. ‘Autism plus’ examples include Music Gamble (portrayed by Maddie Zeigler) in Sia’s highly criticised film Music and (debatably) Arnie Grape in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
These existing Autistic tropes don’t need to be discarded, but rather updated to be more intentional, nuanced, and honest. Let the ‘Quirky Girl’ have an Autistic meltdown or struggle with eye contact. Let the ‘Scatter-brained Eccentric Genius’ fail or be embraced by society for reasons other than his work. Let the ‘Emotionally Distant Outsider’ be accepted by their peers instead of juxtaposed as comic relief.
Greater representation on screen could help reduce issues of employment bias, police brutality, and social isolation against people with Autism. Fortunately, with awareness around Autism growing and more Autistic writers and actors joining projects, it is likely that media representation of Autism will only improve in the future.
Words by Tasha B. Johnson
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