Sigourney Weaver on the “heaven and hell” of autism
“Living with someone with autism is heaven and hell. …..I want the audience to feel the heaven of being with someone because they’re so much fun and original and they play a lot, but also to show that it can be hell.”
Said actress Sigourney Weaver, who plays an autistic woman in the movie Snow Cake and who “spent time with autistic women as part of her research” (the quote is from today’s Canada.com). First-time screenwriter Angel Pell’s eight year old son is autistic.
“Heaven and hell” is a rather black and white way of putting what it is like to live with someone with autism—-those of us who live with autistic persons every day know that there are a few more shades of gray involved. “Heaven and hell” is an oversimplification and potentially quite misleading.
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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Movies, Stereotypes
13 opinions for Sigourney Weaver on the “heaven and hell” of autism
Leila
Dec 12, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Yeah, there were plenty of clichés in the whole article…
But I’m curious to see this movie anyway, those are great actors, it talks about autism, and in the trailer I saw Sigourney Weaver playing with one of the toys my son gets as a reinforcement during his ABA sessions!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 12, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the movie—-with all apologies to Ms. Weaver, I’m not inclined to take her views on autism with too much weight. Of course, what she says receives more attention than what most of us do.
Penny
Dec 12, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Hmmm…. hasn’t Weaver played a woman who battled terrifying space aliens full of teeth that ate all her friends and colleagues? Over and over again? And isn’t that, oh, just a *tad* closer to “hellish” than living on earth with real human beings who aren’t even trying to devour you and destroy your species? Hmmm?
Daisy
Dec 12, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Shades of gray, indeed. And the hell doesn’t happen very often, at least at our house. Perhaps my “gray vision”, as opposed to color vision, has been skewed by years of raising Amigo? Or maybe not.
Or I don’t think he’s hellish because he doesn’t try to eat me and destroy the species? (Love your perspective, Penny!)
Leila
Dec 12, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Penny and Daisy, I think you’re taking things a little literally here… Sigourney Weaver is one of the best actresses of her generation, and she’s done much more than playing an alien fighter - which by the way was the first female tough action hero role in the movies, she should be praised and not bashed for that…
Anyway, regardless of the words she used to describe what is like to live with an autistic person, I bet she’ll be great at portraying a real human being with wonderful qualities and annoying flaws, so I don’t really believe she’ll do a disservice to the autism community with this movie.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 12, 2006 at 8:21 pm
It will be interesting to chart responses to the movie. Again, I am glad for the attention she is bringing to autism but more reserved about anything she has to say about autism itself.
Kassiane
Dec 12, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I have yet to see an NT adult play an autistic well.
The heaven and hell thing doesn’t exactly make me think Ms. Weaver can do it either, “great actress” or not.
mcewen
Dec 13, 2006 at 1:32 am
Hmmm. I had been looking forward to seeing that one, apart from the subject matter, the fact that it was ‘fringe’ gave high hopes. I’ll reserve judgment - might be a while until it comes out on video though. Best wishes
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 13, 2006 at 1:50 am
We may be racing each other to get it from Netflix!
natalia
Dec 13, 2006 at 2:53 pm
I think the thing is, and I am not the first one to point this out, but it bears repeating…
LIFE is full of “heaven-” and “hell-”ish moments. Not only Autistic life, or life near an Autistic. HUMAN. Life. In. General.
PS: Donno about Sigourney Weaver playing an autistic person well or badly, but i think she plays a PERSON well. In the trailers the autistic character in SnowCake reminded me so much of someone i once knew with a schizophrenia dx (who, considering her field of study and her life in general, could have also a lot of aspie tendencies), that i did a double-take.
natalia
Dec 13, 2006 at 2:54 pm
PS, yeah and grey areas, too. LOTS.
janny226
Jul 21, 2008 at 8:18 am
I agree that her statement may be an oversimplification, but I agree with it. Everyone tends to think living with my son is sooo wonderful because he’s sooooo smart and precocious, but there is another side. Weaver got that there are 2 sometimes extreme sides to this condition; I think that bodes well for the movie.
Emily
Jul 21, 2008 at 10:17 am
I think having kids at all is living in heaven and hell, simultaneously, at all times. Lots of joys that take place against that intractable backdrop of parental anxiety and worry. Direct opposites always coexisting, like life and death. Hell is possibly too strong a word, but that permanent dichotomy is there when you’re a parent, in my opinion, regardless of what your child is like.
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