Snow Woman instead of Rain Man?
I have yet to see Snow Cake, the new movie in which Sigourney Weaver plays an adult autistic woman whose daughter is killed in a car accident. A recent review on Indie London (by Veronica Blake) provides a sense of how the film portrays autism:
Watching Snow Cake, you realise that autism could be an apt metaphor for the human condition in the 21st Century.
There’s something uniquely awesome about a human being who sees life as a child, and is so present in the moment, looking to live in the moment. Today, many try to seek this state of enlightenment through Yoga, Hiking, Buddhism, Pilates, Kabbalah, yet here is a condition that is englightened.
Having researched the role, Weaver developed more than an understanding of the condition, she also developed a deep respect for people with autism, inspired by Pell’s script which does not oversimplify the situation or what the person is up against.
Though there are funny moments and a lot of joy, you will not leave the cinema underestimating the pain of what it must be like to have autism.
Apart from Rain Man, there have not been many films on the subject of autism. Unlike Hoffman, who did a brilliant specific interpretation, Weaver manages to portray a character rather than a condition.
It has often been said of Rain Man that it does not really portray what autism is like: See this 2001 Seattle Times article, Unraveling The Deep, Daily Mysteries Of Autism: While parents sort the pieces, UW researchers hunt for connections article, or, more recently, When Autism Hits Home by Robert Hughes. Stuart Murray, professor of English at the University of Leeds and an autism parent, discusses Rain Man more extensively in his talk on Hollywood and the Fascination of Autism. I am curious to see how Weaver brings (to mix up the “snow” metaphor that seems to be used throughout the film) some warmth or some other quality to her role as an autistic adult, so that her Linda Freeman (Freeman—does this name suggest something about who and what the autistic woman is supposed to be like?) is more a “character” than Dustin Hoffman’s Raymon Babbitt?
For a teaser as to what Snow Cake is like, you might also want to check out this dialogue (scroll down to the “Quotes” section) between Weaver’s character and that of Alex Rickman. (The context is what a mouthful of snow feels like.)
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POSTED IN: Movies, Stereotypes
4 opinions for Snow Woman instead of Rain Man?
Rochelle
Feb 5, 2007 at 1:21 pm
There are two points I find interesting in Blake’s review: one, that there aren’t too many films on the subject of autism. As Murray notes in his article, there are some 55 movies that feature characters who are explicitly described as autistic or that have autistic characteristics. I think a more accurate point would be that there are few films that illustrate the challenges facing autistic adults.
And, two, I’m always interested in the rhetoric of “pain” and “suffering” in regard to autism. While I am not trying to downplay or trivialize the struggles that autistic individuals might experience day-to-day, living and functioning in a world that is constructed by and for the neurotypical. But, it seems to me that rhetorical constructions of pain and suffering reflect the society’s anxieties regarding autism. My son doesn’t seem to be in any physical pain because of his autism. He doesn’t seem to be suffering because of his condition. He doesn’t know any other way of existing. To state that autistic individuals are in “pain” reflects the anxieties faced by the caretakers and families–not the individuals with autism. It’s a pathos-based construction of autism that seems more appropriate to describe society’s perceptions and reflections on autism than the experiences of the autistic themselves.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 5, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I noted those two points in the review, too—–I kept thinking of so many other films. From the reviewer’s description (such as the references to “enlightenment”), the Sigourney Weaver character did not seem exactly “in pain” about being autistic…..but I do need to see the film.
Clay
Jun 28, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Kristine,
How can I access your archives? Your new format doesn’t seem to offer any way to go back to where I left off. I am not currently where this post is now. I was still reading in November of 2006.
Maybe I’m blind, but I don’t see how to start from there to work my way back up to today.
Let me know. My e-mail address is: complices@suddenlink.net.
Thanks.
Clay
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 28, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Clay, The links for my archives disappeared in the redesigned—I am looking into this, you can be sure. I was blind not to notive that the links were not there!
I can’t thank you enough for reading—-hope things have been all right on the home front?
Kristina
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