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PODCAST

Autism Through Cinema

Autism Through Cinema

Investigating autistic presence and expression on film and TV. We push beyond the obvious and seek out autistic themes and concerns in films from across the cinematic spectrum. We consider the ethics of performing autism, while also celebrating the autistic pleasures offered by the camerawork and the soundscapes. We delve into the works of cult directors who have hit upon an autistic way-of-seeing, perhaps without ever intending to. We entertain new possibilites for re-thinking beloved films in a

arts visual arts

All Episodes

01:37:20

City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/08/19

It is the early 1930s and sound has arrived to cinema. The medium's most celebrated silent era star is struggling to embrace this new audio dawn, preferring to keep his iconic little tramp mute while making only minimal use of sound effects. Along comes City Lights, perhaps Chaplin's most personal film, and we spend time with the Tramp and his hijinks and pratfalls to uncover autistic content. Are his awkward yet balletic movements through spaces reminiscent of some autistic tendencies of

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01:18:10

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/08/05

Lillian, David and Alex grab their broomsticks and take flight today into the magical worlds of Studio Ghibli via Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 film Kiki's Delivery Service. In among the gorgeous animation we find a meditation on the nature of difference and an exploration of the feeling of being an outsider. Kiki's wild energy and her bouts of gloom are likened to the rollercoaster emotions of the hardworking neurodivergent, while the concept of witchiness is also brought under autistic scrutiny. We

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01:23:00

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) dir. Wes Anderson

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/07/22

Jiminy Cricket! It's a Wes Anderson episode! David, Lillian and Ethan get all warm and cosy with the pastel-colours and eccentric characters of Anderson's celebrated 7th feature film Moonrise Kingdom. The film crackles with a neurodivergent energy, from the neat tableaus of the cinematography to the gently rebellious characters of Sam and Suzy. We discuss how Anderson's use of a childlike gaze creates a visual style that emphasises formal qualities and static images, with a clear attention to

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01:01:15

Daniel Bendelman - autistic video artist

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/07/08

In the second of a series of special episodes featuring autistic creatives, Janet and Ethan welcome the wonderful Daniel Bendelman to the podcast. Daniel is an autistic video artist and PhD student at The University of Kent whose work attempts to expose the power dynamics of autism representation through video art and performance-based installations. In particular, the team discuss Daniel's remarkable installation for 'Fragments', where Daniel performed the writing of his medical history next to a

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57:04

True Stories (1986)

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/06/24

Same as it ever was! Same as it ever was! Today we're in the company of the great David Byrne, the lead singer of Talking Heads, and his one and only feature film True Stories. There are, as Alex suggests, 'big-time autistic vibes' around Byrne in the film, but also in the sensibility of the way the film is structured and presented. We enjoy being led through the world of the film through the eyes of an autistic individual, leading us to question whether an autistic sensibility resists or challenge

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01:18:25

Alicia Radage - neurodivergent video artist

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/06/10

In the first of a series of special episodes talking with neurodivergent and autistic filmmakers and film workers, we welcome video artist Alicia Radage to the podcast. Alicia's practice combines performance art, shamanistic ritual and videography that attempts to reach an understanding of neurodivergent connections to the 'more-than-human'. We discovered her through brilliant Shape Arts commission 'Quake', where she performs a ritualistic cycle of singing, meditating and dancing for worms - find

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01:13:11

The Batman (2022) dir. Matt Reeves

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/05/27

We're back! Thank you for bearing with us while we spent some time recording some new episodes. First up, we find ourselves in Matt Reeves's gloomy new vision of Gotham City. We are prompted to use 'The Batman' as a way of doing self-reflection about the stereotypes perpetuated by autism-focused media, but we also find discussion points among the tricky representation of neurodivergence found in superheroes and supervillains. In particular, we tackle the relationship between incel culture and autism

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02:26

A Brief Hiatus... we will be back!

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/04/08

Dearest listeners - we need to take a short break while we record some new episodes. When we return, we plan to bring you a special series of episodes where we talk to autistic people working within the film industry, alongside our regular output of film discussions. To that end, if YOU are an autistic person working within the film industry in some form, we'd love to hear from you! Please get in touch on cinemautism@gmail.com and tell us a bit about yourself. Or you can drop us a message via our

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55:45

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) dir. Philip...

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/03/25

Our podcast people - namely John-James, Alex and Ethan - tackle the pod people of Philip Kaufman's 1978 sci-fi horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This unnerving tale of alien invasion arose from the anxieties of the 'Red Scare' of the 1950s when Soviet Union communism was the peak existential threat to the American way-of-life. The aliens clone humans in pods and use those clones to lure new victims. It is the strange behaviour of the clones that alerts the heroes to the presence of an

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01:17:18

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (2018) dir. Steve...

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/03/11

Ey up! We're up North today, in the company of cult comedy music legend Chris Sievey and his alter-ego Frank Sidebottom (and Little Frank, of course!). Our special guest is artist, writer and voice artist Sumita Majumdar who brings along her love and admiration for the wacky and unconventional Frank. We discuss how masking crosses over with performance, and how performance itself is a blurry concept when we layer ourselves with so many identities. We also reflect on the term 'eccentricity' and how

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01:13:10

Vision (2009) dir. Margerethe Von Trotta with Dr...

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/02/25

The 12th Century polymath abbess Saint Hildegard von Bingen is the subject of our film this week via Margerethe von Trotta's compelling historical drama Vision. We're joined again by special guest Gemma Williams for whom Hildegard von Bingen has been something of an 'autistic special interest' for a while. We consider the themes of feeling othered and outcast, but also the strength those positions give for the forging of an individual path. We're careful to not retrospectively diagnose Hildegard as

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01:02:40

Chungking Express (1994) dir. Wong Kar-wai

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/02/11

Do you like pineapple? If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? Chungking Express asks a lot of questions of us and of itself, and we wonder how it fares when interrogated from an autistic perspective. We find that this dreamy, genre-bending, love story about longing, loss, and chance encounters is soaked with neurodivergence, from Cop 663's consideration of the emotions of the objects in his flat, to Faye's stimmy dancing and repetitive taste in music. We also enjoy Kar-wai's

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01:02:00

Brazil (1985) dir. Terry Gilliam

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/01/28

Welcome to the terrifying dystopia of Terry Gilliam's astounding sci-fi fever-dream Brazil. Our special guest this week is Neurocultures Collective member Benjamin Brown who offers Gilliam's cult classic as an exploration of the maddening labyrinth of neurotypicality endured in the form of social etiquette, bureaucracy, and conformity. We are thrilled by how the richness of the mise-en-scene rewards repeated viewing, and the entertainment value of the madcap performances of Jonathan Pryce, Michael

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01:04:55

The Reason I Jump (2020) dir. Jerry Rothwell

Autism Through Cinema ·

2022/01/14

The Reason I Jump is the most contemporary film we've covered so far, and we were glad to be able to sit in actual cinema auditoriums to watch this complex and fascinating documentary. We enjoyed the audiovisual treats of the film, we appreciated the international outlook, and acknowledged how unusual it is to see minimally-verbal autistic individuals on screen. But we had plenty of questions about how the narratives of autism are presented. We address some of the controversies surrounding

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01:05:15

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) dir. Henry Selick

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/12/24

Merry festivities! Happy yuletide, one and all, and welcome to... Halloween Town? In a our special festive episode David, Ethan, John-James and Janet gather around the logfire to consider the tales of the musical animation The Nightmare Before Christmas. We were entranced by the protagonist Jack Skellington as an optimistic dreamer who seems to be on a different wavelength to those around him, while his eventual beau Sally watches from the fringes. Perhaps their eventual union is based on

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01:02:47

Cars (2006) dir. John Lasseter

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/12/10

We take to the racetrack and speed, drift and power our way through the colourful world or Pixar's Cars this week, as brought to us by special guest Ash Loydon. Ash is an autistic illustrator and huge film fan, and his enthusiasm for the exploits of Lightning McQueen and Mater are utterly infectious. We reflect on what it is about the smooth edges and expressive faces of John Lasseter's cartoon vehicles that appeals to Ash and his autistic family, and how such franchise can appeal to the tendencies

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59:24

Phenomena (1985) dir. Dario Argento with Dr Gemma...

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/11/26

We take a grisly turn this week with a foray into the violent, haunting, and dangerous world of Dario Argento via his bizarre 1985 giallo horror Phenomena (known as Creepers in the US). Jennifer Connolly stars as an american schoolgirl adrift in a Swiss academy while a brutal killer stalks the wilderness outside. We were intrigued by the eponymous phenomena of telepathic insects and enjoyed the film's brief considerations of insect minds as a form of neurodiversity. We also enjoyed Argento's

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01:13:05

Amelie (2001) dir Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/11/12

We take the whimsical streets of Paris for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's cult classic Amelie in today's episode, brought to us by our very special guest autistic film journalist Lillian Crawford. We take great pleasure in revisiting Amelie from an autistic perspective, finding neurodivergent expression in the heightened audio and visual richness of Jeunet's film. Amelie herself is a character who uses various autistic techniques to figure out the people she meets, by using objects and wordplay rather than

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01:07:56

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) dir. Craig Gillespie

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/10/29

We welcome special guest Natalie Marcus to the podcast, who brings along the curious romantic comedy Lars and the Real Girl (2007) for discussion. The film depicts a shy and socially awkward man played by Ryan Gosling who buys himself a sex doll, calls it Bianca, and treats it as his real girlfriend. Rather than a gratuitous and crude sex comedy, or a saccharine depiction of an autistic outsider, we were surprised to find a gentle and careful film that does an honest job of exploring alternative

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01:07:29

Asylum (1972) dir. Peter Robinson

Autism Through Cinema ·

2021/10/15

Peter Robinson's documentary Asylum places a film crew within an experimental psychiatric home set up by the radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing, where they observe and interact with the schizophrenic patients who live there in the late 60s. The Autism Through Cinema team discuss the film in relation to the anti-psychiatry movement, counter-cultural ideologies, and the ethics of film crew intrusion into the lives of the documentary's subjects. We reconsider the footage in the light of the neurodiversity

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