Book-canon!Holmes definitely has traits that fit both diagnoses, but it's cranked up to eleven in the movie, which I personally think is awesome. The resturant scene made me have to stifle high-pitched squeeing, because it was basically like someone had read a biography of an Aspie and copy-pasted it into the script. That's exactly how it feels when I'm in a crowded place. (Unfortunately, I don't have a Watson so I have to make do with my MP3-player.) And then there is the scene where Holmes creates order out of chaos with musical theory, which also rings clear as a bell. Because Holmes has two special interests -- deduction and music -- and spending six hours immersed in one of them is not a strange thing at all for him. Of course it isn't; it's connected with his special interest, and thus of utmost priority. (My own studies may have suffered from this, seeing I've lived by the formula "fandom > school" for the last five years.)
I would never dream of portraying functional disorders as something wholly negative, and would be horrified if I inadvertently did so. It'd be much too close to shooting myself in the foot. Functional disorders like Asperger's and AD(H)D have negative and positive traits. Yes, one gets tired easily, is awkward around people and has a private circus inside one's head, but one's also incredibly focused and knowledgeable on certain subjects, often very honest and creative. So they're double-edged swords, like all personality traits, and should be portrayed as such.
If you watch a TV-show or even a movie, and it's said a character has Aspeger's Syndrome, don't believe them. I don't think I've ever seen a character with any kind of autism that hasn't been portrayed as having classic autism. It's sad, isn't it, that everything has to be pushed to extremes?
(One thing fandom has taught me is that no kink is too bizarre to have. It's very reassuring.)
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regna
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Date: 2010-01-17 12:09 pm (UTC)I would never dream of portraying functional disorders as something wholly negative, and would be horrified if I inadvertently did so. It'd be much too close to shooting myself in the foot. Functional disorders like Asperger's and AD(H)D have negative and positive traits. Yes, one gets tired easily, is awkward around people and has a private circus inside one's head, but one's also incredibly focused and knowledgeable on certain subjects, often very honest and creative. So they're double-edged swords, like all personality traits, and should be portrayed as such.
If you watch a TV-show or even a movie, and it's said a character has Aspeger's Syndrome, don't believe them. I don't think I've ever seen a character with any kind of autism that hasn't been portrayed as having classic autism. It's sad, isn't it, that everything has to be pushed to extremes?
(One thing fandom has taught me is that no kink is too bizarre to have. It's very reassuring.)