EDITORS NOTE: While her performance is beyond problematic - I truly believe the responsibility lays not with Maddie Ziegler (who was a minor when this was shot). Sia and her exploitative, egomaniacal quest to make Oscar Bait are why this exists - and Maddie is a coerced accomplice to this nightmare. Anywho - as I state throughout - this video exists entirely because of the enormous help of those credited with their invaluable help, knowledge and resources they shared either publically or with me in a series of one-on-one conversations. This video is theirs.
I absolutely concur! Maddie was only 14 years old at the time of filming, and Sia was blatantly manipulating her all the while. Sia claimed in an interview that they tried using an actual autistic actress, but the experience was too stressful, so they opted to cast Maddie instead. However, other sources state that Maddie was her first and only choice for the role.
@Bubba Litious Also, Sia said that the worked with an autistic actress but is proved to stressful... so She then casts Maddie who has reservations, broke down and cried on set multiple times... isn't that 'stressful'?
I *hate* using the term but as someone who is on the autistic Spectrum the poor girl went *"full retard"* at the behest of Sia which is absolutely disgraceful and is a bigger slap and spit in the face to the ASD community since they cast Sheldon Leonard to play autistic blackface for Big Bang Theory
If you really think about it, the most insulting, disturbing, dehumanizing element is the whole "inability to experience grief"/ ignoring the dead grandma thing. It immediately robs the audience of the ability to empathize w/ her & robs the character of her humanity.
That's a mind blowing part of the script to me, it's literally the opposite of being autistic and goes against the rest of the script in the movie. Music is portrayed as having this very specific morning routine, in reality Grandma would have been a large part of that. Even if Music did not understand the concept of death, or have been exposed to it, she would have a massive reaction the new experience and massive change in routine. Be it a melt down, ongoing angst, or a complete shut down because she doesn't know what to do until Grandma wakes up because *that's the routine* Its literally like how some pets MIGHT react to their owner passing, though most animals would morn that loss for a period of time at least.
I think it goes beyond being unable to experience grief as Music not being aware of what death is. Music is so utterly detached from reality that every time I saw her walking around the street on her own- and I only saw bits of it in this review- I felt worried for her. The way she just marches down the street without facing ahead or apparently even being aware of the people around, made me fear she would be run over if she tried to cross the road. In other words, Music, whatever the writers wanted to convey, is not someone who can navigate life on her own despite the fact the movie seems to think she can be as autonomous as high functioning autists. This conflating is terribly dangerous all around. A grownup who upon finding the corpse of her grandmother cannot recognize death, has some very serious issues that need addressing in a clinical setting. Not this, 'music and being free!' stuff, that will only get them killed very fast.
I could grasp Music not realizing it right away, or being confused that her grandma is "sleeping" but she would most definitely notice her grandmas absence and feel probably upset when her grandma didn't respond to her in some way...even if she didn't grasp the concept of death, she would react most likely
@@BrianaLynn7 my husband and child are both autistic, We have several other autistic family members. as such we know a lot of people existing in different places on the spectrum. though the portrayal of Music isnt consistent i feel comfortable saying that given what it is shown that she CAN do at the bare minimum she would have noticed her grandmother laying down/ sleeping at a place and time where people don't normally do that. that alone would bother most of the autistic people i know.
@@inframeout “Y’all like getting Flying Elbow Dropped and pinned to the ground, right? That’s what calms you down, right? Being unable to move or breathe seems like it would be super relaxing for ret- I mean special abilitied people”
"Screening of Film About Person with Autism [sic] Results in Multiple Hospitalizations for Seizures" like, how do you do 3 years of "research" on autism and not learn about the significant rate of comorbidity between autism and epilepsy, including photosensitive epilepsy?
Now introducing the Sexy Lamp test: If your nondivergent character can be replaced by a dog who needs a life saving surgery with no change to the plot of the film, you failed to represent an actual human person.
@@allisond.46 It's usually used for sexy female characters who serve no purpose but being eye candy and therefore can just be replaced by a lamp with lingerie. But this analogy can be used in many ways
@@one-onessadhalf3393 I think it's sort of the opposite of the Bechdel test. The Bechdel test measures how well female characters are represented; this measures how much they're objectified.
As someone on the spectrum, thank you. The reason I wasn't diagnosed until 27 was because if you weren't like the cartoony depictions like in Music or Rain Man, you didn't have autism and were just trying to get attention.
I didn't get diagnosed until age 35 ( a year ago, I had been trying to get diagnosed since age 12). I was told so many times in the early days, that ''girls don't have autism' , then later on 'your not bad enough to be diagnosed' Jfc, gtfo. Autism is not a freaking 'super power'. And anyone who thinks that is a willfully ignorant asshole.
@@iciajay6891 When you are a girl, it's even more difficult to be diagnosed with autism, partly because of Asperger's misogynistic view on the subject.
This. I'm ninety nine percent sure I'm on the spectrum (every single description I've ever heard sounds like me. People with Autism have been able to explain parts of my own personality that I never understood. I went through the list of symptoms and I legit have almost every single one. Etc). My parents never got me diagnosed; but I've been considering it more and more, purely because I feel like that's the only way anyone will take me seriously. I feel like I don't come across as "Autistic enough"; and combined with my lack of actual diagnosis, I feel like no one actually believes me except the guy who literally studied it.
Seeing Sia’s interview just makes it even more frustrating when she clearly had yes men around her and wouldn’t give her valid criticism on how her film could hurt people, and it’s even more sad that Maddie had breakdowns because she didn’t want to offend people with autism, but Sia didn’t care. She treated Maddie’s character as a prop rather than a person.
Sia said that it was only positivity on the set. With that attitude I don't know how anyone could bring issues to her as she would just brush it off as negativity.
To be brutally honest, she seems to treat Maddie herself as a prop rather than a person, not just the character. The whole relationship there is creepy.
@@EagleTimberWolf Exactly.. Maddie could NOT catch a break.. first with that narcissitic "dance teacher" from "Dance Moms" and then from Sia's practical "groomer" attention on Maddie. Maddie had MORE emotional maturity and empathy than Sia ever did. At least Maddie CARED about her audience even if she was so GROSSLY and INCONSIDERATELY off the mark.
@@creativewriter3887 Maddie was mid-teens during the filming of this as well, too. She was worried about coming off the way she did and then voiced those concerns but was assured what she was doing was perfectly fine. Poor Maddie, all these questionable women that are inserted as mother figures to her and really don’t seem to have her best interest at heart. Abby was really gross but I can’t imagine the kind of pressure of a power dynamic that’s between her and Sia. Sia putting her in a video is the reason she’s as big a name as she is and it’d be super hard to put your foot down against someone you have that dynamic with you know and knowing that women since you were pretty young. It’s very upsetting to see.
@@Bunnster3 Well said! And Sia sounds like she could and would be a bully! I really hope Maddie comes into her own person because she does seem like a sweet person, simply based on the comments she's made.
What makes me unfathomably upset and genuinely angry about this movie is that Sia got paid for it. Millions. Millions that aren't going to any sort of autism related charities, research or therapy.
@@yungmentalproblems When you create a piece of art so awful it works around to being genuinely dangerous, no matter how hard you worked, you don't deserve that money anymore. Fuck them.
The clips I’ve seen of Sia remind me of Gwynneth Paltro, same utter lack of self awareness and reveling in their own ill informed confidence. It’s so icky 😕
That entire interview is just 'ugh,' with Sia coming across as narcissistically oblivious and insensitive the whole way through. Other 'highlights' include her nodding and smiling happily when the interviewer compares Music the character to "basically an inanimate object, like a wig," and Sia's utter cringe statement (delivered with the most shit-eating grin imaginable) of "We don't call them special needs anymore, we call them special ABILITIES!"
I've a daughter who is on the higher end of the spectrum, non-verbal and has significant developmental delay, so I was mildly curious at how Sia would present this character, since she has traits familiar to my daughter, ( I refuse to point blame at an inexperienced actress under poor direction.) The representation that people with these conditions are unrelenting in their social interactions was galling. There was next to no subtlety or nuance in Music's actions. My daughter has as many quiet and introspective moments as she has impulsive moments. Then there was Sia's comments that it was a a" shout out to the carers." To this I can only reply with "Bull$hit." Any carer will tell you that the most gratifying part of looking after someone on the spectrum, is when you see them achieve even the most simple and mundane action. Not counting cards or solving impossible puzzles, but when they find a way to tell you that the bathwater is too cold, or they help you dress them. Had have Sia focused on Music learning to do an action we take for granted, it would have meant alot more than one of the musical interludes that would have given my daughter a seizure.
Thank you so so much for sharing your story with us, and I sincerely hope the film industry gets its act together in some small way because of this horrible film
Precisely. Also, any carer of a person like Music- whose awareness of her surroundings is very spotty and occasionally entirely absent- would not allow her to wander off on her own. To make it worse, in virtually every single scene, Music is wearing headphones. As she is waddling down the street, not even looking ahead, and not even aware of the people around her, she is being bombarded with music straight into her ears. Which means tat whatever awareness she might have is further impaired: now she won't even hear the car hurtling her way as she crosses the road! In reality, a carere who let someone like Music just go for strolls, would be considered heavily negligent. And if Music does get run over, as I fear she would, the carer would be responsible: they should know that she cannot even look ahead to see where she is going. I totally agree, this could have been an opportunity for making Music learn a skill: after a lot of actual therapy and help, Music takes off her headphones and can walk down the street on her own. We could see her carer keeping tabs on her from a distance, just in case, and then we see Music being able to perform this task. There, it would make this a better movie. But no. We are shown Music even needs help going from room to room on occasion, that she clearly cannot focus on what is happening, and yet she just goes for strolls entirely on her own. That is so, so, dangerous.
@@Nocturnalux Can we have this? Please? As least a short film? Really this is so much better than the Garbage this movie was why couldn't we have this-
@Gacha AndStuff Yes, this, too. I watched a Korean movie where that's precisely what happened, it was heartbreaking and raw in ways Western cinema hardly ever manages to be...and the message was not, "Just let people with very serious mental issues, who cannot even discern their surroundings, wander free" as it seems to be in this one. There is a lot of stuff horribly wrong in Music and even if you remove the autism, it is still shockingly irresponsible.
That was powerful. I’m also on the autistic spectrum. I have PDD NOS. They told my mom I wouldn’t be able to learn to read or write, let alone graduate high school or college. My mom never believed the doctors so she homeschooled me and asked God to touch my mind. I returned to public school in 4th grade and I graduated high school and college with a major in theater and a minor in music with capabilities 3x what doctors said I couldn’t. I can speak Spanish and English, play several instruments, act, costume design, dance hula, sing, read beyond reading levels my age, write stories, and I’m now a housekeeper in the same college I graduated from. If people can only stop and see the potential God gives to anyone even with the spectrum, like my mom had, then maybe they can see the works of God in them.
tw talking about prone restraint and ableism the word "crushing" has very violent connotations. it also makes it sound easy (eg crushing a grape) so it belittles Music and enforces a hierarchy of strength (and by extension personhood) - he sees Music as lesser. also, he says "with my love", so he's trying to justify his actions. and the fact that he says that he is "not" hurting her but immediately describes himself as "crushing" her shows that he knows that he IS hurting her and just doesn't care, and is only saying that to make Kazu Zu feel better about what he's doing. those are just my thoughts though
As someone who's autistic, my favorite show that represents autistic people in a really great way is "Everything's Going To Be Okay". The neurodivergent characters are portrayed by ACTUALLY neurodivergent actors, and it's just a really great show.
I am so sick of this kind of '''''representation''''' of neuro-diverse people. I know Music was a flop, but it is so sad that movies with lousy representation of autistic people usually make their budget back.
The last thing I want to do with this video is encourage anyone to ever watch it. I just wish those with tender, considerate representation (some of which I list in this video) got the same level of spotlight that "Music" has received
@@decrepitwitch not even just neurodivergence. It's any minority. It seems the woke crowd writes minority characters whose only character trait is minority. I'm on the spectrum. But I'm also of another social minority. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I don't act like any autistics from media, nor do I behave like Hollywood's caricatures of transgender men. Really, the best adaptation I've ever seen on an autistic person was Temple Grandin, which was a biopic film on well... Temple Grandin, who was an autistic woman who went on to make changes in the agricultural industry for the better and more humane treatment of livestock through science. Obviously, the directors went to her and got her story, completely. So that maybe a little different. But this is where character creation is rough. I person have a couple of characters I created for a series who are on the spectrum. But I, myself and an artist, animator and writer, am also autistic!
Gago! Just live and carry on with your life without stress of having to please them too much, just give minor respect and patience and you're on a roll
I have high functioning autism. When I was 11, my grandmother died. No, I did not just ignore her death. I literally had a full emotional breakdown. I didn't know how to handle something like that. Through the years, I'm deemed overly emotional and with all the craziness that's going on lately, my sensitivity is going through the roof. And this movie is very upsetting to me. I hate this. I actually feel like crying seeing how awful this is.
Right, I don't get the stereotype that we lack emotions... But also at other times our strong emotions are put down as "irrational". For example they will take a toy away from an AS kid because she loves it too much and make her cry and then say she's "too emotional" for crying... Ugh...
i feel you. i suspect i may be neurodivergent and i have a similar experience with my grandpa's passing. i felt so overwhelmed with the funeral as we had to gather with relstives, pray and walk in a procession and his presence in my life was a constant - i cried loads more than anyone else that day and i didn't know what to do about all of this information that i even blamed my mother when the news was broken to me (can't remember what for, but i still feel bad about that). it's so insulting to autistic and other neurodivergent people to imply or say that they are incapable of feeling empathy, when in actuality we can be more or overly empathetic at times. autistic people can also experience difficulty identifying emotions as they're feeling them just because, and sadly people don't understand this and think that all autistic people are just lost in their own world and don't care about other people.
im not autistic but have a brother and friends who are, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves about how they are portrayed in films/tv. nonverbal doesnt mean having no thoughts. social awkwardness doesnt mean having no emotions. so many shows make autistic people look like theyre robotic sociopaths when really all the autistic people i know have more emotions/empathy than most neurotypicals. im tired of seeing ASD portrayed like a disease that needs a cure. you are perfect the way you are and i am so sorry this movie exists and hurt you. i feel infuriated for you.
I had an experience just like that! I also have high-functioning autism, and about six months ago, I lost my grandmother who was like another parent to me. I don't think I've ever cried so hard, or felt so broken.
Honestly, I feel so bad for Maddie for having to be associated with this "film". She didn't even want to be there and her biggest concern was that she would be mocking autistic ppl with the direction she received. She was forced into the role and ended up hurting ppl because of it
Someone needs to investigate the relationship Sia has with her. It's not normal for a 40-something woman to be obsessed with a 12-year-old and put her into a position where she's an employee, best friend, surrogate daughter, and legal godchild. Sia has literally said that she controls Maddie's career and tells her when to turn roles down, but had to strong-arm her into not quitting Music.
@@p0lyxena doesn't Sia sleep with Maddie? that's definitely fucking creepy. wouldn't be surprised if Sia turned out to be a nonce with how much she grooms and controls Maddie.
@@mikau1585 I really seriously hope nothing physical is happening, but to me even just what we see is massively in appropriate. Adults should never treat kids like peers.
A lot of autistic people can actually pass as "normal" people. It's called masking and it takes a lot of energy to pull off. I'm personally drained by the end of my work day. When Sia insults us and calls us "bad actors," it flies in the face of what we truly are: Better actors than most people who do act. It also makes it clear that she didn't do any research on ASD, otherwise she'd know what masking is. For the most part, autistic people are functional humans. Not whatever the fuck Maddie was doing.
Perfectly put - this film paints autistic persons as either a) less than, or b) other than "normal"... as if there's any specific set of standards or qualities by which someone can ever be deemed the height of normality. This is a ghastly pantomime of neurodivergence - when what the world needs is an honest, representative conversation on the subject
One of the worst things about this movie is that "whatever the fuck Maddie was doing" (great way of putting it) is so extreme that I wouldn't trust her to wander off on her own. Can this character cross the street? I don't know. She seems entirely detached from her surroundings, utterly unaware of where she even is. Her older sister is woefully negligent in allowing her such "freedom"; in reality, a person who had such severe issues would need supervision for their own sake (and not jumping on her to restrain her, either!). I think Sia and co. wanted to have the cake and eat it, too: they wanted to go for the full on, Rain Man, extreme portrayal of a person who clearly cannot take care of themselves and also throwing the dog a bone, so to speak, by claiming those on the spectrum can have a normal life. Of course, plenty of people on the spectrum are more than capable of taking control of their own life; but someone like Music? I can only hope that no one out there, who has ever had to deal with people like Music, does not see this movie and up and decide they can be let out on their own, without supervision. Because that result in tragedy.
@Mr Temporal ...yeah I'm not stupid. I meant answering that to a tweet that was about many people leaves it up for interpretation that she might've meant you = any of the autistic actors reading the tweet individually. Either that or she ignored the rest of the tweet and decided to attack the person individually lol. But I'm saying I can see both interpretations regardless of the grammar she used.
We aren't _oblivious to_ social situations. We are _overwhelmed by_ social situations. It's depressing that there are still people who don't get that. And of course if you're already overwhelmed, someone 2-3 times your size physically forcing you to the ground and restraining you is only going to make matters worse. How does anyone not get that?
Even if pinning the person down isn't hurting them, there's a solid chance it'll hurt you. A teacher of mine back in elementary school made a habit of bear hugging me when I had meltdowns, the last time she did that I started flailing around so wildly that I accidentally punched her in the head. The worst part about it is that I was suspended for four weeks for punching a teacher, while the woman very obviously had no clue whatsoever in what to do in such situations.
@@michelzwiers7742 Also, people have literally choked to death from these methods. People have also pointed out that all Music was doing is walking around and hitting herself, so there was no reason to restrain her to begin with.
@@Jane-oz7pp I might actually just straight up panic and start to look for things around me to slam into the restrainer tbh Then again, in those situation, it's technically "self-defense".
At this point I don't even believe that Sia had good intentions, and if she had them they were twisted beyond any scope of good taste, respect, empathy or reason by her ego.
Once you start uncovering the sheer amount of lies and half-truths she told (there is literally no chance that she spent three years researching autism before making this film) - and the fact she quite literally sold out the ASD community for a bump to her budget - there is not one ounce of sympathy I have for how this film has been received
Sia is well-known to pretend to be empathetic. Just look at the shit she did after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. She had absolutely no interest in doing good by us.
I think sia cared waaaaay more about the music videos within the movie and not the actual plot, characters or message it's self and that's where she went extremely wrong
As someone who is neuroatypical/on the spectrum. No, I didn't cry at the funeral for either of my great-grandparents, because I tried so hard not to cry I just didn't want to, I think I was just overwhelmed. I cried for a month after, where nobody could see me. Some days I still cry. So, sorry for not crying where people can see me, I guess.
This example makes me worry so much about how many neuroatypical people have been falsely convicted of crimes because the prosecution convincingly argued that they didn’t display the correct emotional reaction after the crime occurred 😕
I'm really sorry for your losses. There's nothing wrong with crying in private and it's wrong for people to assume that emotions they don't see displayed publicly aren't real.
I didn't cry at my father's funeral either, I just kept the tissue box for my mom during the entire event while I stared at my dad's body since it was an open casket funeral. That night I cried, after everything was said and done.
This is a something people need to learn more about, I am also autistic I have suffered a lot mentally simply because I don't want to over express myself around people, so I end up with a lot of pent up feelings, which later leads to mental breakdowns. And I think this is what happens with most autistic children that have emotional outbursts, they simply don't know how to process their feelings so they keep it in until they cant
See, that's something I've never understood and never will: If you cry where people can see you, then you're overreacting and making a scene for the sake of attention. If you cry privately, then you're a soulless monster completely incapable of feeling. Like... There's just no fucking winning.
I already knew this was bad, but she legit killed off an Asian character and gave the very stereotypical African man aids?!?! Thanks for bringing up some positive examples at the end. Max and Mary is a beautiful film that has made me cry and not only that it did such a great job at humanizing and normalizing Max to the point when Mary made him her subject for her book without his consent, Max's reaction was very normal, he's lived his life as how he wanted to.
Besides being abalist, in context, this movie is very racist as well. There is dialog implications that Africans leave autistic children to die. It's infuriating.
Can we address that Sia grooms Maddie? They snuggle in bed, says her Mom. "It's cute" says her Mom. Um, what? "I will no longer work without Maddie, she is my muse." Um,. if this was a dude he'd be dead 3 times over.
@@IknowIamkindagreat I just remembered what my dad said If anyone ever hurts you, call me up and I will turn them into the British flag! I actually had experiences of meeting with pen pals who were adults and I was a teenager at the time. My mom never let these meetings happen without her supervision and she would always insist on meeting my pen pals in public. She taught me to set boundaries with adults. That’s what a parent should do.
Tbh I find the whole premise and start of this movie unrealistic right off the bat with Zu even becoming Music's guardian. She's not her biological parent, she doesn't have automatic and assumed custody or duty to provide for the child(because even if you give up custody of your child you're not off the hook when it comes to paying child support). She's her half-sister. When you're not a bio parent, like a sibling for example you have to petition the court to be awarded custody. They don't get it automatically, even when parents die and they're there and willing. They have to fight for it and prove themselves capable of providing for the child(and in case of parent's being alive proof that parents are unfit to have custody). Her grandmother didn't leave a will from my understanding but wrote a letter to Zu. A letter is NOT a legally binding document. What WOULD happen is when the grandma died, the social services and courts would get involved(since Music is a minor AND a disabled person who cannot truly take care of herself) and they would contact Zu about it, since she's next of kin but she wouldn't be automatically considered guardian. She would be able to refuse the custody and they wouldn't press her. Because again, when you're not a parent YOU have to ask the court to award you custody and courts don't often award custody to non-parents. So Zu wouldn't even be in the picture at all. And even if her grandmother left a will, then Zu still would have to prove she can take care of her sister. and being unemployed, recovering alcoholic and on probation would work against her. Because well obviously since she has no job she can't meet her sister's needs, and substance abuse and criminal record are some of the factors that make one unfit for custody. Like probation ISN'T being free of charges and off the hook. It means that someone was sentenced to a time in jail, but the court decides to give them another chance ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS AND UNDER SUPERVISION. If the person steps out of the line or fails in any way they're going to serve their sentence. So this case would end up in court, there would be a background check on Zu and her probation officer would be contacted, and probably the AA meeting counselor would be summoned too. To testify on whenever Zu is really sober at the moment and if she's making a good effort in recovery. Since I reiterate SUBSTANCE ABUSE MAKES YOU UNFIT FOR CUSTODY EVEN WHEN YOU'RE A PARENT. Zu falls asleep in her meetings. That would probably come out, and she would be deemed unfit to take care of Music. Even if she wanted to. But she doesn't so that scenario probably wouldn't play out at all.
This is sooo awful man :( I can't believe Sia defended this. Maddie cried on set because she was afraid she was doing something offensive and it would not be received well, and the adults reassured her it was fine. The kid had more sense than the adults
Hi, just wanted to chime in as someone who's been diagnosed since age 5 and who has a bit of a different take on things. I don't inherently hate when someone lines up with a stereotype. Even if we assume all stereotypes are out-of-touch with reality, some people will still coincidentally line up with them. There are nonverbal people who happen to have autism, much like how there are African Americans who happen to have AIDS. Individual offensive depictions don't upset me on an individual level but they add up to make something a lot scarier. When an antisocial arrogant neurotypical person appears in a TV series or movie, they're just another character in a sea of thousands. But when Sheldon Cooper does the same things, it means that *1 in maybe 10 high-profile autistic characters in mainstream media* are feeding into negative stereotypes. Every time a small demographic of people are depicted on TV or movies, they're a disproportionately large percent of the total pool of characters with those traits, and because of that, we need to be extra diligent to avoid being insensitive. I'd love for representation and discrimination to change in ways where I could just see a Chinese person be good at math or something similar to that, but representation needs to be normalized and handled with greater care before that can happen.
I like that you brought up the obsession with savants. When my child was diagnosed several years ago, people in our lives tended to focus on his skills, thinking he would show some fantastic ability. In reality, my son is very smart. But he can't memorize dates, or even the days of the week. He loves animals, but he can't draw them or understand how to color. He's not going to be a musical prodigy... Instead, we have this amazing little boy who loves insects, Little People toys, and balloons, and hates wearing socks. He's also the sweetest thing ever, even after my 2 daughters. His hugs are everything; but at times, he doesn't want to be touched. People sometimes expect something else from autistic people, with all they know from mostly media. They expect, sometimes, either the extreme of a savant or the extreme of this girl in this movie, walking funny with a ridiculous smile. Maybe just expect that somebody with autism is just another person. Everybody is different.
PRONE RESTRAINT TW: as someone who was once briefly admitted to a psych ward, i watched six fully grown adults (several of which were bigger, heavy men) pin down an eleven year old little boy because he was crying that he was hungry. they continued to crush him even as he screamed he couldn’t breathe, and dragged him into a dark, isolated room for HOURS, and wouldn’t let him see his obviously very frightened parents when they came for the daily visiting hour. i learned later on that the facility i was admitted to is sketchy at best, and many aren’t quite so cruel to their CHILD patients, but it deeply saddens me to learn that there are people who actually condone such a dehumanizing and humiliating method of “de-escalation” especially to those who aren’t as able to fight back (and may not be doing anything to necessitate being restrained in the first place)
As a child, I had a lot of difficulties with dressing myself, we only recently found out I’m “high functioning” The joy my mom felt when I finally learned how to tie my shoes at 7 was weird for me. I struggle with loud, sudden noises. Certain colors make me “uncomfortable” and I’m unable to find employment because it takes me a while to process tasks. I know I can’t ever understand how someone who isn’t like me, but just remembering how I was treated because of my disabilities at school makes me upset when I see how people make “characters”. High or low functioning, we’re still people and it sucks to be looked at like you’re dumb because you can’t function in a world that isn’t made for you.
I feel so seen with this comment strangely.... I couldnt tie my shoes until I was 7 too. And I continued to struggle with it for years. I remember in sixth grade I once spent about ten minutes to thirty in gym class trying to tie my shoe. At least it feels like that long, in my memory. A kid asked me about it and I couldn't tell them that I was struggling with my laces. I knew it should be easy but for some reason it wasnt. started to get better at it after that. I was considered "high functioning". And apparently I also used to hold my pencil wrong and they made me learn to hold it the right way.
Fellow autistic person here, tying your shoos is very hard. Even till this day (I'm 18) I find it a somewhat difficult task and it takes me much longer to do than most people.
From what I've seen, most people haven't heard of this movie or even know who Sia is. Also, I'm kind of pissed this movie didn't get more attention. Considering how offensive it is, I would expect there being many stories about the backlash. Instead, the mainstream news and general public paid more attention to Dave Chappelle when he made transphobic jokes
@@Anonymous-js5zn I guess that's sort of good? If you ignore Music, you can pretend it didn't happen. Whereas the comedian can go on making those same jokes. But maybe that's copium.
Not to defend Sia, but she was a thought-provoking performer before she took a deep-dive into problematic behavior. I mean 1000 Forms of Fear is one of the best albums from the 2010’s even though I can no longer support Sia. I can’t listen to her music anymore without seeing the “maybe you’re just a bad actress” tweet pop into my mind and it’s disappointing that such a good performer turned out to be such an awful person.
@@thomasdegroat6039 nah she peaked with 1000FOF and then kept trying to copy Bjork (she was already doing that since 2008), gotta say I used to be a fan of hers too and seeing her CDs on my shelf now makes me feel very... uncomfortable, to say the least...
@@thomasdegroat6039 I totally agree 1000 Forms of Fear was a fantastic album and very meaningful to many people but this has totally put me off her. I don't have ASD but I know people who do and putting out a movie that portrays them in this way is so harmful, along with Sia's attitude towards them.
Why do people act like Sia was ALWAYS a shallow, horrible person? The movie is some horrible, disgusting shit, but that doesn't mean she wasn't a better person once and can be a better person again. Gosh, I hate cancel culture so much.
After watching this video, all of Sia's past music now just seems.... disingenuous...? People have always liked how Sia touched on relevant topics in her music, like alcohol abuse and homophobia, but her choice to be so ignorant over how to safely depict autism on screen really sheds a new light on all her old work. Her music is still great, but it definitely doesn't hit the spot like it used to after this trainwreck of a movie.
Sia struggled with alcoholism herself and that first hand knowledge of it comes through in 'Chandelier,' to me that still feels very real. She has no firsthand experience with autism and that is painfully obvious from even just clips of this film. But it has cast her work in general in a new, less favourable light to me too--her relationship with Maddie Ziegler is quite troubling.
@@hyenaedits3460 I’m kinda oversimplifying it, but I feel like it’s different for celebrities. People with access to the most expensive types of treatment facilities. Many wealthy people are easily beguiled by, uh, bullshit. Like, I’m a recovering addict and it was traumatic and horrible. I didn’t have the money to go pet an ivory pony and get my chakras balanced. I also have Aspergers. I hated this movie so much. I always felt that she was disingenuous, and this verifies that for me. Her music was never compelling to me, I always thought it was somehow flowery and bland simultaneously. Sorry for rambling.
Thanks, thats honestly refreshing. it feels like we're always being told we are supposed to "separate the art from the artist". It's kinda hard when I search " sia music" and this is the first thing to keep popping up.
I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. I also possess a black belt (3rd dan) in Shotokan Karate. If someone attempted to restrain me like these "loving and caring" people did to Music, I would kick their ass.
Seriously! I can just imagine how bad she feels, and I can totally picture her having an internal struggle with her worries about how her performance would never work and could offend people, but then wanting to believe Sia’s assurances that everything would be fine. And now she’s faced with having participated in something so harmful... SCREW YOU, SIA!
I am dating someone who is on the lower end of the spectrum. He is a fully functional adult who also happens to have issues dealing with or expressing strong or negative emotions. He also gets overwhelmed by stimuli (particularly if he's required to pay attention to more than one thing at once) and has a few special interests and stims. He's also astoundingly generous, a fantastic and equal partner, a political activist, and a staunch ally for people like myself (LGBT+, also neurodivergent with ADHD and CPTSD from an awful childhood) and others who are suffering. He tries his hardest to be aware of pain people are feeling even when the scope of it overwhelms him. Unfortunately portrayals like Music and Sheldon Cooper hurt him so much it enrages me. He struggles so much with feeling like the entire world sees him that way, like his special interests get on people's nerves, or that he's a burden. Does helping him through the occasional breakdown until he can better express himself take some emotional bandwidth? Sure, but I'm sure dealing with my PTSD panic attacks, or my incessant chatter from ADHD, aren't easy either. But it's a part of who we are, not a burden forced on the other person. I love him so much, and we need better representation. Sure, parts of what's shown in media might ring true for some people, but the autism spectrum is so diverse and varied and you only ever see it from one perspective. I just wish sometimes a character with autism could have his passion and not be mocked, or be as funny and thoughtful as he is. Funny as in making jokes, not being the butt of one like autistic characters always seem to be. Sorry if this is me, a non-autistic person, making this about me when it most definitely isn't. Just, thank you for your emotional labor in putting this out there. It really helps chip away at the clout this movie got originally.
@@VicenteTorresAliasVits ya she did. formally called mental retardation. the brain doesn't fully develop past a point. ppl umbrellaing a lot of different disabilities under "autism" which is where the spectrum comes into play. much like How ADD used to be a separate diagnosis, then ADHD but now umbrellaed under ADHD
Was I the only one bothered by Maddie's mannerisms? The way she showed her teeth reminded me of how people would do when they were mocking mentally disabled people (Like Ben Stiller's Simple Jack character in Tropic Thunder)
Yeah. While I don't have any kind of diagnosis I do stim a lot and quite a few of them are similar to Maddie's movements, and seeing someone do them like that makes me feel really self conscious about my stims cause it's how people would mock me when I was younger.
@bruhmoment5974 if anything, Simple Jack is a callout message. They made Simple Jack to mock Hollywood for always making neurodivergent people act the same. (Gump, Rainman, Etc.)
I know I've said this elsewhere already, but I am genuinely elated that you tackled this subject and I'm honored to have been a small part of it. You're a true blue friend.
This portrayal of autism makes me so scared to tell people that I’m autistic I can’t believe it. Thank you for using your platform to spread awareness about this issue, unlike some others use their platforms
I have High functioning autism living day to day can be hard for me. I try my best to act nominal and hide it. I want to make movies one day. I’m horror writer and a fine artist. When it comes to understanding others and nominal stuff it becomes hard for me. I see movies like this all the time and don’t like it. I would like to make films that can help people understand how people like me really are.
I have mild autism, and what I really want to do form a heavy metal band, and create concept albums, albums that tell stories, and do heavily theatrical live shows.
I feel like they completely misunderstood how some autistic ppl enjoy pressure, like hugs and weight blankets and even being pinned down sometimes, and somehow got the idea that pressure would calm someone down during a meltdown when it actually has the opposite effect Pressure, and any touch really, is best when you're prepared for it, or better yet have consented to it.
Yeah. I definitely like sensory pressure when I’m overwhelmed (especially around places like my shoulders) but that’s something that helps BEFORE I have a meltdown, and I only really like being touched at pretty much any point by certain people. (I.E: my mam and my partner) It can stop me from having a meltdown, but once I’m “in the meltdown”, for lack of a better term, don’t touch me without telling me because I will either start panicking more, or try to punch you. So yeah, can definitely agree with your point! 😁
This!! Sometimes when I'm really overwhelmed I ask my fiance for like, a really deep-pressure bear hug and it actually does help to calm me down when I'm headed toward a meltdown. However, it's like you said - I ASK him to do that for me. He doesn't force me into it, and therein lies The Big Difference
For the record, The Temple Grandin movie is one of the ONLY movies featuring ASD that gets it right without turning the project into a gratuitous self-award ceremony for discussing ASD. (yes, it won awards, but Temple herself got to be part of the decision making process and is a real person)
@@milkcatdog394 I couldn't find the scene (guess nobody had the courage to stay that long and record it) but if you do find the full movie online like on a streaming site go to around 1h45/46
As someone on the spectrum myself, it's always frustrated me to see autism represented so crudely in media. Like the video mentions, it's wound me up at this odd place where some of the best representation I find are from characters who are never declared to be autistic. In a way, that just makes them all the more relatable. Most folks don't go around talking about being autistic (heck, a lot of folks don't even _know_ they're autistic), meaning you just end up treating them like what they are: Normal human beings. I guess that's the main lesson Hollywood needs to learn. We're people too. Don't define us by a diagnosis--define us by our individual character. Like you would anybody else.
For his role in "Rain Man", Dustin Hoffman worked alongside autistic men and their families for over a year in order to better understand their experiences. He also spent time with Kim Peek, the inspiration for his character in the film.
Yeah. You know where a musical number would have REALLY fit? During that scene with the grandmother dying. Seeing Music seeming not to react on the outside but completely breaking down on the inside would have been impactful. Although considering the style of the other musical numbers, it probably would have just ended up being even more insulting.
The quintessential problem with autism/ASD, at least in how it gets diagnosed and treated in psychology/psychiatry, is that it's defined primarily by what neurotypicals see when they observe autistic people, rather than what it's actually like to be on the spectrum/be autistic/have it. Which means that if an autistic person displays a response that confuses allistics/NTs, or seems not to have a response to a stimulus at all, that gets extrapolated and generalized in ways that are really flawed and already presume an otherness/lack of humanity or lack of similarity in the autistic person. And conversely, for decades it was assumed that if you'd displayed autistic traits as a kid, but now as an adult you could pass as allistic if not completely NT, you weren't autistic anymore, regardless of how much energy it took people to keep from "acting autistic." It's such a batshit way to conceptualize a condition/neurodivergence. (What's also weird is that chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia get a treatment that's similar in some ways, where "experts" tend to rely on their own observations or preconceived notions of what chronic pain looks like, or what "being really sick" (instead of just attention-seeking) looks like, instead of taking the patient's word for it that something is wrong. IMO in some ways, this seems to be a problem endemic within medicine as a whole.)
@@sholem_bond there's an ableism problem in the medical field If more people with chronic illnesses were involved the diagnostic criteria would be different Autistic organization made diagnostic materials specifically for self diagnosis But u can't exactly treat physical ailments that way, so from a disability activism standpoint that would be a place to put efforts
I did a year of national service at a school for physically and mentally challenged kids and the biggest emphasis was always about empowering them to express themselves and find their place in the world, as equals. I remember watching the elephant man for the first time after that year and bursting into tears as Joseph cries "I'm not an animal ,I'm a human being" (I started crying just writing it now) I have worked with some people on the spectrum and had the experience of getting to know these kids. slowly everything that's different between us melts away. if you truly put the time to get to know them they are just people. and if Sia thinks that that caricature is an accurate depiction of an "autistic" then I cant believe she ever even thought to talk to anyone on the spectrum to get their opinion in any case great video i realy like your stuff
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I do not for one second believe Sia researched this film for three years - because if she'd spent even a day online she would have realised her worldview is one of ignorance and repulsive condescension
Prone... restraint...? This... has that? I'm crying. I haven't even seen this, and I'm crying. Thank you for the 'we can and have done better'. Especially mentioning Temple. And J's words at the end... I'm not on the spectrum. But I've had too many friends that are to not feel sick just from the long build up to Music.
"High functioning" autistic here. When I was in 3rd grade, I was put into the "special Ed" class despite not needing to be there. They (teachers) were required to "practice" doing that to us, EVEN IF WE HADN'T DONE ANYTHING TO HARM OURSELVES OR OTHERS. They used us like practice dummies and would pull us away from lessons to do it.
@@hylianexpected1171 That’s awful. I know how that feels. I was sent to a classroom for bad kids, and whenever I had a panic attack, they would force me to the floor, the teacher’s aid would sit on my legs, the teacher would put me in a chokehold, and they’d repeatedly scream “STOP PRETENDING YOU CAN’T BREATHE!” And since every other kid in that class was a bully, they would constantly go out of their way to push me to that point. All for not being able to sit still. I was “distracting,” whatever that means. You know what else is distracting? Not being able to focus because me focusing is “distracting!”
I have three relatives with autism as it runs in my family; my brother, a cousin, and a nephew. My brother just seems awkward and shy, and his autistic behavior is more apparent for those who are close to him. He's high functioning, but because he didn't get help until his 30's he has had immense struggles to keep up. My cousin is on the lower end of high functioning; his behavior and speech patterns make his autism fairly obvious, and he still struggles with some basic tasks, but because he got diagnosed and helped as a young child, he's gotten his outbursts almost entirely under control and responds well to people requesting that he lower his voice while speaking, and he has an AMAZING job that he excels at because it involves one of his hyperfixations. My nephew is very low-functioning; he can communicate only through a touch pad, requires the assistance of a service dog, and has to wear earmuffs to block out noise so that he doesn't suffer from overstimulation and have a meltdown. Even he does not act ANYTHING like Music did in this movie; he doesn't make bizarre faces, he doesn't vocalize often, he doesn't do the goofy gestures shown in this film. This exaggerates autism SO much and I don't understand how Sia still doesn't seem to understand how horrible her depiction of autism is. It looks nothing like this.
Probably my favorite example of an autistic character in media is Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia. He's not confirmed autistic, but I see a lot of my own autistic traits in him, such as a special interest in heroes and quirks (superpowers). His story also has a lot of parallels to and autistic person's life. He was bullied as a child for being quirkless, which is basically like a disability in the MHA world, and everyone discouraged him from following how dream of becoming a hero because they thought it was impossible. Even after he gets a quirk, he still isn't as good with it as others are with theirs, because they've had theirs since childhood and he only got his on the day of the UA entrance exam. He has to learn a lot of strategies to use his quirk without destroying himself, just like how autistic people may use strategies to keep themselves from having meltdowns.
For me it's Hiroshi Odokawa from Odd Taxi. He gives me TONS of neurodivergent vibes: He's blunt with his words, has difficulty expressing emotions, can notice details that others would find insignificant and has a routine he sticks to all the time (he always gets to work on time and always listens to the same radio show during his shift because he enjoys it). Hell, most of the time he talks to people is when he doesn't make eye contact since he's a cabbie and they always sit in the back behind him.
@@bananatiergodI totally agree! The flashback where we see into his childhood is textbook autism and I related to it a lot. In terms of anime I also see Ranpo Edogawa from Bungo Stray Dogs as being on the spectrum too!
If the parallels to autism in his story are being quirkless, then doesn't gaining a quirk (fixing his quirklessness) imply that it's an allegory for "fixing" his autism?
you put more care and effort into this 20> minute video than sia did in her entire fucking sham of a film. not that she set the bar very high to begin with.. but i appreciate the way you handled this topic. can't say the same for her, however..
This was a great and educative video, keep up the great work. Abed was one of the most relateable characters in TV for me and i love how handle it in the christmas rap, with Abed saying "On the spectrum, none of your business ". The exploitation of people with A.S.D to feed the egos of celebrities is truly disgusting
It's happened for years, it will no doubt continue for some time (because getting Hollywood to change is like steering an oil tanker in a canal) but here's hoping that this repulsive film at least sparks enough conversations to sway public perception against this trash
Mary and Max is really good at representation of one person on the spectrum because Max was based on a pen pal of the director and said pen pal apparently approved the script too. So the director of this movie basically shows his work by talking to at least one person who has the same condition and most likely a lot more research on the side too. I actually have a classmate with Asperger’s and she is one of the nicest people I ever met :)
As someone diagnosed with ASD as an adult, the idea of restraint that this movie showed makes me deeply unsettled. I wasn't diagnosed because, basically, doctors were looking for this "Music" kind of presenting, not me, who "reads" as "not autistic"... which is just. Urgh. How many years of pain would it have saved me if it was more talked about and shown in a better, more accurate way?
All I really care is that there exists a clear distinction between the movie Sia believed she was making, and the movie she actually made. . . and it's hilarious. I love watching pretentious vanity projects go full Hindenburg.
I’m autistic and when my grandmother died I cried violently for hours every day for the next 6 months. Sometimes autistic people may not react the same as neurotyoical people. We usually have extreme reactions that are hypo or hyper. Suggesting that music wouldn’t even care that her grandmother died is so insulting.
I bet Sia only decided to make a musical out of this trainwreck movie because she noticed how amazing K-12 is... of course she didn't understand what makes K-12 special and so Sia automatically messed it up. I'm not surprised Music turned out the way it did since Autism Speaks was involved. I am so sorry for all the scenery and costumes because I need to admit they look gorgeous! And of course I'm incredibly sorry for Maddie. She was forced into this role and she was forced to pull through it, I hope this movie didn't ruin future career chances for her because of the controversy 💔
Autism Speaks has actually confirmed on Twitter that they were not involved in the production of the movie and even said that autistic people should tell their own stories. Likely what happened was that Sia used their website for guidance but no consultation.
This movie is a big old harmful dangerous mess. Sia refused to listen to anyone else, and seems to think that intentions are actions, and her vanity projects are untouchable. Gross when you consider how much good the money thrown away on this project could have done for the autistic community.
We can't blame Maddie for this, she was very opposed to it and even had breakdowns during filming because she didn't like what she was being forced to do. The blame is 100% on Sia.
Truly, truly baffled that nobody read this script or saw the first day of shooting and immediately called their agent to say "Get me out of this disaster"
Honestly I can totally believe she was. Just looking at her wiki page she hadn't had a movie credit for 4 years before this came out which makes sense because she type casted herself by doing a bunch of dumb romcoms
Probably not, but I truly believe she saw this as an Award bait role, something 'indie' and 'edgy' that would stand out on her resume and show her 'range.' But it says way more about her as a person than an actor and, spoiler alert, it's negative
Positive representation of people (mostly not canon) somewhere on the spectrum, *according to me* : - Bilbo Baggins *Hobbit - Gandalf and Radagast *Hobbit & LotR - Luna Lovegood *Harry Potter - Sherlock Holmes *not NECESSARILY just the TV show, but more positively in the actual books - Todd *Dead Poets Society - Alan Turing *Imitation Game (mostly because it was based on the real Alan) - Maurice Ross *The IT Club - Simon *The Spiderwick Chronicles - Hickup *How to Train Your Dragon - Luisa *Jane the Virgin - Enola Holmes *Enola Holmes - Riley *inside out - Flint Lockwood *Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
Flint Lockwood ❤️ Luna ❤️ it’s interesting to think of Riley as possibly being on the spectrum, as I’d always just assumed her specific relationship to her own emotional life and expressing it/understanding it was just about going through puberty, but that is a very interesting potential additional element to the story!
Abed may be as richly written as he is in part because Dan Harmon is on the spectrum. There's something to be said I think for writers diagnosed with ASD also getting a shot at representing it accurately. It all starts with the script.
I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but this is probably as close as possible as we're going to get to a real-life version of "Simple Jack." And I really, really, REALLY wish I didn't find that as funny as I did.
I think this is a really pure example of fame and wealth completely alienating it's creator from reality. What makes it all even sadder is that this changes my perception of Sia's music career and the values she likes to project through it. It honestly shocks me how anyone with such an undeniable talent as her could fall so far into making something as misguided as this, but maybe that just means her value system has gotten lost in the ether somewhere since becoming such a megastar and we all need to just move on to someone else. Which, to be honest, most people have now anyway.
I loved sia. I loved her music. Followed her for years. But my twin brother is autistic, non-verbal, and very much the extreme side of autistic. I am lower spectrum. It broke my fucking heart to see the hand gestures, the twitching mannerisms and the stereotypical humming and headphones...like she was making fun of us.The self harming, the vocalizations, the ‘outbursts’, those were caricatures of a real experience. Broke my goddamn heart.
I remember seeing one of my classmates being restrained when he was having a breakdown. One of the deans (the people who work with the bad students and punishments) came to our class and picked up the child, who was still crying and screaming, and took him out of class with everyone else watching him. Nobody deserves any kind of restraining at all.
Great video. It's obvious how much time and work you put into these things. They're always a joy to watch, even when the subject matter is reprehensible. My son is autistic, my daughter is almost certainly autistic, I was informally diagnosed at 48 by my son's therapist, and my wife is on the spectrum. It presents very differently in each of us, and none of us neatly fit either of the main Hollywood stereotypes you talk about here. And wow, the film looks tone-deaf in almost every way, not just in its portrayal of autism!
Thank you so so much for reaching out with your story Danny. As the young man I consulted states at the end of this video - "Autism isn't a monolith" and I'm wishing all the best to you and yours :)
As an autistic person, this movie is very hurtful to me. This movie deserves nothing but to be buried in the garden after being shot in the face. The fact Sia had a hit on the pop charts after this movie is astounding, especially since that hit was terrible "empowering" fluff that doesn't help how genuinely disgusting this movie is.
@@inframeout Hey, if we're going to be talking about good representation of neurodiversity, can we not use a term that's hugely stigmatizing to people with personality disorders specifically and has ripple effects that harm people with mental illnesses more generally? That laugh fully gave me the creeps too, but words mean things.
@@MissaBrevis That's interesting that you should say that, because I can't really think of a good substitute for the word "psychopathic" here. I wouldn't call someone "retarded" when they do something stupid, or "bipolar" when they have mood swings, so I do consider my choice of words, and I used that word here for a reason. Sam Vaknin, an author on narcissism, believes that while the world has been turning more narcissistic for a while now, it has recently taken on the flavour of psychopathic narcissism, its more dangerous variant. I think he is right about that, and we should be on the lookout for signs of such personality disorders in the celebrities we celebrate (or decide not to celebrate).
@@sontrajamfemininegaze145 I see your point, but I think it's a lot more useful to look for behaviors than to try and diagnose people, especially celebrities who we don't know personally.
Terrifying, disturbing, extremely unsettling, etc would all be good substitutes that would be less stigmatizing than "psychopathic". There is a reason why DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is so incredibly stigmatized and it is because of the films like Pyscho, Split, the recent movie of "Deadly Illusions", etc. DID, schizophrenia, schizoid, etc are all "synonymous" with "psychopath" in modern day English because of how villianized and misunderstood these orders are. "Pyschopath, lunacy, maniac, crazy, insane", all have been used to demonize people with mental health issues or who are neurodiverse. Despite our best intentions, these words have history and meaning beyond what we as individuals prescribe them.
The restraint is super old. My mom was taught to do this with my brother. But we held him in our lap while he screamed bloody murder. He has sensory issues. We never got him tested for autism because in the 90s we didn’t do that type of thing.
so, i'm not on the spectrum (at least, not officially) but i am adhd and i've found a lot of overlap between myself and people who are on the spectrum, and because of that (and because i am so high empathy i literally cannot function sometimes) this is the first review of "music" i've watched. and i just like, god i can't even word this properly i'm sorry, adhd brain, but like, the musical sections, you're totally right about them, like, i had to look away while watching this because i could feel the sensory overload coming on, and i had to pause a few times to get my bearings back, and that's *without* the audio that i'm sure would make it 10x worse. like, jesus h this is so clearly a cash grab i can't, thank you for tearing it to pieces, it was very cathartic to watch.
9:00 as an autistic person with trauma related to restraint, I can’t fucking deal with that scene anymore without nearing tears. This movie was made to hurt people like me.
I am an adult man who was diagnosed with PDD-nos when I was in grade 9. I was deeply depressed due to trouble in school with my peers and my homework. After I tried to hurt myself I was diagnosed and placed on a path of "recovery" (at the time it was more recovery from depression, which then shifted to learning about how to cope with my autistic tendencies) after roughly 6 and a half years of social therapy and hard work, I was a contributing member of society who graduated college. Now I am 31, living on my own attending college once again as an engineer. people with ASD are just like everyone else, we learn and grow, just a little differently then most.
Thank you for uploading this video. I am a single father of a handicapped and autistic son. This movie is so offensive and disrespectful. My son is absolutely the light of my life and he inspires me. I am grateful for you taking the time to explain the mocking nature of this movie.
13:11 I HIGHLY disagree. Julia herself is fantastic. I love her character despite her being played by a neurotypical person. The problem is how other characters treat her. Young kids are going to look up to and follow the examples of Big Bird, Abby, and Elmo. They’re constantly learning new things from them, and inherently are going to try to adopt their mannerisms. So when Abby Cadabby (age 4) talks to Julia (age 4) like she’s a dog, it’s going to encourage allistic children to speak to their autistic friends and classmates like they’re dogs. I have been playing around with the idea of writing an essay about all of the dangerous things Sesame Workshop has promoted in their autism campaign. I have serious beef with Sesame Street about this. There are just so many factors that contribute to why showing Julia’s episodes to allistic kids is dangerous for their social development. I just don’t have the spoons or the character space to type them all out here. TLDR: Sesame Street’s take on autism encourages allistic children to treat their autistic peers as lesser humans.
Thank you for talking about this. I'm just tired of seeing people portrayed in unfair and hurtful ways. I hope more people watch this video (and as many others as they can) about this awful film. And thank you for recommending creators on this site that I can check out.
Another thing to note is that Sia’s whole brand essentially boils down to “be yourself, special and unique!!” So it’s a no brainer that she’d latch onto autism to bolster that image of hers. Unfortunately this is not the first or last time many autistic people have experienced being parasitised by people looking to appear quirky by using our nature.
as an autistic girl, sias depiction of autism is DISGUSTINGLY inacurrste, as from my experience (or atleast from what my mom sees) im a bubbly girl who does not AT ALL act animalistic or infantile. yeah, i may be lay but that is not in the SLIGHTEST from what sias depiction of autism in music is. i pester my mom for hugs and food, and i love telling my mom about stuff im hyperfixating about (usually splatoon or skullgirls). i do NOT constantly make strange noises, act like a little girl or need restraint (infact restraint would make me terrified).
As an individual who's been diagnosed at a young age, I know exactly how its like. There's a whole lot of misrepresentation. I feel like Sia went the "look, give me money" kind of route. There's a few scenes that actually make me feel uncomfortable in my skin, especially the "I'm crushing her with my love" scene.
My younger sister who has mild autism understands grief pretty well. When our great grandpa passed away in 2020, we explained to her her that he wasn’t coming back and she did cry for a while. She now says that grandpa is now in the starts 😢
i am an autistic person and at times i lose my ability to speak (becoming nonverbal). the portrayal of nonverbal autism is something that pangs my heart to see because it is combining autistic traits that some people may show into just a big pile that creates an overexaggerated caricature. i tend to bite my lip a lot. many autistic people find great relief in biting things and it's why chewerly (chewable jewelry) is something some autisitc people have. i will also tend to make grunting noises similar to that of music when im nonverbal, particuarly when im overwhelmed. these traits are displayed in a way that is overexaggerated and it frustrates me because it is not genuine. it is causing many different types of harm. not to mention but i also worry sometimes as seeming like im exaggerating my own autism because of this movie. since i am only nonverbal sometimes i worry people will see me as being an attention seeker for when i go nonverbal. it is genuinely scary and i have been trying to hide it for years and years. not to mention people will yell at me to speak.
Those flashing lights and bright colirs mixed with the rapidly changing faces made me have a bit of a meltdown that I was able to mask until i got to my zone.
As a person who has an Autistic sister, this is insulting, to say the least. After me and my family lost many close family members, I can say that the stigma of not showing grief and sadness is disgusting. Most of the stereotypes in media are disgusting.
Can I just add that Music was said to be mixed race and they purposefully darkened Maddie's skin for the film (also she's wearing ethnic hairstyles in some of the music video parts)
EDITORS NOTE: While her performance is beyond problematic - I truly believe the responsibility lays not with Maddie Ziegler (who was a minor when this was shot). Sia and her exploitative, egomaniacal quest to make Oscar Bait are why this exists - and Maddie is a coerced accomplice to this nightmare.
Anywho - as I state throughout - this video exists entirely because of the enormous help of those credited with their invaluable help, knowledge and resources they shared either publically or with me in a series of one-on-one conversations. This video is theirs.
I absolutely concur! Maddie was only 14 years old at the time of filming, and Sia was blatantly manipulating her all the while. Sia claimed in an interview that they tried using an actual autistic actress, but the experience was too stressful, so they opted to cast Maddie instead. However, other sources state that Maddie was her first and only choice for the role.
@@trinaq there's actually rumors the whole "trying to film it with an autistic actor" angle was a bunch of hooey anyway.
@@trinaq given Sia's red flag relationship with Maddie Ziegler, I really doubt she ever wanted to cast anyone else.
@Bubba Litious
Also, Sia said that the worked with an autistic actress but is proved to stressful... so She then casts Maddie who has reservations, broke down and cried on set multiple times... isn't that 'stressful'?
I *hate* using the term but as someone who is on the autistic Spectrum the poor girl went *"full retard"* at the behest of Sia which is absolutely disgraceful and is a bigger slap and spit in the face to the ASD community since they cast Sheldon Leonard to play autistic blackface for Big Bang Theory
If you really think about it, the most insulting, disturbing, dehumanizing element is the whole "inability to experience grief"/ ignoring the dead grandma thing. It immediately robs the audience of the ability to empathize w/ her & robs the character of her humanity.
It's just so misjudged in every single sense, it truly boggles the mind to consider anyone was happy to put this trash into the world
That's a mind blowing part of the script to me, it's literally the opposite of being autistic and goes against the rest of the script in the movie. Music is portrayed as having this very specific morning routine, in reality Grandma would have been a large part of that. Even if Music did not understand the concept of death, or have been exposed to it, she would have a massive reaction the new experience and massive change in routine. Be it a melt down, ongoing angst, or a complete shut down because she doesn't know what to do until Grandma wakes up because *that's the routine* Its literally like how some pets MIGHT react to their owner passing, though most animals would morn that loss for a period of time at least.
I think it goes beyond being unable to experience grief as Music not being aware of what death is. Music is so utterly detached from reality that every time I saw her walking around the street on her own- and I only saw bits of it in this review- I felt worried for her. The way she just marches down the street without facing ahead or apparently even being aware of the people around, made me fear she would be run over if she tried to cross the road.
In other words, Music, whatever the writers wanted to convey, is not someone who can navigate life on her own despite the fact the movie seems to think she can be as autonomous as high functioning autists. This conflating is terribly dangerous all around.
A grownup who upon finding the corpse of her grandmother cannot recognize death, has some very serious issues that need addressing in a clinical setting. Not this, 'music and being free!' stuff, that will only get them killed very fast.
I could grasp Music not realizing it right away, or being confused that her grandma is "sleeping" but she would most definitely notice her grandmas absence and feel probably upset when her grandma didn't respond to her in some way...even if she didn't grasp the concept of death, she would react most likely
@@BrianaLynn7 my husband and child are both autistic, We have several other autistic family members. as such we know a lot of people existing in different places on the spectrum. though the portrayal of Music isnt consistent i feel comfortable saying that given what it is shown that she CAN do at the bare minimum she would have noticed her grandmother laying down/ sleeping at a place and time where people don't normally do that. that alone would bother most of the autistic people i know.
Autistic people: we don't like flashing lights and loud noises
Sia: dw babes I got chu
"You do not have any emotions. Also, you have all the emotions."
@@inframeout “Y’all like getting Flying Elbow Dropped and pinned to the ground, right? That’s what calms you down, right? Being unable to move or breathe seems like it would be super relaxing for ret- I mean special abilitied people”
"Screening of Film About Person with Autism [sic] Results in Multiple Hospitalizations for Seizures"
like, how do you do 3 years of "research" on autism and not learn about the significant rate of comorbidity between autism and epilepsy, including photosensitive epilepsy?
Yeah a lot of people can get stressful sia soooooo music video?
@@sholem_bond please tell me that’s a real article
Now introducing the Sexy Lamp test: If your nondivergent character can be replaced by a dog who needs a life saving surgery with no change to the plot of the film, you failed to represent an actual human person.
Dogs in movies get more characterisation than her.
Cool, but why is it called the Sexy Lamp test?
@@allisond.46 It's usually used for sexy female characters who serve no purpose but being eye candy and therefore can just be replaced by a lamp with lingerie. But this analogy can be used in many ways
@CATmetchu Is it somewhat similar to The Bechdel Test?
@@one-onessadhalf3393 I think it's sort of the opposite of the Bechdel test. The Bechdel test measures how well female characters are represented; this measures how much they're objectified.
As someone on the spectrum, thank you. The reason I wasn't diagnosed until 27 was because if you weren't like the cartoony depictions like in Music or Rain Man, you didn't have autism and were just trying to get attention.
I feel ya 💖
I was diagnosed with aspergers when I was like 8. I’m 27 now, and I always feel like I don’t know how to handle it
I didn't get diagnosed until age 35 ( a year ago, I had been trying to get diagnosed since age 12). I was told so many times in the early days, that ''girls don't have autism' , then later on 'your not bad enough to be diagnosed'
Jfc, gtfo. Autism is not a freaking 'super power'. And anyone who thinks that is a willfully ignorant asshole.
@@iciajay6891 When you are a girl, it's even more difficult to be diagnosed with autism, partly because of Asperger's misogynistic view on the subject.
This. I'm ninety nine percent sure I'm on the spectrum (every single description I've ever heard sounds like me. People with Autism have been able to explain parts of my own personality that I never understood. I went through the list of symptoms and I legit have almost every single one. Etc). My parents never got me diagnosed; but I've been considering it more and more, purely because I feel like that's the only way anyone will take me seriously. I feel like I don't come across as "Autistic enough"; and combined with my lack of actual diagnosis, I feel like no one actually believes me except the guy who literally studied it.
Seeing Sia’s interview just makes it even more frustrating when she clearly had yes men around her and wouldn’t give her valid criticism on how her film could hurt people, and it’s even more sad that Maddie had breakdowns because she didn’t want to offend people with autism, but Sia didn’t care. She treated Maddie’s character as a prop rather than a person.
Sia said that it was only positivity on the set. With that attitude I don't know how anyone could bring issues to her as she would just brush it off as negativity.
To be brutally honest, she seems to treat Maddie herself as a prop rather than a person, not just the character. The whole relationship there is creepy.
@@EagleTimberWolf Exactly.. Maddie could NOT catch a break.. first with that narcissitic "dance teacher" from "Dance Moms" and then from Sia's practical "groomer" attention on Maddie. Maddie had MORE emotional maturity and empathy than Sia ever did. At least Maddie CARED about her audience even if she was so GROSSLY and INCONSIDERATELY off the mark.
@@creativewriter3887 Maddie was mid-teens during the filming of this as well, too. She was worried about coming off the way she did and then voiced those concerns but was assured what she was doing was perfectly fine. Poor Maddie, all these questionable women that are inserted as mother figures to her and really don’t seem to have her best interest at heart. Abby was really gross but I can’t imagine the kind of pressure of a power dynamic that’s between her and Sia. Sia putting her in a video is the reason she’s as big a name as she is and it’d be super hard to put your foot down against someone you have that dynamic with you know and knowing that women since you were pretty young. It’s very upsetting to see.
@@Bunnster3 Well said! And Sia sounds like she could and would be a bully! I really hope Maddie comes into her own person because she does seem like a sweet person, simply based on the comments she's made.
What makes me unfathomably upset and genuinely angry about this movie is that Sia got paid for it. Millions. Millions that aren't going to any sort of autism related charities, research or therapy.
Fuck your charities just enjoy the movie ffs... imagine having to pay charities after you worked for the money... It's so stupid
@@yungmentalproblems "enjoy the movie" um yeah I think I'm gonna give this one a skip
@@yungmentalproblems the movie isn't even enjoyable it's just straight up offensive
@@yungmentalproblems When you create a piece of art so awful it works around to being genuinely dangerous, no matter how hard you worked, you don't deserve that money anymore. Fuck them.
if it makes you feel any better the budget was $16 million and the film has made less than 1 million
Oof. That interview clip where Sia cackles gleefully about getting "loads more money!" is uh.....morally reprehensible.
It's maybe one of the most transparently awful acts of selfishness I've seen in the film industry in the last few years (and that's saying A LOT)
The clips I’ve seen of Sia remind me of Gwynneth Paltro, same utter lack of self awareness and reveling in their own ill informed confidence. It’s so icky 😕
That entire interview is just 'ugh,' with Sia coming across as narcissistically oblivious and insensitive the whole way through. Other 'highlights' include her nodding and smiling happily when the interviewer compares Music the character to "basically an inanimate object, like a wig," and Sia's utter cringe statement (delivered with the most shit-eating grin imaginable) of "We don't call them special needs anymore, we call them special ABILITIES!"
Pretty shocking. I've watched a lot of videos covering this topic, but this was the first time I saw that particular clip.
I agree.
I've a daughter who is on the higher end of the spectrum, non-verbal and has significant developmental delay, so I was mildly curious at how Sia would present this character, since she has traits familiar to my daughter, ( I refuse to point blame at an inexperienced actress under poor direction.)
The representation that people with these conditions are unrelenting in their social interactions was galling. There was next to no subtlety or nuance in Music's actions. My daughter has as many quiet and introspective moments as she has impulsive moments.
Then there was Sia's comments that it was a a" shout out to the carers." To this I can only reply with "Bull$hit."
Any carer will tell you that the most gratifying part of looking after someone on the spectrum, is when you see them achieve even the most simple and mundane action. Not counting cards or solving impossible puzzles, but when they find a way to tell you that the bathwater is too cold, or they help you dress them. Had have Sia focused on Music learning to do an action we take for granted, it would have meant alot more than one of the musical interludes that would have given my daughter a seizure.
Thank you so so much for sharing your story with us, and I sincerely hope the film industry gets its act together in some small way because of this horrible film
Precisely. Also, any carer of a person like Music- whose awareness of her surroundings is very spotty and occasionally entirely absent- would not allow her to wander off on her own. To make it worse, in virtually every single scene, Music is wearing headphones. As she is waddling down the street, not even looking ahead, and not even aware of the people around her, she is being bombarded with music straight into her ears.
Which means tat whatever awareness she might have is further impaired: now she won't even hear the car hurtling her way as she crosses the road!
In reality, a carere who let someone like Music just go for strolls, would be considered heavily negligent. And if Music does get run over, as I fear she would, the carer would be responsible: they should know that she cannot even look ahead to see where she is going.
I totally agree, this could have been an opportunity for making Music learn a skill: after a lot of actual therapy and help, Music takes off her headphones and can walk down the street on her own. We could see her carer keeping tabs on her from a distance, just in case, and then we see Music being able to perform this task.
There, it would make this a better movie.
But no. We are shown Music even needs help going from room to room on occasion, that she clearly cannot focus on what is happening, and yet she just goes for strolls entirely on her own. That is so, so, dangerous.
@@Nocturnalux Can we have this? Please? As least a short film? Really this is so much better than the Garbage this movie was why couldn't we have this-
@Gacha AndStuff Yes, this, too. I watched a Korean movie where that's precisely what happened, it was heartbreaking and raw in ways Western cinema hardly ever manages to be...and the message was not, "Just let people with very serious mental issues, who cannot even discern their surroundings, wander free" as it seems to be in this one.
There is a lot of stuff horribly wrong in Music and even if you remove the autism, it is still shockingly irresponsible.
That was powerful. I’m also on the autistic spectrum. I have PDD NOS. They told my mom I wouldn’t be able to learn to read or write, let alone graduate high school or college. My mom never believed the doctors so she homeschooled me and asked God to touch my mind. I returned to public school in 4th grade and I graduated high school and college with a major in theater and a minor in music with capabilities 3x what doctors said I couldn’t. I can speak Spanish and English, play several instruments, act, costume design, dance hula, sing, read beyond reading levels my age, write stories, and I’m now a housekeeper in the same college I graduated from. If people can only stop and see the potential God gives to anyone even with the spectrum, like my mom had, then maybe they can see the works of God in them.
“You’re not hurting her are you”
“No I am not, I am crushing her with my love”
That’s so disturbing to me, and I can’t place why.
Like, I found it disturbing, too.
tw talking about prone restraint and ableism
the word "crushing" has very violent connotations. it also makes it sound easy (eg crushing a grape) so it belittles Music and enforces a hierarchy of strength (and by extension personhood) - he sees Music as lesser. also, he says "with my love", so he's trying to justify his actions. and the fact that he says that he is "not" hurting her but immediately describes himself as "crushing" her shows that he knows that he IS hurting her and just doesn't care, and is only saying that to make Kazu Zu feel better about what he's doing. those are just my thoughts though
@@es0_terica you put it into words, thank you
"You're not hurting her?"
"No, I am crushing her [with my love]"
so then you're hurting her (with you love?)
Yeah like crushing is still hurting, bro.
As someone who's autistic, my favorite show that represents autistic people in a really great way is "Everything's Going To Be Okay". The neurodivergent characters are portrayed by ACTUALLY neurodivergent actors, and it's just a really great show.
YES I LOVE THAT SHOW!!!
I really liked the representation in that show. It was so relatable and refreshing!
I'd love a show where everyone is portrayed by neurodivergent actors, even the neurotypical characters.
Thanks for recommending "Everything's Going To Be Okay"
I am so sick of this kind of '''''representation''''' of neuro-diverse people. I know Music was a flop, but it is so sad that movies with lousy representation of autistic people usually make their budget back.
The last thing I want to do with this video is encourage anyone to ever watch it. I just wish those with tender, considerate representation (some of which I list in this video) got the same level of spotlight that "Music" has received
Do you think it would've made a profit had it not been for the pandemic?
@@user-gd2ys5tu8d we know. It's not just autism that's poorly portrayed. It's pretty much all neurodivergency.
@@decrepitwitch not even just neurodivergence. It's any minority. It seems the woke crowd writes minority characters whose only character trait is minority. I'm on the spectrum. But I'm also of another social minority. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I don't act like any autistics from media, nor do I behave like Hollywood's caricatures of transgender men. Really, the best adaptation I've ever seen on an autistic person was Temple Grandin, which was a biopic film on well... Temple Grandin, who was an autistic woman who went on to make changes in the agricultural industry for the better and more humane treatment of livestock through science. Obviously, the directors went to her and got her story, completely. So that maybe a little different. But this is where character creation is rough. I person have a couple of characters I created for a series who are on the spectrum. But I, myself and an artist, animator and writer, am also autistic!
@@fredithegeroo906 Exactly! I totally agree. I've seen Temple Grandin, it was done really well.
As an autistic person, hearing the line "autism is the next stage in human evolution" in The Predator had me wheezing in laughter 😂
lol same
Gago!
Just live and carry on with your life without stress of having to please them too much, just give minor respect and patience and you're on a roll
Just when you think the movie can't get any more stupid, they hit you with that line. So surreal, LoL.
It's peak writing tbh nothing can top it.
Same here, but what do I know? Maybe diabetes is the next step in human evolution.
I have high functioning autism. When I was 11, my grandmother died. No, I did not just ignore her death. I literally had a full emotional breakdown. I didn't know how to handle something like that. Through the years, I'm deemed overly emotional and with all the craziness that's going on lately, my sensitivity is going through the roof. And this movie is very upsetting to me. I hate this. I actually feel like crying seeing how awful this is.
Right, I don't get the stereotype that we lack emotions... But also at other times our strong emotions are put down as "irrational". For example they will take a toy away from an AS kid because she loves it too much and make her cry and then say she's "too emotional" for crying... Ugh...
i feel you. i suspect i may be neurodivergent and i have a similar experience with my grandpa's passing. i felt so overwhelmed with the funeral as we had to gather with relstives, pray and walk in a procession and his presence in my life was a constant - i cried loads more than anyone else that day and i didn't know what to do about all of this information that i even blamed my mother when the news was broken to me (can't remember what for, but i still feel bad about that). it's so insulting to autistic and other neurodivergent people to imply or say that they are incapable of feeling empathy, when in actuality we can be more or overly empathetic at times. autistic people can also experience difficulty identifying emotions as they're feeling them just because, and sadly people don't understand this and think that all autistic people are just lost in their own world and don't care about other people.
im not autistic but have a brother and friends who are, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves about how they are portrayed in films/tv. nonverbal doesnt mean having no thoughts. social awkwardness doesnt mean having no emotions. so many shows make autistic people look like theyre robotic sociopaths when really all the autistic people i know have more emotions/empathy than most neurotypicals. im tired of seeing ASD portrayed like a disease that needs a cure. you are perfect the way you are and i am so sorry this movie exists and hurt you. i feel infuriated for you.
I cried when my dad died of cancer, and I had a breakdown for a while too.
I had an experience just like that! I also have high-functioning autism, and about six months ago, I lost my grandmother who was like another parent to me. I don't think I've ever cried so hard, or felt so broken.
Honestly, I feel so bad for Maddie for having to be associated with this "film". She didn't even want to be there and her biggest concern was that she would be mocking autistic ppl with the direction she received. She was forced into the role and ended up hurting ppl because of it
Someone needs to investigate the relationship Sia has with her. It's not normal for a 40-something woman to be obsessed with a 12-year-old and put her into a position where she's an employee, best friend, surrogate daughter, and legal godchild. Sia has literally said that she controls Maddie's career and tells her when to turn roles down, but had to strong-arm her into not quitting Music.
@@p0lyxena Agreed, honestly I wouldn't be surprised if something sinister was happening behind the scenes.
@@p0lyxena doesn't Sia sleep with Maddie? that's definitely fucking creepy. wouldn't be surprised if Sia turned out to be a nonce with how much she grooms and controls Maddie.
@@mikau1585 I really seriously hope nothing physical is happening, but to me even just what we see is massively in appropriate. Adults should never treat kids like peers.
Ikr same
A lot of autistic people can actually pass as "normal" people. It's called masking and it takes a lot of energy to pull off. I'm personally drained by the end of my work day.
When Sia insults us and calls us "bad actors," it flies in the face of what we truly are: Better actors than most people who do act. It also makes it clear that she didn't do any research on ASD, otherwise she'd know what masking is.
For the most part, autistic people are functional humans. Not whatever the fuck Maddie was doing.
Perfectly put - this film paints autistic persons as either a) less than, or b) other than "normal"... as if there's any specific set of standards or qualities by which someone can ever be deemed the height of normality.
This is a ghastly pantomime of neurodivergence - when what the world needs is an honest, representative conversation on the subject
FUCKING THANK YOU
One of the worst things about this movie is that "whatever the fuck Maddie was doing" (great way of putting it) is so extreme that I wouldn't trust her to wander off on her own. Can this character cross the street? I don't know. She seems entirely detached from her surroundings, utterly unaware of where she even is.
Her older sister is woefully negligent in allowing her such "freedom"; in reality, a person who had such severe issues would need supervision for their own sake (and not jumping on her to restrain her, either!).
I think Sia and co. wanted to have the cake and eat it, too: they wanted to go for the full on, Rain Man, extreme portrayal of a person who clearly cannot take care of themselves and also throwing the dog a bone, so to speak, by claiming those on the spectrum can have a normal life. Of course, plenty of people on the spectrum are more than capable of taking control of their own life; but someone like Music?
I can only hope that no one out there, who has ever had to deal with people like Music, does not see this movie and up and decide they can be let out on their own, without supervision. Because that result in tragedy.
@Mr Temporal I mean the tweet she was answering to said "several autistic actors, myself included" so I guess it could be interpreted either way lol.
@Mr Temporal ...yeah I'm not stupid. I meant answering that to a tweet that was about many people leaves it up for interpretation that she might've meant you = any of the autistic actors reading the tweet individually. Either that or she ignored the rest of the tweet and decided to attack the person individually lol. But I'm saying I can see both interpretations regardless of the grammar she used.
We aren't _oblivious to_ social situations. We are _overwhelmed by_ social situations. It's depressing that there are still people who don't get that. And of course if you're already overwhelmed, someone 2-3 times your size physically forcing you to the ground and restraining you is only going to make matters worse. How does anyone not get that?
Even if pinning the person down isn't hurting them, there's a solid chance it'll hurt you. A teacher of mine back in elementary school made a habit of bear hugging me when I had meltdowns, the last time she did that I started flailing around so wildly that I accidentally punched her in the head. The worst part about it is that I was suspended for four weeks for punching a teacher, while the woman very obviously had no clue whatsoever in what to do in such situations.
@@michelzwiers7742 Also, people have literally choked to death from these methods. People have also pointed out that all Music was doing is walking around and hitting herself, so there was no reason to restrain her to begin with.
Yea, if someone did that to me, I'm only panicking harder and someone is getting hurt.
And due to my size, it's not likely to be me.
@@Jane-oz7pp I might actually just straight up panic and start to look for things around me to slam into the restrainer tbh
Then again, in those situation, it's technically "self-defense".
At this point I don't even believe that Sia had good intentions, and if she had them they were twisted beyond any scope of good taste, respect, empathy or reason by her ego.
Once you start uncovering the sheer amount of lies and half-truths she told (there is literally no chance that she spent three years researching autism before making this film) - and the fact she quite literally sold out the ASD community for a bump to her budget - there is not one ounce of sympathy I have for how this film has been received
Sia is well-known to pretend to be empathetic. Just look at the shit she did after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. She had absolutely no interest in doing good by us.
@@GirtheAlienGoldfish Wait - what did she do after the nightclub shooting?
@@causticwit yeah I’m curious about that too
I think sia cared waaaaay more about the music videos within the movie and not the actual plot, characters or message it's self and that's where she went extremely wrong
As someone who is neuroatypical/on the spectrum. No, I didn't cry at the funeral for either of my great-grandparents, because I tried so hard not to cry I just didn't want to, I think I was just overwhelmed. I cried for a month after, where nobody could see me. Some days I still cry. So, sorry for not crying where people can see me, I guess.
This example makes me worry so much about how many neuroatypical people have been falsely convicted of crimes because the prosecution convincingly argued that they didn’t display the correct emotional reaction after the crime occurred 😕
I'm really sorry for your losses. There's nothing wrong with crying in private and it's wrong for people to assume that emotions they don't see displayed publicly aren't real.
I didn't cry at my father's funeral either, I just kept the tissue box for my mom during the entire event while I stared at my dad's body since it was an open casket funeral. That night I cried, after everything was said and done.
This is a something people need to learn more about, I am also autistic I have suffered a lot mentally simply because I don't want to over express myself around people, so I end up with a lot of pent up feelings, which later leads to mental breakdowns. And I think this is what happens with most autistic children that have emotional outbursts, they simply don't know how to process their feelings so they keep it in until they cant
See, that's something I've never understood and never will: If you cry where people can see you, then you're overreacting and making a scene for the sake of attention. If you cry privately, then you're a soulless monster completely incapable of feeling.
Like... There's just no fucking winning.
I already knew this was bad, but she legit killed off an Asian character and gave the very stereotypical African man aids?!?!
Thanks for bringing up some positive examples at the end. Max and Mary is a beautiful film that has made me cry and not only that it did such a great job at humanizing and normalizing Max to the point when Mary made him her subject for her book without his consent, Max's reaction was very normal, he's lived his life as how he wanted to.
I love Max and Mary!!!! 🥰
Rewatching the film and finding Toni Collete in the credits was such a treat! ^
I knew it was gonna be bad too but wanted to see this for myself and unsurprisingly, It was BAD!!!!!😩😡🤯
'Sia dry heaved Music into existence' only a few seconds in and I already chuckled lol
I hadn't heard that Leslie Odom Jr's character had AIDS and I genuinely gasped out loud. Just when I thought this film couldn't get any worse!
"I don't even care about AIDS!" a line in this "movie"!
She is so far disconnected from reality it's almost comical 🤦♂️
Besides being abalist, in context, this movie is very racist as well. There is dialog implications that Africans leave autistic children to die. It's infuriating.
@@iciajay6891 WHAT
I didn't know he was in this movie till watching this. That was a mistake on his part :/
Can we address that Sia grooms Maddie?
They snuggle in bed, says her Mom.
"It's cute" says her Mom.
Um, what?
"I will no longer work without Maddie, she is my muse."
Um,. if this was a dude he'd be dead 3 times over.
Its honestly so disturbing.
If my dad heard this the woman would be turned into the British flag in a second.
@@anastasiap6253 and I'd hang that flag from my window
@@IknowIamkindagreat I just remembered what my dad said
If anyone ever hurts you, call me up and I will turn them into the British flag!
I actually had experiences of meeting with pen pals who were adults and I was a teenager at the time. My mom never let these meetings happen without her supervision and she would always insist on meeting my pen pals in public. She taught me to set boundaries with adults. That’s what a parent should do.
@@anastasiap6253 Solid parenting 101!
"I am crushing her with my love"
Dude this feels more like something I imagine a sexual abuser would tell his victm than anything.
Ugh that line made me sick, really.
Roght! Extremely Creepy!
I had to pause the video cause I started howling at how bad "I'm crushing with my love" was
Just wait until a character proclaims "I don't care about AIDs"
Y jaw dropped at the terribleness of that line!
who wrote the script? Sia?
"I suffocated her to death with my love"
Tbh I find the whole premise and start of this movie unrealistic right off the bat with Zu even becoming Music's guardian. She's not her biological parent, she doesn't have automatic and assumed custody or duty to provide for the child(because even if you give up custody of your child you're not off the hook when it comes to paying child support). She's her half-sister. When you're not a bio parent, like a sibling for example you have to petition the court to be awarded custody. They don't get it automatically, even when parents die and they're there and willing. They have to fight for it and prove themselves capable of providing for the child(and in case of parent's being alive proof that parents are unfit to have custody). Her grandmother didn't leave a will from my understanding but wrote a letter to Zu. A letter is NOT a legally binding document. What WOULD happen is when the grandma died, the social services and courts would get involved(since Music is a minor AND a disabled person who cannot truly take care of herself) and they would contact Zu about it, since she's next of kin but she wouldn't be automatically considered guardian. She would be able to refuse the custody and they wouldn't press her. Because again, when you're not a parent YOU have to ask the court to award you custody and courts don't often award custody to non-parents. So Zu wouldn't even be in the picture at all. And even if her grandmother left a will, then Zu still would have to prove she can take care of her sister. and being unemployed, recovering alcoholic and on probation would work against her. Because well obviously since she has no job she can't meet her sister's needs, and substance abuse and criminal record are some of the factors that make one unfit for custody. Like probation ISN'T being free of charges and off the hook. It means that someone was sentenced to a time in jail, but the court decides to give them another chance ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS AND UNDER SUPERVISION. If the person steps out of the line or fails in any way they're going to serve their sentence. So this case would end up in court, there would be a background check on Zu and her probation officer would be contacted, and probably the AA meeting counselor would be summoned too. To testify on whenever Zu is really sober at the moment and if she's making a good effort in recovery. Since I reiterate SUBSTANCE ABUSE MAKES YOU UNFIT FOR CUSTODY EVEN WHEN YOU'RE A PARENT. Zu falls asleep in her meetings. That would probably come out, and she would be deemed unfit to take care of Music. Even if she wanted to. But she doesn't so that scenario probably wouldn't play out at all.
I love that this great piece of logic negates the existence of the whole movie, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief! 😁
This is sooo awful man :( I can't believe Sia defended this. Maddie cried on set because she was afraid she was doing something offensive and it would not be received well, and the adults reassured her it was fine. The kid had more sense than the adults
Hi, just wanted to chime in as someone who's been diagnosed since age 5 and who has a bit of a different take on things.
I don't inherently hate when someone lines up with a stereotype. Even if we assume all stereotypes are out-of-touch with reality, some people will still coincidentally line up with them. There are nonverbal people who happen to have autism, much like how there are African Americans who happen to have AIDS.
Individual offensive depictions don't upset me on an individual level but they add up to make something a lot scarier. When an antisocial arrogant neurotypical person appears in a TV series or movie, they're just another character in a sea of thousands. But when Sheldon Cooper does the same things, it means that *1 in maybe 10 high-profile autistic characters in mainstream media* are feeding into negative stereotypes.
Every time a small demographic of people are depicted on TV or movies, they're a disproportionately large percent of the total pool of characters with those traits, and because of that, we need to be extra diligent to avoid being insensitive.
I'd love for representation and discrimination to change in ways where I could just see a Chinese person be good at math or something similar to that, but representation needs to be normalized and handled with greater care before that can happen.
I couldn’t agree more
I think generalities have origins in truth, but never apply to every individual
I get your message but it was never a stereotype that black people have aids....that’s a gay steroetype
It's absolutely a stereotype about persons from Africa
why I gotta have AIDS though?
I like that you brought up the obsession with savants. When my child was diagnosed several years ago, people in our lives tended to focus on his skills, thinking he would show some fantastic ability. In reality, my son is very smart. But he can't memorize dates, or even the days of the week. He loves animals, but he can't draw them or understand how to color. He's not going to be a musical prodigy... Instead, we have this amazing little boy who loves insects, Little People toys, and balloons, and hates wearing socks. He's also the sweetest thing ever, even after my 2 daughters. His hugs are everything; but at times, he doesn't want to be touched.
People sometimes expect something else from autistic people, with all they know from mostly media. They expect, sometimes, either the extreme of a savant or the extreme of this girl in this movie, walking funny with a ridiculous smile.
Maybe just expect that somebody with autism is just another person. Everybody is different.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Sounds like you've got a hell of a kid :)
I have high functioning autism and I am so with your little boy on his opinion about socks haha
Rock on little dude
PRONE RESTRAINT TW: as someone who was once briefly admitted to a psych ward, i watched six fully grown adults (several of which were bigger, heavy men) pin down an eleven year old little boy because he was crying that he was hungry. they continued to crush him even as he screamed he couldn’t breathe, and dragged him into a dark, isolated room for HOURS, and wouldn’t let him see his obviously very frightened parents when they came for the daily visiting hour. i learned later on that the facility i was admitted to is sketchy at best, and many aren’t quite so cruel to their CHILD patients, but it deeply saddens me to learn that there are people who actually condone such a dehumanizing and humiliating method of “de-escalation” especially to those who aren’t as able to fight back (and may not be doing anything to necessitate being restrained in the first place)
As a child, I had a lot of difficulties with dressing myself, we only recently found out I’m “high functioning”
The joy my mom felt when I finally learned how to tie my shoes at 7 was weird for me.
I struggle with loud, sudden noises. Certain colors make me “uncomfortable” and I’m unable to find employment because it takes me a while to process tasks.
I know I can’t ever understand how someone who isn’t like me, but just remembering how I was treated because of my disabilities at school makes me upset when I see how people make “characters”.
High or low functioning, we’re still people and it sucks to be looked at like you’re dumb because you can’t function in a world that isn’t made for you.
I feel so seen with this comment strangely.... I couldnt tie my shoes until I was 7 too. And I continued to struggle with it for years. I remember in sixth grade I once spent about ten minutes to thirty in gym class trying to tie my shoe. At least it feels like that long, in my memory. A kid asked me about it and I couldn't tell them that I was struggling with my laces. I knew it should be easy but for some reason it wasnt. started to get better at it after that. I was considered "high functioning". And apparently I also used to hold my pencil wrong and they made me learn to hold it the right way.
I'm 20 goddamn years old and still can't tie my shoes, call me absolutely insane. I also can't stand sudden loud noises
Fellow autistic person here, tying your shoos is very hard. Even till this day (I'm 18) I find it a somewhat difficult task and it takes me much longer to do than most people.
@@hithere5039 Fellow autistic person here and I still hold my pencil wrong, I even still hold my knife and fork wrong.
knowing that I'm not the only one who also had struggles with tying shoes for "no reason" makes me feel a little better lol
I can’t wait until this movie and Sia are unremembered footnotes to the positive portrayals we hopefully get in the near future
"Remember when Sia just made relatively innocuous pop music? Weird how she parlayed that into a cinematic chemical fire of misrepresentative shit"
From what I've seen, most people haven't heard of this movie or even know who Sia is. Also, I'm kind of pissed this movie didn't get more attention. Considering how offensive it is, I would expect there being many stories about the backlash. Instead, the mainstream news and general public paid more attention to Dave Chappelle when he made transphobic jokes
@@Anonymous-js5zn I guess that's sort of good? If you ignore Music, you can pretend it didn't happen. Whereas the comedian can go on making those same jokes. But maybe that's copium.
This comes as a surprise to the three people on the planet who were expecting something meaningful or thought-provoking from Sia.
Not to defend Sia, but she was a thought-provoking performer before she took a deep-dive into problematic behavior. I mean 1000 Forms of Fear is one of the best albums from the 2010’s even though I can no longer support Sia. I can’t listen to her music anymore without seeing the “maybe you’re just a bad actress” tweet pop into my mind and it’s disappointing that such a good performer turned out to be such an awful person.
@@thomasdegroat6039 nah she peaked with 1000FOF and then kept trying to copy Bjork (she was already doing that since 2008), gotta say I used to be a fan of hers too and seeing her CDs on my shelf now makes me feel very... uncomfortable, to say the least...
@@thomasdegroat6039 I totally agree 1000 Forms of Fear was a fantastic album and very meaningful to many people but this has totally put me off her. I don't have ASD but I know people who do and putting out a movie that portrays them in this way is so harmful, along with Sia's attitude towards them.
she makes pretty deep music
Why do people act like Sia was ALWAYS a shallow, horrible person? The movie is some horrible, disgusting shit, but that doesn't mean she wasn't a better person once and can be a better person again. Gosh, I hate cancel culture so much.
Kazuzu sounds like a really fun demon.
This film is far more horrifying than the Exorcist
@@inframeout At least demons don't choose to be evil.
She got drunk one night and possessed Ronald Reagan instead of Regan.
Ironically it rhymes with Pazuzu Algarad. That weird cannibal guy who killed people. 😬
For a second I thought they named her after the kazoo, as part of some musical theme 🤦♀️
After watching this video, all of Sia's past music now just seems.... disingenuous...? People have always liked how Sia touched on relevant topics in her music, like alcohol abuse and homophobia, but her choice to be so ignorant over how to safely depict autism on screen really sheds a new light on all her old work. Her music is still great, but it definitely doesn't hit the spot like it used to after this trainwreck of a movie.
Sia struggled with alcoholism herself and that first hand knowledge of it comes through in 'Chandelier,' to me that still feels very real. She has no firsthand experience with autism and that is painfully obvious from even just clips of this film. But it has cast her work in general in a new, less favourable light to me too--her relationship with Maddie Ziegler is quite troubling.
If she was an alcoholic herself how did she mess up so badly with Zu? I've seen recovering alcoholics say that Zu is offensive and not relatable.
@@hyenaedits3460 I’m kinda oversimplifying it, but I feel like it’s different for celebrities. People with access to the most expensive types of treatment facilities. Many wealthy people are easily beguiled by, uh, bullshit. Like, I’m a recovering addict and it was traumatic and horrible. I didn’t have the money to go pet an ivory pony and get my chakras balanced. I also have Aspergers. I hated this movie so much. I always felt that she was disingenuous, and this verifies that for me. Her music was never compelling to me, I always thought it was somehow flowery and bland simultaneously. Sorry for rambling.
Thanks, thats honestly refreshing. it feels like we're always being told we are supposed to "separate the art from the artist". It's kinda hard when I search " sia music" and this is the first thing to keep popping up.
@@Doubtfulgrace101 just search up 'Sia'
I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. I also possess a black belt (3rd dan) in Shotokan Karate. If someone attempted to restrain me like these "loving and caring" people did to Music, I would kick their ass.
"I am crushing her with my love"
Seriously....WHO said that this was ok?????
yeah, that's literally so damn creepy lol, and it made me weirded out when i heard that😭😭😭
I just hope Maddie's career doesn't take a bad turn from this :( she doesn't deserve any backlash
Seriously! I can just imagine how bad she feels, and I can totally picture her having an internal struggle with her worries about how her performance would never work and could offend people, but then wanting to believe Sia’s assurances that everything would be fine. And now she’s faced with having participated in something so harmful... SCREW YOU, SIA!
Stella Belikiewicz oh please 😂 give me a break the girl is rich and no one put a gun to her head to do this terrible movie smh
@@strwbrybabyg245 she’s under contract.
Tyjana Gist girl good night
@@strwbrybabyg245 She was a child, and a child who figured how bad an idea this was quite early on.
I am dating someone who is on the lower end of the spectrum. He is a fully functional adult who also happens to have issues dealing with or expressing strong or negative emotions. He also gets overwhelmed by stimuli (particularly if he's required to pay attention to more than one thing at once) and has a few special interests and stims. He's also astoundingly generous, a fantastic and equal partner, a political activist, and a staunch ally for people like myself (LGBT+, also neurodivergent with ADHD and CPTSD from an awful childhood) and others who are suffering. He tries his hardest to be aware of pain people are feeling even when the scope of it overwhelms him.
Unfortunately portrayals like Music and Sheldon Cooper hurt him so much it enrages me. He struggles so much with feeling like the entire world sees him that way, like his special interests get on people's nerves, or that he's a burden. Does helping him through the occasional breakdown until he can better express himself take some emotional bandwidth? Sure, but I'm sure dealing with my PTSD panic attacks, or my incessant chatter from ADHD, aren't easy either. But it's a part of who we are, not a burden forced on the other person. I love him so much, and we need better representation.
Sure, parts of what's shown in media might ring true for some people, but the autism spectrum is so diverse and varied and you only ever see it from one perspective. I just wish sometimes a character with autism could have his passion and not be mocked, or be as funny and thoughtful as he is. Funny as in making jokes, not being the butt of one like autistic characters always seem to be.
Sorry if this is me, a non-autistic person, making this about me when it most definitely isn't. Just, thank you for your emotional labor in putting this out there. It really helps chip away at the clout this movie got originally.
I sincerely hope you and your partner are doing well - and know that I was moved by your story and strength.
@@inframeout We're doing as well as two people can be these days. Thank you, I'm glad our story meant something to you 💗
Remember that Simple Jack fake trailer from Tropic Thunder? Apparently, Sia made that a real thing, while completely missing the point.
Guess that was a true prediction.
It’s sad when 1998’s extremely problematic “The Other Sister” is a more honest portrayal of someone with ASD than in 2021.
Want to know what's really fucked up? Juliette Lewis is in both "The Other Sister" and "Music"
@@inframeout WHAAAATTTTT
Wait, I thought that character suffered from intellectual disability.
@@inframeout damn
@@VicenteTorresAliasVits ya she did. formally called mental retardation. the brain doesn't fully develop past a point. ppl umbrellaing a lot of different disabilities under "autism" which is where the spectrum comes into play. much like How ADD used to be a separate diagnosis, then ADHD but now umbrellaed under ADHD
Was I the only one bothered by Maddie's mannerisms? The way she showed her teeth reminded me of how people would do when they were mocking mentally disabled people (Like Ben Stiller's Simple Jack character in Tropic Thunder)
Yeah. While I don't have any kind of diagnosis I do stim a lot and quite a few of them are similar to Maddie's movements, and seeing someone do them like that makes me feel really self conscious about my stims cause it's how people would mock me when I was younger.
@bruhmoment5974 if anything, Simple Jack is a callout message. They made Simple Jack to mock Hollywood for always making neurodivergent people act the same. (Gump, Rainman, Etc.)
Just wanna highlight, the mannerisms were explicitly what she was directed to do, she had zero say in her portrayal of the character.
I know I've said this elsewhere already, but I am genuinely elated that you tackled this subject and I'm honored to have been a small part of it. You're a true blue friend.
You are the Black Parade to My Chemical Romance
This portrayal of autism makes me so scared to tell people that I’m autistic I can’t believe it. Thank you for using your platform to spread awareness about this issue, unlike some others use their platforms
I don't blame you. It feels like the movie is mocking us and enjoys seeing people with autism struggling with this. Myself included of cause.
I have High functioning autism living day to day can be hard for me. I try my best to act nominal and hide it. I want to make movies one day. I’m horror writer and a fine artist. When it comes to understanding others and nominal stuff it becomes hard for me. I see movies like this all the time and don’t like it. I would like to make films that can help people understand how people like me really are.
Through what channels do you think you’ll make the films? I want to know where to look!
As a fellow Autistic and horror writer, I hope you make those films! I'm sure they'll be great, and we could really use some good representation
@pumpkin cakes hey, it's cool! It's always great to find other Unus Annus fans, so hi!
@autistic dogo nice! I'm also autistic and I'm actually studying animation in college right now. I want to make movies too!
I have mild autism, and what I really want to do form a heavy metal band, and create concept albums, albums that tell stories, and do heavily theatrical live shows.
I feel like they completely misunderstood how some autistic ppl enjoy pressure, like hugs and weight blankets and even being pinned down sometimes, and somehow got the idea that pressure would calm someone down during a meltdown when it actually has the opposite effect
Pressure, and any touch really, is best when you're prepared for it, or better yet have consented to it.
Yeah. I definitely like sensory pressure when I’m overwhelmed (especially around places like my shoulders) but that’s something that helps BEFORE I have a meltdown, and I only really like being touched at pretty much any point by certain people. (I.E: my mam and my partner) It can stop me from having a meltdown, but once I’m “in the meltdown”, for lack of a better term, don’t touch me without telling me because I will either start panicking more, or try to punch you. So yeah, can definitely agree with your point! 😁
This!! Sometimes when I'm really overwhelmed I ask my fiance for like, a really deep-pressure bear hug and it actually does help to calm me down when I'm headed toward a meltdown. However, it's like you said - I ASK him to do that for me. He doesn't force me into it, and therein lies The Big Difference
For the record, The Temple Grandin movie is one of the ONLY movies featuring ASD that gets it right without turning the project into a gratuitous self-award ceremony for discussing ASD. (yes, it won awards, but Temple herself got to be part of the decision making process and is a real person)
Fun fact: there's a post credit scene almost worst than the movie
Do I even want to know what occurred in said scene?
There's a massive hideous musical number that ends with the screen cutting to black and Music making a bunch of offensive gutteral yelping noises
@@inframeout 🤦♀️
Does anyone have the link? I would like to see what you mean
@@milkcatdog394 I couldn't find the scene (guess nobody had the courage to stay that long and record it) but if you do find the full movie online like on a streaming site go to around 1h45/46
As someone on the spectrum myself, it's always frustrated me to see autism represented so crudely in media. Like the video mentions, it's wound me up at this odd place where some of the best representation I find are from characters who are never declared to be autistic. In a way, that just makes them all the more relatable. Most folks don't go around talking about being autistic (heck, a lot of folks don't even _know_ they're autistic), meaning you just end up treating them like what they are: Normal human beings.
I guess that's the main lesson Hollywood needs to learn. We're people too. Don't define us by a diagnosis--define us by our individual character. Like you would anybody else.
For his role in "Rain Man", Dustin Hoffman worked alongside autistic men and their families for over a year in order to better understand their experiences. He also spent time with Kim Peek, the inspiration for his character in the film.
Just bc i don't cry doesn't mean I don't miss my grandfather
I only cry when I'm overwhelmed
I just watch terminator (he showed me the series)
Yeah. You know where a musical number would have REALLY fit? During that scene with the grandmother dying. Seeing Music seeming not to react on the outside but completely breaking down on the inside would have been impactful.
Although considering the style of the other musical numbers, it probably would have just ended up being even more insulting.
The quintessential problem with autism/ASD, at least in how it gets diagnosed and treated in psychology/psychiatry, is that it's defined primarily by what neurotypicals see when they observe autistic people, rather than what it's actually like to be on the spectrum/be autistic/have it. Which means that if an autistic person displays a response that confuses allistics/NTs, or seems not to have a response to a stimulus at all, that gets extrapolated and generalized in ways that are really flawed and already presume an otherness/lack of humanity or lack of similarity in the autistic person. And conversely, for decades it was assumed that if you'd displayed autistic traits as a kid, but now as an adult you could pass as allistic if not completely NT, you weren't autistic anymore, regardless of how much energy it took people to keep from "acting autistic." It's such a batshit way to conceptualize a condition/neurodivergence.
(What's also weird is that chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia get a treatment that's similar in some ways, where "experts" tend to rely on their own observations or preconceived notions of what chronic pain looks like, or what "being really sick" (instead of just attention-seeking) looks like, instead of taking the patient's word for it that something is wrong. IMO in some ways, this seems to be a problem endemic within medicine as a whole.)
@@sholem_bond there's an ableism problem in the medical field
If more people with chronic illnesses were involved the diagnostic criteria would be different
Autistic organization made diagnostic materials specifically for self diagnosis
But u can't exactly treat physical ailments that way, so from a disability activism standpoint that would be a place to put efforts
Even just watching the clips of the movie in this video upset me. Misrepresentation in media like this really needs to stop.
It's appalling, inexcusable and absolutely needs to be tossed in the trash from here on out.
Burn it with fire and then stomp on it to make sure it stays dead.
Will this be a career killer for Sia? Both the movie and soundtrack have flopped hard and her last holiday album didn't set the charts on fire either.
Being in the spectrum myself, seeing Sia's career crash and burn down like the Hindenburg is super satisfying
I am hoping that this is the end for her, and the embarrassment from this crap show will make her fade from relevance.
I've had no idea Sia was behind this, I just thought she provided the music :/ I legit lost every respect for her
I did a year of national service at a school for physically and mentally challenged kids
and the biggest emphasis was always about empowering them to express themselves and find their place in the world, as equals.
I remember watching the elephant man for the first time after that year and bursting into tears as Joseph cries "I'm not an animal ,I'm a human being" (I started crying just writing it now)
I have worked with some people on the spectrum and had the experience of getting to know these kids. slowly everything that's different between us melts away.
if you truly put the time to get to know them they are just people.
and if Sia thinks that that caricature is an accurate depiction of an "autistic" then I cant believe she ever even thought to talk to anyone on the spectrum to get their opinion
in any case great video
i realy like your stuff
Thank you so much for sharing your story.
I do not for one second believe Sia researched this film for three years - because if she'd spent even a day online she would have realised her worldview is one of ignorance and repulsive condescension
"The soul of a dead Asian character rides a rickshaw to Heaven" sounds like a joke that got cut from Tropic Thunder. :D
Prone... restraint...? This... has that?
I'm crying. I haven't even seen this, and I'm crying. Thank you for the 'we can and have done better'. Especially mentioning Temple. And J's words at the end... I'm not on the spectrum. But I've had too many friends that are to not feel sick just from the long build up to Music.
They literally refer to prone restraint as "Crushing with love"
@@inframeout This would not only cause a meltdown. Also seizures and PTSD episodes as well.
"High functioning" autistic here. When I was in 3rd grade, I was put into the "special Ed" class despite not needing to be there. They (teachers) were required to "practice" doing that to us, EVEN IF WE HADN'T DONE ANYTHING TO HARM OURSELVES OR OTHERS. They used us like practice dummies and would pull us away from lessons to do it.
@@hylianexpected1171 I litterally... practice? Practice.
We can be idiots, us humans.
@@hylianexpected1171 That’s awful. I know how that feels. I was sent to a classroom for bad kids, and whenever I had a panic attack, they would force me to the floor, the teacher’s aid would sit on my legs, the teacher would put me in a chokehold, and they’d repeatedly scream “STOP PRETENDING YOU CAN’T BREATHE!” And since every other kid in that class was a bully, they would constantly go out of their way to push me to that point. All for not being able to sit still. I was “distracting,” whatever that means. You know what else is distracting? Not being able to focus because me focusing is “distracting!”
I have three relatives with autism as it runs in my family; my brother, a cousin, and a nephew. My brother just seems awkward and shy, and his autistic behavior is more apparent for those who are close to him. He's high functioning, but because he didn't get help until his 30's he has had immense struggles to keep up. My cousin is on the lower end of high functioning; his behavior and speech patterns make his autism fairly obvious, and he still struggles with some basic tasks, but because he got diagnosed and helped as a young child, he's gotten his outbursts almost entirely under control and responds well to people requesting that he lower his voice while speaking, and he has an AMAZING job that he excels at because it involves one of his hyperfixations. My nephew is very low-functioning; he can communicate only through a touch pad, requires the assistance of a service dog, and has to wear earmuffs to block out noise so that he doesn't suffer from overstimulation and have a meltdown. Even he does not act ANYTHING like Music did in this movie; he doesn't make bizarre faces, he doesn't vocalize often, he doesn't do the goofy gestures shown in this film. This exaggerates autism SO much and I don't understand how Sia still doesn't seem to understand how horrible her depiction of autism is. It looks nothing like this.
Probably my favorite example of an autistic character in media is Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia. He's not confirmed autistic, but I see a lot of my own autistic traits in him, such as a special interest in heroes and quirks (superpowers). His story also has a lot of parallels to and autistic person's life. He was bullied as a child for being quirkless, which is basically like a disability in the MHA world, and everyone discouraged him from following how dream of becoming a hero because they thought it was impossible. Even after he gets a quirk, he still isn't as good with it as others are with theirs, because they've had theirs since childhood and he only got his on the day of the UA entrance exam. He has to learn a lot of strategies to use his quirk without destroying himself, just like how autistic people may use strategies to keep themselves from having meltdowns.
You have to saw Kamille Bidan from Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta, he is good representation of autistic character.
For me it's Hiroshi Odokawa from Odd Taxi. He gives me TONS of neurodivergent vibes: He's blunt with his words, has difficulty expressing emotions, can notice details that others would find insignificant and has a routine he sticks to all the time (he always gets to work on time and always listens to the same radio show during his shift because he enjoys it). Hell, most of the time he talks to people is when he doesn't make eye contact since he's a cabbie and they always sit in the back behind him.
@@bananatiergodI totally agree! The flashback where we see into his childhood is textbook autism and I related to it a lot. In terms of anime I also see Ranpo Edogawa from Bungo Stray Dogs as being on the spectrum too!
If the parallels to autism in his story are being quirkless, then doesn't gaining a quirk (fixing his quirklessness) imply that it's an allegory for "fixing" his autism?
@@Nixahma not really, he’s still at a disability due to the way the story is written
you put more care and effort into this 20> minute video than sia did in her entire fucking sham of a film. not that she set the bar very high to begin with.. but i appreciate the way you handled this topic. can't say the same for her, however..
Claire Danes did an empathetic portrayal of someone with bipolar disorder (in Homeland), so nice to see that wasn’t a fluke.
She's overall an extremely underrated actor
Her portrayal of Temple Grandin (who has autism) was absolutely graceful, and this is coming from an autistic person.
This was a great and educative video, keep up the great work. Abed was one of the most relateable characters in TV for me and i love how handle it in the christmas rap, with Abed saying "On the spectrum, none of your business ".
The exploitation of people with A.S.D to feed the egos of celebrities is truly disgusting
It's happened for years, it will no doubt continue for some time (because getting Hollywood to change is like steering an oil tanker in a canal) but here's hoping that this repulsive film at least sparks enough conversations to sway public perception against this trash
Mary and Max is really good at representation of one person on the spectrum because Max was based on a pen pal of the director and said pen pal apparently approved the script too.
So the director of this movie basically shows his work by talking to at least one person who has the same condition and most likely a lot more research on the side too.
I actually have a classmate with Asperger’s and she is one of the nicest people I ever met :)
As someone diagnosed with ASD as an adult, the idea of restraint that this movie showed makes me deeply unsettled. I wasn't diagnosed because, basically, doctors were looking for this "Music" kind of presenting, not me, who "reads" as "not autistic"... which is just. Urgh. How many years of pain would it have saved me if it was more talked about and shown in a better, more accurate way?
All I really care is that there exists a clear distinction between the movie Sia believed she was making, and the movie she actually made. . . and it's hilarious. I love watching pretentious vanity projects go full Hindenburg.
I'm pretty sure Ziegler didn't even want to do the act, but she's kind of stuck with Sia because contracts
I’m autistic and when my grandmother died I cried violently for hours every day for the next 6 months. Sometimes autistic people may not react the same as neurotyoical people. We usually have extreme reactions that are hypo or hyper. Suggesting that music wouldn’t even care that her grandmother died is so insulting.
I bet Sia only decided to make a musical out of this trainwreck movie because she noticed how amazing K-12 is... of course she didn't understand what makes K-12 special and so Sia automatically messed it up.
I'm not surprised Music turned out the way it did since Autism Speaks was involved. I am so sorry for all the scenery and costumes because I need to admit they look gorgeous! And of course I'm incredibly sorry for Maddie. She was forced into this role and she was forced to pull through it, I hope this movie didn't ruin future career chances for her because of the controversy 💔
Nope, she did this ages ago before K-12. Also, what the hell does that even have to do with this?
Autism Speaks has actually confirmed on Twitter that they were not involved in the production of the movie and even said that autistic people should tell their own stories. Likely what happened was that Sia used their website for guidance but no consultation.
Every new thing I learn about this film is more horrifying than the last.
This movie is a big old harmful dangerous mess. Sia refused to listen to anyone else, and seems to think that intentions are actions, and her vanity projects are untouchable. Gross when you consider how much good the money thrown away on this project could have done for the autistic community.
We can't blame Maddie for this, she was very opposed to it and even had breakdowns during filming because she didn't like what she was being forced to do. The blame is 100% on Sia.
Surely Kate Hudson couldn't have been that hard up for cash to agree to do this fecking film. Wtf, woman?
Truly, truly baffled that nobody read this script or saw the first day of shooting and immediately called their agent to say "Get me out of this disaster"
Honestly I can totally believe she was. Just looking at her wiki page she hadn't had a movie credit for 4 years before this came out which makes sense because she type casted herself by doing a bunch of dumb romcoms
Probably not, but I truly believe she saw this as an Award bait role, something 'indie' and 'edgy' that would stand out on her resume and show her 'range.' But it says way more about her as a person than an actor and, spoiler alert, it's negative
Positive representation of people (mostly not canon) somewhere on the spectrum, *according to me* :
- Bilbo Baggins *Hobbit
- Gandalf and Radagast *Hobbit & LotR
- Luna Lovegood *Harry Potter
- Sherlock Holmes *not NECESSARILY just the TV show, but more positively in the actual books
- Todd *Dead Poets Society
- Alan Turing *Imitation Game (mostly because it was based on the real Alan)
- Maurice Ross *The IT Club
- Simon *The Spiderwick Chronicles
- Hickup *How to Train Your Dragon
- Luisa *Jane the Virgin
- Enola Holmes *Enola Holmes
- Riley *inside out
- Flint Lockwood *Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
Flint Lockwood ❤️ Luna ❤️
it’s interesting to think of Riley as possibly being on the spectrum, as I’d always just assumed her specific relationship to her own emotional life and expressing it/understanding it was just about going through puberty, but that is a very interesting potential additional element to the story!
As a cartoon fan i'm legally obligated to mention Ferb Fletcher and Heinz Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, as autism and adhd respectively
Marcy from Amphibia could be autistic too.
Abed may be as richly written as he is in part because Dan Harmon is on the spectrum. There's something to be said I think for writers diagnosed with ASD also getting a shot at representing it accurately. It all starts with the script.
I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but this is probably as close as possible as we're going to get to a real-life version of "Simple Jack." And I really, really, REALLY wish I didn't find that as funny as I did.
God I love Scrubs, and as an autistic person I loved that episode and was pleasantly surprised to see it being shouted out!
I think this is a really pure example of fame and wealth completely alienating it's creator from reality. What makes it all even sadder is that this changes my perception of Sia's music career and the values she likes to project through it. It honestly shocks me how anyone with such an undeniable talent as her could fall so far into making something as misguided as this, but maybe that just means her value system has gotten lost in the ether somewhere since becoming such a megastar and we all need to just move on to someone else. Which, to be honest, most people have now anyway.
I loved sia. I loved her music. Followed her for years. But my twin brother is autistic, non-verbal, and very much the extreme side of autistic. I am lower spectrum. It broke my fucking heart to see the hand gestures, the twitching mannerisms and the stereotypical humming and headphones...like she was making fun of us.The self harming, the vocalizations, the ‘outbursts’, those were caricatures of a real experience. Broke my goddamn heart.
If someone showed me this and told me it was a horror movie I'd believe them with no questions
lmao a relabelling of genre is going to improve this a bit lol
Like, just a smidgen.
I remember seeing one of my classmates being restrained when he was having a breakdown. One of the deans (the people who work with the bad students and punishments) came to our class and picked up the child, who was still crying and screaming, and took him out of class with everyone else watching him. Nobody deserves any kind of restraining at all.
Great video. It's obvious how much time and work you put into these things. They're always a joy to watch, even when the subject matter is reprehensible.
My son is autistic, my daughter is almost certainly autistic, I was informally diagnosed at 48 by my son's therapist, and my wife is on the spectrum.
It presents very differently in each of us, and none of us neatly fit either of the main Hollywood stereotypes you talk about here.
And wow, the film looks tone-deaf in almost every way, not just in its portrayal of autism!
Thank you so so much for reaching out with your story Danny. As the young man I consulted states at the end of this video - "Autism isn't a monolith" and I'm wishing all the best to you and yours :)
As an autistic person, this movie is very hurtful to me. This movie deserves nothing but to be buried in the garden after being shot in the face.
The fact Sia had a hit on the pop charts after this movie is astounding, especially since that hit was terrible "empowering" fluff that doesn't help how genuinely disgusting this movie is.
Sia's laughter at 6:06 makes her sound positively psychopathic 😳
@@inframeout Hey, if we're going to be talking about good representation of neurodiversity, can we not use a term that's hugely stigmatizing to people with personality disorders specifically and has ripple effects that harm people with mental illnesses more generally?
That laugh fully gave me the creeps too, but words mean things.
Fair point
@@MissaBrevis That's interesting that you should say that, because I can't really think of a good substitute for the word "psychopathic" here. I wouldn't call someone "retarded" when they do something stupid, or "bipolar" when they have mood swings, so I do consider my choice of words, and I used that word here for a reason. Sam Vaknin, an author on narcissism, believes that while the world has been turning more narcissistic for a while now, it has recently taken on the flavour of psychopathic narcissism, its more dangerous variant. I think he is right about that, and we should be on the lookout for signs of such personality disorders in the celebrities we celebrate (or decide not to celebrate).
@@sontrajamfemininegaze145 I see your point, but I think it's a lot more useful to look for behaviors than to try and diagnose people, especially celebrities who we don't know personally.
Terrifying, disturbing, extremely unsettling, etc would all be good substitutes that would be less stigmatizing than "psychopathic".
There is a reason why DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is so incredibly stigmatized and it is because of the films like Pyscho, Split, the recent movie of "Deadly Illusions", etc.
DID, schizophrenia, schizoid, etc are all "synonymous" with "psychopath" in modern day English because of how villianized and misunderstood these orders are. "Pyschopath, lunacy, maniac, crazy, insane", all have been used to demonize people with mental health issues or who are neurodiverse. Despite our best intentions, these words have history and meaning beyond what we as individuals prescribe them.
The restraint is super old. My mom was taught to do this with my brother. But we held him in our lap while he screamed bloody murder. He has sensory issues. We never got him tested for autism because in the 90s we didn’t do that type of thing.
I think "Out Of Date" should be the subtitle for this film in general regarding its representation and ideological view.
so, i'm not on the spectrum (at least, not officially) but i am adhd and i've found a lot of overlap between myself and people who are on the spectrum, and because of that (and because i am so high empathy i literally cannot function sometimes) this is the first review of "music" i've watched. and i just like, god i can't even word this properly i'm sorry, adhd brain, but like, the musical sections, you're totally right about them, like, i had to look away while watching this because i could feel the sensory overload coming on, and i had to pause a few times to get my bearings back, and that's *without* the audio that i'm sure would make it 10x worse. like, jesus h this is so clearly a cash grab i can't, thank you for tearing it to pieces, it was very cathartic to watch.
9:00 as an autistic person with trauma related to restraint, I can’t fucking deal with that scene anymore without nearing tears. This movie was made to hurt people like me.
I am an adult man who was diagnosed with PDD-nos when I was in grade 9. I was deeply depressed due to trouble in school with my peers and my homework. After I tried to hurt myself I was diagnosed and placed on a path of "recovery" (at the time it was more recovery from depression, which then shifted to learning about how to cope with my autistic tendencies) after roughly 6 and a half years of social therapy and hard work, I was a contributing member of society who graduated college. Now I am 31, living on my own attending college once again as an engineer. people with ASD are just like everyone else, we learn and grow, just a little differently then most.
Thank you for uploading this video. I am a single father of a handicapped and autistic son. This movie is so offensive and disrespectful. My son is absolutely the light of my life and he inspires me. I am grateful for you taking the time to explain the mocking nature of this movie.
13:11
I HIGHLY disagree.
Julia herself is fantastic. I love her character despite her being played by a neurotypical person. The problem is how other characters treat her. Young kids are going to look up to and follow the examples of Big Bird, Abby, and Elmo. They’re constantly learning new things from them, and inherently are going to try to adopt their mannerisms. So when Abby Cadabby (age 4) talks to Julia (age 4) like she’s a dog, it’s going to encourage allistic children to speak to their autistic friends and classmates like they’re dogs. I have been playing around with the idea of writing an essay about all of the dangerous things Sesame Workshop has promoted in their autism campaign. I have serious beef with Sesame Street about this. There are just so many factors that contribute to why showing Julia’s episodes to allistic kids is dangerous for their social development. I just don’t have the spoons or the character space to type them all out here.
TLDR: Sesame Street’s take on autism encourages allistic children to treat their autistic peers as lesser humans.
Not just ASD, but when someone is having a seizure, you can’t restrain them either!
"i'm crushing her with my love" no you're not
Thank you for talking about this. I'm just tired of seeing people portrayed in unfair and hurtful ways. I hope more people watch this video (and as many others as they can) about this awful film. And thank you for recommending creators on this site that I can check out.
Another thing to note is that Sia’s whole brand essentially boils down to “be yourself, special and unique!!” So it’s a no brainer that she’d latch onto autism to bolster that image of hers.
Unfortunately this is not the first or last time many autistic people have experienced being parasitised by people looking to appear quirky by using our nature.
as an autistic girl, sias depiction of autism is DISGUSTINGLY inacurrste, as from my experience (or atleast from what my mom sees) im a bubbly girl who does not AT ALL act animalistic or infantile. yeah, i may be lay but that is not in the SLIGHTEST from what sias depiction of autism in music is. i pester my mom for hugs and food, and i love telling my mom about stuff im hyperfixating about (usually splatoon or skullgirls). i do NOT constantly make strange noises, act like a little girl or need restraint (infact restraint would make me terrified).
As an individual who's been diagnosed at a young age, I know exactly how its like. There's a whole lot of misrepresentation. I feel like Sia went the "look, give me money" kind of route. There's a few scenes that actually make me feel uncomfortable in my skin, especially the "I'm crushing her with my love" scene.
My younger sister who has mild autism understands grief pretty well. When our great grandpa passed away in 2020, we explained to her her that he wasn’t coming back and she did cry for a while. She now says that grandpa is now in the starts 😢
i am an autistic person and at times i lose my ability to speak (becoming nonverbal). the portrayal of nonverbal autism is something that pangs my heart to see because it is combining autistic traits that some people may show into just a big pile that creates an overexaggerated caricature.
i tend to bite my lip a lot. many autistic people find great relief in biting things and it's why chewerly (chewable jewelry) is something some autisitc people have. i will also tend to make grunting noises similar to that of music when im nonverbal, particuarly when im overwhelmed.
these traits are displayed in a way that is overexaggerated and it frustrates me because it is not genuine. it is causing many different types of harm.
not to mention but i also worry sometimes as seeming like im exaggerating my own autism because of this movie. since i am only nonverbal sometimes i worry people will see me as being an attention seeker for when i go nonverbal. it is genuinely scary and i have been trying to hide it for years and years. not to mention people will yell at me to speak.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and understanding
Those flashing lights and bright colirs mixed with the rapidly changing faces made me have a bit of a meltdown that I was able to mask until i got to my zone.
As a person who has an Autistic sister, this is insulting, to say the least. After me and my family lost many close family members, I can say that the stigma of not showing grief and sadness is disgusting. Most of the stereotypes in media are disgusting.
Can I just add that Music was said to be mixed race and they purposefully darkened Maddie's skin for the film (also she's wearing ethnic hairstyles in some of the music video parts)