On humor, Hollywood, and autism

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2013)

This weekend I went to see the final installment of "The Hangover" with some neurotypical (those who most would call "normal") friends. Actually, there's nothing really typical about them. Can't say they are really great friends, nor are they particularly wise, but I feel relaxed around them. They don't seem to understand much about autism, nor how much the movie portrays some of my characteristics when I was younger (they have been involved with schizophreniics), but at least they are open-minded.
I probably laughed harder than anyone in the theater at the character "Alan", who is played by a very funny comedian. Alan is a 42-year-old man who lives with his parents, holed up behind the walls of his room, and he couldn't be more of an abusive ass. He also exhibits nearly all of the characteristics known to people these days of Aspergers Syndrome (good and bad), plus some traits which aren't associated with autism at all. Nobody actually used either word aspergers or autism, but it was more than implicit.
Although I laughed, I have found much of this movie (and the current direction of Hollywood comedy in general) to be no laughing matter. I can laugh because I have learned to laugh at myself, being one who has had to live with some of the symptoms which the movie characterizes (albeit grossly exaggerated). If I couldn't laugh, I doubt very much that I would still be alive today at 46. This may be just a comedy, and of course I know better than to look to any movie for education or vindication on anything - still, I've been on this earth long enough to see just how influential even a slapstick production can be on opinions.
What isn't funny about Alan is that he is implicitly portrayed as autistic, he has very little trouble expressing himself verbally, yet he is an insensitive bum. I have always worked hard for what I have, although my parents provided college funding and I stayed until I was ready to go a few years later, I never, ever asked them or anybody for money! The portrayal of the adult aspie as one who is intentionally nasty, and won't do anything for himself is extremely unfair and defamatory! Alan doesn't understand appropriate self-regulation of his social behavior - fair enough, but I haven't met any autistics who would do anything particularly manipulative, much less drug their friends! Adding to this the implied pedophelia is just sickening, and completely unfounded.
What was mostly lacking was Alan's pain, with all the crushing shame that would haunt a typical autistic adult when he makes social mistakes. Autistic people are highly intelligent, and this does not spare them (myself included) the perception of insult or emotional harm if they have caused that to another person. They can be deeply empathetic regarding any pain which they may have caused - the problem is with not understanding how they have caused others to hurt, thereby making their social navigation profoundly confusing and accident-prone. Well, of course there's nothing funny about pain!
I realize that we must be able to laugh in order to be healthy, and that means we need something (and usually somebody) to laugh at. But when Jack Nicholson spoofed Tourette's Syndrome in the seventies, he didn't attempt to portray the underlying personality of his character, therefore any misrepresentations had to be far less egregious. There once was enough creativity in Hollywood to produce characters who which were very funny, but not too close to anybody who would likely exist in the real world that it would influence real-world opinion. What causes me feelings of despair is the fact that this modern-day comedy went too far in exploiting the aspergers condition, and it went almost entirely uncensured (as the Google evidence makes it apparent). In a time where child aspies have never been more the target of bully hatred, the comedians have picked the aspie as their new whipping boy, and they are inspired by a culture which tends to believe that the line between that multimillion-dollar-joke and cruel defamation is wherever they decide to plant their feet!