Stephen Black writes:
>>But now I'm wondering about _Shine_, the film about the troubled
pianist David Helfgott. Was his problem autism, or was it
schizophrenia?
The literature that came out at the time of the film maintained that Helfgott still has no diagnosis. And didn't we discuss it on TIPS when "SHine" came out? (Have never been able to get the TIPS gopher to work, so maybe someone who can might find that info if there's any interest.)
The closest I ever heard to a "possibility" was schizoid characteristics (schizotypal?). (Don't have my DSM-IV here.) Clearly his unorthodox behavior is abnormal. His language distortions and mumbling are interesting. I found this piece about him that might interest TIPS readers:
http://www.tranceform.org/helfgott.html
The author of the piece takes a "Szaszian" view that "abnormal" is in the eye of the beholder, and just because Helfgott marches to a different drummer doesn't mean he should be judged "insane." Helfgott certainly makes a good argument for Szasz' iconoclastic view of mental illness. (Or as S. would probably describe it, "non-mental illness.")
The question got me wondering though, and I found a whole webpage devoted to autism in the movies. Of course we've all seen "Rain Man," but of the others I've only seen "House of Cards," which was rather bizarre and improbable. The little girl "becomes" autistic because of grief over her father's death and she gets "cured" by building a tall structure she bravely climbs. It was pretty weird, but if you're looking for some clips to use that show autistic behavior, it might be a good one to use. But don't waste time showing the whole movie.
Here's the site:
http://www.autism.org/movies.html
For those of you who don't want to look it up, here's a list of the names of the movies:
Autism in the Movies
Written by Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.
Backstreet Dreams
Change of Habit
House of Cards
Rain Man
Silence (also known as Crazy Jack and The Boy)
The Boy Who Could Fly
Beth Benoit
College for Lifelong Learning
Daniel Webster College
Portsmouth NH campuses
Title: A./A. in the movies + a list & site
