Autism in Film and Television On the Island

<p>Global awareness of autism has skyrocketed since the 1980s, and popular culture has caught on, with film and television producers developing ever more material featuring autistic characters. <i>Autism in Film and Television</i> brings together more than a dozen essays on depictions of autism, exploring how autistic characters are signified in media and how the reception of these characters informs societal understandings of autism.</p> <p>Editors Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer have assembled a pioneering examination of autism's portrayal in film and television. Contributors consider the various means by which autism has been expressed in films such as <i>Phantom Thread,</i> <i>Mercury Rising</i>, and <i>Life Animated</i> and in television and streaming programs including <i>Atypical</i>, <i>The Bridge</i>, <i>Stranger Things</i>, <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i>, and <i>Community</i>. Across media, the figure of the brilliant, accomplished, and "quirky" autist has proven especially appealing. Film and television have thus staked out a progressive position on neurodiversity by insisting on screen time for autism but have done so while frequently ignoring the true diversity of autistic experience. As a result, this volume is a welcome celebration of nonjudgmental approaches to disability, albeit one that is still freighted with stereotypes and elisions.</p>