Movie Review: Mary and Max

I saw this on netflix out of shear serendipity, it's a cute claymation movie called Mary and Max. Mary Dinkle is a 8 year old girl from Australia and Max is a middle age man with Aspergers and lives in New York and they are pen-pals. It look like a cute movie, so I decided to give it a shot.

Right away I like the animation it reminds me of Wallace and Gromit. It's rather cute and whimsical with narration and the textured desaturated claymation. Mary has a pet rooster named Ethel, makes her own toys from things she finds, her mother is an acholotic that shop lifts and her dad never talks to her. Despite that, she is sweet cute and I seem to like her. Max is obviously aspie, over eats but is also good natured. He's also Jewish and mother committed suicide.

It's also strangely heartbreaking, because Mary is constantly teased, on her second letter to Max she is crying because of the constant bullying and asks Max for help. It's not really meant for children really, because of some of Mary's questions and some of Max's own responses, but it's not our right R. Max also has a severe meltdown and is sent to a pysch ward. It's powerful how while funny and kinda adorkable, it's also painfully real and raw on their lives.

(Bonus Max wears an Aspies for Freedom shirt and I laughted a little)

Max does explain to Mary (in his simple monotone and frank way) what Aspie is. He states to her which nearly made me tear up again. "I like being an aspie, I do not want to change it. As it like changing the color of my eyes"

It's very raw, cute and heartbreaking. It's different from most cartoons and stories with autistic folks. Which why I give it
5 out of 5 hand flaps.

Thoughts on "Horse Boy"

I heard about this book months ago at the library, and the premised sounded interesting. Of course I did lift a huge eyebrow on a shamanic horseback ride in Mongolia with their autistic son. That made me go "Oh. White people."

Hate it when privilege families do this crap.

I do have my linger doubts about this movie as an autist and one that is also a shamanic path. I am curious to see how much of this is hokey New Age and White privilege and how much of it is genuine love and an acceptance with a dash of spiritualism.

Now, I will say, I find horse-back riding to be powerfully soothing and it's probably the only natural talent I have, it doesn't make my symptoms go away, but it does allow me to think, and be as I am. I could give up all my meds, to be riding regularly again. I miss riding a lot.


The beginning of course starts off with the typical 'Autism ruin us and our child blah blah we tried everything blah blah nothing work, we were desperate." I wasn't terribly intrigued with that.


Though hearing Rupert go on about how Rowan was calmer and opened up to him on horse back was kinda interesting, I thought to myself "Hippotherapy could be us-oh." Then he mentioned he wanted use shamanic healing because he had experience with it when he was in Africa. Oh. Well. At least his wife had some common sense. But they did decide to go Mongolia to travel on horse back to he shaman after shaman and being crazy white people with shit tons of money Christ


They give this kid Valtrex really. Oh they believe in the "Heavy Metals" shit. Great....


I have to admit though, the drumming by the shamans sound like a horse galloping, I was getting really into it. However I kinda rolled my eyes, as they describe that the spirit of Kristin's grandmother was on Rowan, according to the shamans and she is bi-polar, and trying to "take their son away?" Good God.

Quote: "I had to ask myself, did really have his best interest at heart? Was I terrible father?"

Oh Jesus Christ on a Cracker. You dragged our autistic kid to Mongolia. For whacky shamanic crap and you decide that this time was good idea to matyrize. Spirits of the earth...please help me.

Well at least Rowan got use to the shamanic ritual and chilled out, nice adjustment little bro, however I kinda felt bad for Tomo the little Mongolian boy who seemed put off by Rowan. However his interaction with him is endearing and seeing him doing more play with him is nice. Maybe I am jealous because I played by myself and I never liked playing with others. Mostly because I jut got sick of being the "retard".

Though the whole thing with auties being one of the reason humanity is successful is nice little ego boost. THANKS TEMPLE! Rowan is supper cute with the goats though. However when he reject the horse-riding I did feel for Rupert a bit. But...At the same time. Why didn't Rupert let Rowan easy himself on the horse? Let Rowan get to know his partner? It felt like the forced him on the horse. It was bit...jarring.

Eventually Rowan did calm himself while riding and I think this line touched me
Quote:" I am a better father because of his autism." Awww that is kinda cute.

The part of the reindeer herders that live on the Siberian border, is kinda...cute. Over all I was expecting the same, spiritual mumbo jumbo. What I got was something that didn't surprise me, but still made me happy. The reindeer herder believed that Rowan could be a shaman in the future. This brought a grin to my face, because it's common for some indigenous cultures to believe autists could be shamans and that they are different because they are more spiritually attuned to the earth. Personally I rather take that tripe over poisons by vaccines. As a shaman myself, this is kinda encouraging.

Near the end, the shaman said to Rupert and Kristin, that Rowan's incontinence and meltdowns will go away immediately, after he finished healing him. I lifted an eyebrow. Yeah he maybe potty trained, but the meltdowns won't go away. However just as I expected, he was bathrooming on his own and there were more shots of him being chilled than tired and cranky. Oh ok. Was it the power of the shaman, or Rowan learning to adapt? I be the family believes the former...*shrug* I did like the prayer that Rupert gave was to intergration and understanding than a cure. Not bad.


Over all the movie was...meh. I was more annoyed at the privlege of the family than anything else. At least the movie pushed the, "Accept not cure" idea. Which was at least reassuring. Rupert said his son is still autistic but lost all the suffering that came with it and moved passed the emotional and physical incontinence through shamanism. I am still waiting for my shamanic miracle as I pray and listen to the sprirts, but then again. I don't need a miracle.

3 and half hand-flaps.

Bard's on Autism now Part 1 and Part 2

Ok ok, blame my illness. But I decided to watch the NewsHour Autism Now special, because I have been slacking in responsive blog. I'll be watching part one and two tonight and three and four tomorrow.

Yeah guys pray for me.


Thoughts on Part one
-MacNeil introduced us to his grandson Nick and right away I knew this entire report is going to be biased. Nick is kind of cute, and he makes the same "eeeeee" http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnoise I do! He lists off the symptoms of autism and then explains that his grandson his digestive problems.

-Ok so his mom does the "I know it's those "ebil vaccines" conspiracy and says that her kid cries all the time and has the runs. Ok well let just put another frame of ref. I have bowel issues (TMI I know) and I have issues when I just end up being grumpy and rather pissed off, but the tummy problems could be from diet and emotion regulations though an autistic issue in some cases can also be a bi-polar issue too.

-Nealy the sister sounds honestly too rehearsed. She definitely has Normal Child Syndrome many of the questions he asks his granddaughter feel directed like he is getting certain answers. It makes me uncomfortable.

-Nick has an obsession with buses, so why didn't you warn him when you changed his schedule suddenly? You know auties have issues with change, hell I still do and I'm 24. At least the kid seems to be flexible enough to go with it. Kudos for Nick

over all Part one seems...ok....but I know the worse is yet to come.


Thoughts on Part two

-Right away MacNeil goes on the "More common than AIDS cancer and diabetes" tripe. Why do people keep bring that up I mean c'mon

-The introduction to Julie Perin and Logan showed obviously that autism can show up in many ways (DUH IT'S SPECTRUM) what perked my interest was the something that Sally said. She said Julie many not communicate verbal but non-verbal communication works as well.

-Once again...spectrum with Logan and his brothers. Also omg stop with the "high-mid-low functioning thing"

-Yus duh, wider diagnosis is why we have such a rise in cases. BUT THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU. (also <3 Grinker)

Ugh It seems MacNeil keeps pushing for environmental causation instead of "Oh hey maybe it's because we changed the diagnosis crits"

over all it wasn't HORRIBLE but it made me feel icky watching


BIASED MEDIA, UR DOIN IT MACNEIL

Review: Autism: The Musical

Mel gave me a new movie to review for my blog. As a person that loves a good movie I jumped on it. Now she warned me that it's a mix-mood film. Some parts will make you “frown face” others she said I would love. So I am prepared. Hopefully it would be inspiring and wonderful film.

Plot: The movie is centered around five children Lexi, Neal, Henry, Wyatt, and Adam. It's documentary on a drama and movement group for special needs kids and around Elaine who runs it.

Pros:
-Neal's mom kinda made me smile, she loved and accepted her little boy (who is non verbal) and tried another approach to helping her son communicate. The treatment she was using looked like the Son Rise style of social education which from my experience is less invasive than ABA she also used more creative methods which I liked.
-I am gonna to adopt Henry <3 He's friggin adorable. He's also an aspie autist. We can both geek out over dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures.
-Also Adam is also presh <3 (Flirt too, Go boy, git it git it!)
-I really feel for Wyatt, he does have the “aspie honesty” trait and tells it like it is. I was a lot like him, I withdrew a lot, but the line of “I don't even know why I go into my own world it doesn't even make sense.” Hit home for me. He's so lonely like I was so desperate for a friend. He likes Henry and gets frustrated with him. But you can see that he wants so bad to have someone to talk to...someone who can protect him from bullies
-Lexi reminds me of Tikaani a lot. She's semi-verbal but still very bright. Also a good singer. Those two can totally do a duet (if Tikaani can just stand still for a moment before he bolts off at something XD)
-Roslynn verbally smacking the second in command for the Miracle Project made me grin. She was so peeved to find her son's cello piece cut from the script. Her line “The cello is his voice” totally made me woot. I am artist, drawing is my voice if someone told me after months of working hard on a drawing that I couldn't put it up in gallery. I'll be pissy too. Go Ros go!
-The FC scene was also powerful. I wonder if Elaine would like to meet DJ Sevarese
-The play itself was bright and Adam got to play his cello!






Cons
-I just straight up disliked Lexi's mom on the first five minutes of the movie. Her dad Joe, I heart him. He's loving father.
-Vetrice is just...I hated when she said “Wow, if he wasn't autistic imagine the possiblities.” I mean c'mon woman. Kid is a doll, and verbal and smart and friggin savant he's gonna be a heart breaker when grows up.
Wyatt's line broke my heart “Mom! When bullies grow up they get meaner” I was at the point of tears, because it's true. They get meaner and they get away with it too. Like the AutSpks drones.
The over exaggeration of eye contacted bugged me for some reason
The birthday party pissed me off. I have no idea why Elaine thought it was a good idea to have a birthday party for her classically autistic son. And when Neal hurt that kid by throwing him it was away of saying “I am done” yeah it was a bad move but it was obvious that he was trying to communicate something. Jesus woman....
The parent room scene was interesting but at the same time I was rather pissed off at Hillary. Your kid is eight grade and learning to wash dishes because she needs to learn to take care of them at her how house when she lives independently. I didn't learn to properly wash dishes until I was around fifteen. Don't jump on teachers for teaching your kid life skills. That should be your job bitch, but you're too busy mourning the loss of the man you shoved away. Also I think you are projecting a lot. You can't even value Lexi.

Overall the kids themselves were pretty damn cute. Parents were ok, and yet...I was more resonating with the kids than the parents. Then again...I am an autist myself.

Tikaani says:
“This movie was interesting and adaptive and I felt that I could be in the play too, I hope someone ends up valuing me too.

I give it three and half flappy-hands. Decent watch if you can ignore the self-pity that some of the parents have.