Portrayal in popular media is perhaps the most efficient way of raising awareness for any subject. However, these portrayals are not always accurate, as they are sometimes tweaked for entertainment purposes. This paper will study two different portrayals of autism, Christopher Boone from the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Raymond Babbitt from the movie Rain Man. In comparing the two, Christopher is the more accurate portrayal due to his consistency in displaying autistic symptoms and traits. Frith (2003) names impairment in social interaction and a lack of personal relationships as criteria for an autistic diagnosis. Christopher has a lack of any close personal relationships throughout the book; he is not close
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When Elle, a young autistic female, stayed in a cabin during a family vacation, she became highly distressed by her new living quarters and the presence of another family in the cabin (Park, 1995). Raymond barely reacted to staying in various hotel rooms with Charlie and Charlie’s girlfriend, despite rapid and large changes to his environment. Raymond only asked that the bed be moved, and to watch his favorite TV shows (Levinson and Johnson, 1988). Though these requests are accurate, his reaction to a completely new room, with complete strangers, and none of his belongings seems subdued. Christopher adjusted well to a new house in London, but he only spent time in two homes, while Raymond was forced to move frequently. Christopher also demonstrates his desire for a routine by never abandoning his rule of only eating red food and by his desire to take his A level maths (Haddon, 2003). Given that Christopher is higher functioning than Raymond, based upon both his actions and writing ability at a much younger age, his adjustment is perhaps surprising, but not improbable. Raymond’s adjustment, however, is highly improbable, especially given that his room in the group home could not have a single baseball card out of …show more content…
While Raymond demonstrates many symptoms and traits of autism, he is often inconsistent in portraying them, as seen when comparing reactions between the smoke alarm and casino. Christopher, however, is consistent with his demonstration of symptoms. Sensory overload occurs when it should and not selectively for Christopher, and his personal relationships are fragile and distant. He is a superior portrayal of autism, as a whole, than Raymond is, due to this
When Elle, a young autistic female, stayed in a cabin during a family vacation, she became highly distressed by her new living quarters and the presence of another family in the cabin (Park, 1995). Raymond barely reacted to staying in various hotel rooms with Charlie and Charlie’s girlfriend, despite rapid and large changes to his environment. Raymond only asked that the bed be moved, and to watch his favorite TV shows (Levinson and Johnson, 1988). Though these requests are accurate, his reaction to a completely new room, with complete strangers, and none of his belongings seems subdued. Christopher adjusted well to a new house in London, but he only spent time in two homes, while Raymond was forced to move frequently. Christopher also demonstrates his desire for a routine by never abandoning his rule of only eating red food and by his desire to take his A level maths (Haddon, 2003). Given that Christopher is higher functioning than Raymond, based upon both his actions and writing ability at a much younger age, his adjustment is perhaps surprising, but not improbable. Raymond’s adjustment, however, is highly improbable, especially given that his room in the group home could not have a single baseball card out of …show more content…
While Raymond demonstrates many symptoms and traits of autism, he is often inconsistent in portraying them, as seen when comparing reactions between the smoke alarm and casino. Christopher, however, is consistent with his demonstration of symptoms. Sensory overload occurs when it should and not selectively for Christopher, and his personal relationships are fragile and distant. He is a superior portrayal of autism, as a whole, than Raymond is, due to this