Casting

This is going to be one of my briefer blog posts. I originally was going to talk about casting just sporadically throughout all of my reviews, however, I feel like it is a significant enough topic to earn it’s own post. If you’ve read any of my other posts about neurodiverse characters, you may have wondered if any of the people playing these characters are actually neurodiverse themselves. Well let’s look…

• Forrest Gump: Forrest played by Tom Hanks (No)

• Radio: Radio played by Cuba Gooding Jr. (No)

• Rain Man: Raymond played by Dustin Hoffman (No)

• A-Typical: Sam played by Keir Gilchrist (No)

• The Middle: Brick H played by Atticus Shaffer (Osteogenesis Imperfecta)

• The Big Bang:

  • Sheldon Cooper played by Jim Parsons (No)

  • Amy Farrah played by Mayim Bialik (No)

• The Good Doctor: Dr. Shaun Murphy played by Freddie Highmore (No)

• Grey’s Anatomy:

  • Owen Hunt played by Kevin McKidd (No)

  • Jo Wilson played by Camilla Luddington (Anxiety)

  • Amelia Shepherd played by Caterina Scorsone (No)

  • Richard Webber played by James Pickens Jr. (No)

  • Miranda Bailey played by Chandra Wilson (No)

Looking just at the shows and movies we have reviewed, the majority says no. Most of the characters that are neurodiverse are being played by neurotypical actors. What do you think about this? Is it fine to hardly have any real neurodiverse actors and actresses in the media playing those characters, or are they not truly being represented when their community is not given a chance to represent itself? There are two sides to every argument, but one side in particular has gotten pretty loud lately over the singer songwriter Sia and her new movie titled Music. The first official trailer for the film was released in December 2020 and Sia began receiving backlash via twitter shortly after. The storyline for the film is about an autistic teen named Music and her half sister Zu. Zu, who once sold drugs, has stepped in to care for Music following the death of her grandmother. Sia decided to cast “her teenage muse” Maddie Ziegler, who is neurotypical, in the leading neurodivergent role of Music.

There is already quite a bit of scandal related to Sia and Ziegler’s relationship, as people see it as inappropriate. Sia defended her decision in casting Ziegler in the role, stating the executive move was an act of favoritism. "I realized it wasn't ableism. I mean, it is ableism, I guess as well, but it's actually nepotism because I can't do a project without her. I wouldn't make art if it didn't include her," Sia explained during an interview with Australia's The Sunday Project. In an article on Bustle’s website titled “Everything To Know About Sia’s Controversial New Movie”, the author, Candice Smith, states that the autistic community is upset that Sia appears to have made “zero effort” in casting any autistic people in the film. Sia continued to defend herself and argue within the twitter war, becoming angry with so much scrutiny about a film that had not yet been released. As we saw above, plenty of neurotypical actors and actresses have played neurodivergent characters in film before. So why is everyone so upset with Sia? I think the biggest reason this neurotypical casting got attention was the fact that Sia did look at working with a neurodivergent individual, but then chose Maddie instead. "I actually tried working with a beautiful young girl non verbal on the spectrum and she found it unpleasant and stressful. So that's why I cast Maddie.”

As I said earlier, there are two sides to every argument....that’s actually a lie. There is a third side which is the side I personally am on, and that is that there should be a balance. I have mentioned countless times that we have only recently begun to see neurodiverse characters in our media, so the next step naturally would be to have neurodiverse actors/actresses and in other media production jobs. But before I grab my sign and use my rapid fire twitter fingers to say casting a neurotypical person in a neurodivergent role is wrong, I need to know more about the actor/actress. Neurodiversity covers a wide range of disabilities, and each of those disabilities then also vary. In my nerdy free time, I watch interviews about working on sets and they almost always talk about the ridiculous schedules, lack of sleep, being hungry, etc. It can be a strenuous work environment, and depending on the neurodivergent person putting them into that acting role could be harmful for them. In Sia’s quote she mentions that the young girl they considered casting found the work environment unpleasant and stressful. (I am not saying Sia’s choice is correct, there is a lot more to this story) It really depends on the actor/actress and what works for them. Now, another option is that the film crew makes adjustments to the production schedule and set to make it more neurodiverse friendly, now that would be ideal. But still, it may not be what is best for them. We cannot be so set on being politically correct and fighting the good fight that we don’t pay attention and actually harm the people we are fighting for. I do think representation matters, it matters so much. These conversations are happening, so I have high hopes that we will start seeing bigger change. But the conversation about casting is one about balance. And I do think the neurotypical actors/actresses that have played neurodiverse characters have put in significant effort to accurately portray them. Many of them do extensive research on their character or have a relationship with someone from the community that they can speak from experience about. This conversation is important and I urge you to have it, but I also urge you to think and research and consider everything you do not know before passionately arguing one side or the other. Because like most things in this world, more would get done if we worked to create a balance of two opposite sides.