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Movie and TV Depictions of Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Definition

This chapter focuses on the topic of character portrayals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in film and TV-series. We address this topic by presenting research from the general psychiatric field before we discuss the research on portrayals of characters with ASD. We will also provide the reader with some examples of films and TV-series that have been given particular attention in the popular media and that will be known to many, also outside of the autism community. We address both advantages and disadvantages that are consequences of popular-media portrayals of ASD.

Historical Background

In the last few years, there has been a surge of new characters in fictional film and in TV-shows that either are labelled as having an autism spectrum disorder by the makers or by the public due to resembling traits and behaviors of the characters with that on the autism spectrum. In general, portrayals of people with psychiatric disorders in film and TV-series are not an uncommon topic...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Needs Education, UiO, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Anders Nordahl-Hansen

  2. Faculty of Education, Østfold University College, Halden, Norway

    Anders Nordahl-Hansen

  3. Department of Psychology/Department of Education, UIT – The Arctic University of Norway, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

    Roald A. Øien

  4. Yale Child Study Center, Yale Autism Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Roald A. Øien

Authors
  1. Anders Nordahl-Hansen
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  2. Roald A. Øien
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anders Nordahl-Hansen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Nordahl-Hansen, A., Øien, R.A. (2021). Movie and TV Depictions of Autism Spectrum Disorder. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_102247

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