Аuthor: Umerzakova Aigerim
Editor: Аibulova Diana
Absolutely any phenomenon or unusual behavior that differs from generally accepted norms causes a huge surge of public interest and a wide range of emotions. And a large number of problems related to mental disorder are increasingly reflected in documentary, artistic and scientific films. In many films, people with autism spectrum disorders are the key to the narrative. Through a detailed analysis of the image of characters with autism, it is possible to track the specifics of this disorder in more detail. Portraits of people with this disorder differ depending on the proposed plot. After all, as there are no two single-haired movies, so there are no two absolutely identical situations in life. But for all the variety of subjects in different films, all the heroes with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are united by their common clinical and psychological features.
The film by the Indian film industry, "ME CALLS KHAN", will serve as an experimental material for my analysis. This film reviews an imaginary story against the background of real life events. The film tells about the monstrous tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001 and became the main reason for oppression of Muslims. The main character of the film, Rizvan Khan, has Asperger's syndrome. The film does not focus on the medical history, but on the character himself, his feelings, actions and alternative view, which is not inherent to every "ordinary" person. However, this has not prevented the director to convey a very complex and extremely accurate portrait of a person with Asperger's syndrome. So let's look at what PAM is, and how does it manifest itself?
Disorder of the autism spectrum (ASD), or Asperger's syndrome, is characterized by the inability to adapt quickly in society, difficulties in communicating with people. Asperger's syndrome is most commonly referred to as highly functional autism. At the same time, intellect may persist, and therefore, this disorder may be diagnosed later than autism. The film highlights several points: when the hero very often rubs his hair, which particularly indicates the presence of stereotypical movements inherent to the disease, there is also heightened sensory sensitivity, manifested by a painful and sometimes aggressive reaction to color and sound. Here again, we can see the reference in the form of intolerance of yellow color by the hero of the film. A person with Asperger's syndrome is not able to understand how the other person feels, can't show his true emotions and looks always detached from the world. He hardly understands the figurative meaning of words in communication with people, and most often perceives everything literally. This feature of this disease is reflected in the words spoken by the main character: "I may seem strange to you, but it's because I have Asperger's syndrome. But it does not mean that I am crazy. Oh no, no, very reasonable. But there are things that I don't understand. I come to visit, and they say to me, 'Feel at home', but how come, I am not at home. I don't understand why people say one thing and think another.
The analysis of the clinical and psychological portrait of a person with PAM helped to understand how realistic the image of a person with mental spectrum disorders is conveyed by modern cinematography. However, in real life, everything is much more complicated, because people with such high adaptive capacity, as in movies, are much less common.
Thanks to such films, which reflect the whole essence of the complexity of life of people suffering from all kinds of mental disorders, a more detailed picture of people with "features" is formed, and also pushes the society to greater understanding and compassion.
