When you’re an Aspie in a neurotypical world, understanding others and being understood is constant work. It’s even work between two Aspies.
Woopie do!… I watched the third episode of NBC’s Community last Thursday, October 1st.¹ I also saw on the show’s website, in its Message Boards section, an individual insisting that the character Abed cannot possibly be an Aspie based on the fact that he has friends in the show’s plot. It is not normal for an Aspie to have friends, but whoever said that sitcoms completely reflect reality? Despite how unrealistic films can get, treasures can sometimes be dug out when an episode is dissected.
In the Introduction to Film episode, Abed takes an introduction to film class with Britta’s financial help, but must deal with his father’s disapproval. To fully comprehend the significance of my favorite quotes that are from Chapter 3: Family Drama [15:36 to 19:28], the entire video should be seen.
Abed’s Dad didn’t want to financially support Abed to receive an education in film making. Britta didn’t like that, so she donated her money to Abed so he could pursue his passion. Abed then bought expensive film equipment and went wild with his unconventional filming methods, which didn’t include going to film class. Jeff and Britta, along with others in the show, could not figure out why Abed seemed to be acting so irresponsibly. Britta, Jeff, and Abed’s Dad, were angrily at their wit’s end when Abed commanded them all to sit down and view his finished production.
Needless to say, they were all surprised by what they saw (never be too sure about anything when it comes to the way an Aspie thinks). They had no idea Abed was using Jeff to portray his father, while Britta was unknowingly representing Abed’s mother, so he could get his Dad to understand his feelings. After they viewed the emotion stirring video, here are some of their words:
[18:32 to 18:44] Abed’s Dad: “My son is hard to understand. If making movies helps him be understood, then I pay for the class.”
[19:00 to 19:15] Britta: “Abed, did you do all of that to me on purpose? But that’s not a very nice way to treat your friends.” Abed: “Well Britta, it isn’t called friend business. It’s called show business.”
Whatever works is what Aspies do. For me, it wasn’t film. My episode is “Introduction to Blogging” (not on film however). It goes like this:
Sheila takes time for her blogging with David’s financial help, but must deal with her husband’s (and everyone else’s²) disapproval.
David: “My wife is hard to understand. If blogging helps her be understood, then I will stop insisting she use her time leftover from doing chores/duties towards writing potentially popular books to sell.
A neurotypical woman waiting inside the Schoonmaker’s residence for Mr. David Schoonmaker to end his phone conversation before he talks with her: “Sheila, do you work?”
Sheila: “Well Diane, I haven’t broke down yet.”
A 20 yr. old Aspie son wanting his Mom (i.e., me) to watch a funny YouTube video entitled “kids and the marshmallow test” tells her: “Type in kids space…”
Mom automatically types in the search engine’s form window, “kids space” and the kid (i.e., my son watching over my shoulder) bursts out laughing and says, “Mom, I can’t believe you just did that!” Mom replies, “Did what?” A second later, Mom laughs too, after realizing he didn’t mean the word space but rather the space bar on the keyboard.
¹Community is now on at 8 PM EST every Thursday.
²People offline don’t encourage my blogging. It’s as if my blog is taboo to discuss. People online are the opposite.
Postscript added on 3.5.10 — I’ve probably missed seeing more than half the episodes since Community began to air on NBC, but as of this past Thursday, it appears I was being over-judgmental too soon. I’m glad to see that the main character Abed is being portrayed accurately as an Aspie and is being presented in a positive light.