X+Y movie review
Written on 19th Jan 2022 by Alex Lowery
X+Y is a good film that portrays a genius with autism. Of course, Nathan being an autistic genius isn’t really a very unique angle to take since there are likely thousands of other films and TV shows that display autistic people as geniuses. The most famous examples are probably Rain Man and Sheldon Cooper. Despite this, it is a fairly good film and rather underrated.
X+Y is the property of Origin Pictures
Minnow Films
Nathan is played by Asa Butterfield who you might know from films like Hugo and Ender’s Game. I remember talking to someone recently that watched the film ‘X+Y’ and said they don’t see any signs of autism in the film. I completely disagree with this. The main character Nathan has many traits of autism. Today I’m going to be writing about the traits of autism I see in the character and I’d recommend watching it before reading this.
They actually mention autism near the beginning of the film. They say Nathan is on the spectrum and has traits of autism. He also experiences high levels of sensory overload and struggles to cope with loud noises. He even got faced a situation of stress because a man opened a can he couldn’t cope with the noise. The film tends to make these noises louder to help the audience put themselves in Nathan’s shoes.
Nathan also takes language very literally. A man said “Hit me” meaning “Ask me a question” and Nathan got confused thinking he meant he should actually hit him. Many autistic people experience this. It isn’t always as extreme as it’s made out in Hollywood though but I can see why they want to give clear examples for the audience to catch on. When he’s asked, “How do you do?” He responds with “How do I do what?” Another classic example of taking language literally. In the end, I will say it’s definitely portraying autism in a rather stereotypical way and it would be cool if they tried to tackle autism from different angles. Despite this, it is worth watching. Let me know your thoughts on X+Y in the comments, please
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