On November 19th 2020, Australian singer-songwriter, Sia Furler released the trailer for her upcoming new movie, Music which will debut in limited release to theaters in February, 2021 and will include stars such as Kate Hudson and Leslie Odom...
Image description: 18-year-old dancer and actress, Maddie Ziegler portraying an autistic nonspeaking teenage girl named, Music in Sia’s upcoming film of the same name. She is smiling, wearing noise cancelling headphones, and using an AAC device. While the majority of fans have praised Sia and Maddie, there has been controversy surrounding Maddie’s portrayal of Music as a nondisabled actress playing an autistic character.
On November 19th 2020, Australian singer-songwriter, Sia Furler released the trailer for her upcoming new movie, Music which will debut in limited release to theaters in February, 2021 and will include stars such as Kate Hudson and Leslie Odom Jr. While many of Sia’s fans were excited about this news, there was also an outcry from disability communities on Twitter about a nondisabled person playing the role of an autistic person, which is yet another missed opportunity for authentic disability representation. To make it worse, rather than being receptive to this criticism, Sia has defended her casting decision by attacking autistic people on Twitter, calling one a “bad actor,” and saying an autistic actor being incapable of fulfilling the role was, “not an assumption, but an experience.”
The plot of the movie, Music is focused on a nonspeaking autistic teenager named, Music who uses music to communicate and express herself. When I first heard the synopsis of this film, even though I don’t listen to Sia’s music myself, I was excited about the opportunity to see someone who I could relate to on screen. I was nonspeaking in early childhood, and music was a lens through I communicated and interacted with the world. I loved to play and listen to instruments such as the piano, and I repeated my favorite lyrics of songs to communicate my wants and needs. As an autistic adult, I still love to sing and play ukulele, and music is a large part of my self-expression. Aside from concerns of inspiration porn narratives, the primary criticism of Sia’s upcoming movie is not so much with the story, but rather the casting of who Sia chose to play the role of the autistic nonspeaking teenage girl named, Music. Sia’s choice to portray Music was someone who is not autistic, nonspeaking or disabled herself, but is a well known, eighteen-year-old dancer and actress named, Maddie Ziegler who has starred in many of Sia’s other music videos.
Another problem is with how Sia’s team decided to prepare Maddie for the role of an autistic character. Maddie practiced for this role by not just watching videos or documentaries on autism, but also by watching exploitative YouTube videos of autistic children having meltdowns that are uploaded by their parents. These videos of the most vulnerable and private moments of autistic children violate not just their privacy, but their dignity, and are displayed for the entire world to see. Sia has not consulted any autistic led organizations such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network or the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network, but got the “okay” to go on with the film from the Child Mind Institute, an organization with an autism center that is focused on “treating” autism with abusive, strict compliance ABA therapy. Sia also consulted Autism Speaks for the film and has retweeted posts from Autism Speaks as recently as November 13th, which is largely considered a hate group by the autistic community due to its harmful, ableist rhetoric and history.
Sia may have good intentions out of a desire to bring “awareness” to autism, but not only casting neurotypical people to play autistic roles, but not having any input from disability communities will cause more harm and lead to a more stereotypical portrayal of autism than if the person playing the role of an autistic teenage girl was autistic herself. While shows such as Everything’s Gonna Be Okay may not be perfect, at least the actress playing an autistic role, Kayla Cromer, is autistic herself and as a result, the show has a more nuanced and authentic portrayal of autism compared to shows with more stereotypical depictions of autism that have neurotypical people playing autistic leads, such as Atypical and The Good Doctor.
The debate about casting neurotypical or nondisabled to portray disabled roles has been ongoing for decades. Some may say that because actors and actresses are simply playing roles, as long as it is done with skill, respect and research, it is okay for a nondisabled person to play a disabled character, such as for an able bodied person to play a person who uses a wheelchair in The Upside, for a neurotypical person to play an autistic character such as in Rain Man, or a critically acclaimed, nondisabled actor to play a person with an intellectual disability, such as in Forrest Gump. I personally disagree with this sentiment, as our identities as disabled people are not costumes for neurotypical people to slip in and out of, and our wheelchairs and AAC devices are not props for neurotypical and nondisabled actors. There is beauty and variety in disability expression, and by limiting roles of disabled characters to well known, famous nondisabled actors, we are limiting the diversity and complexity of disabled people and disability cultures onscreen.
The new film could have been an amazing opportunity for some much needed representation and to give an autistic actress or dancer a moment to shine. The character, Music in the film was an autistic nonspeaking young woman, and while autistic people have minimal representation in film and media alone, autistic women and nonspeaking individuals are hardly seen at all. Sia has nearly four million Twitter followers and over 18 million YouTube subscribers, and Sia could have used her platform to give the stage to an autistic nonspeaking person, but instead chose to give it to a nondisabled person with name recognition. For those who are fans of dancer, Maddie Ziegler and who may watch the film just to see her act and perform, Maddie could have still been a key figure in the film and fulfill a role as a non-disabled person, such as a family member or a friend of the lead character, such as the roles that Kate Hudson and Leslie Odom Jr. will play. But the insistence of neurotypical, nondisabled people having the lead in roles meant for us, involved in conversations about us without our involvement, is all too common and insulting.
To Sia and other celebrities, public figures, producers, and decision makers who are making films highlighting disability; please give us a chance. We are in a pandemic, when it is especially difficult for all people, let alone disabled and neurodivergent people, to secure jobs, careers, and opportunities. We need to be seen, and people need to see us. We need to be involved in conversations and decisions made about us. Films about “autism awareness” may preach inclusion, but exclude autistic talent and writers from their teams and get advice and consultation from organizations that are not autistic led and may even actively harm autistic people. We need disabled voices to be elevated and celebrated so we can finally dismantle harmful disability tropes in movies and media works about us. While Sia’s film is a missed opportunity for authentic disability representation, let’s hope the next film takes the mantra, “Nothing about us without us” to heart.