fegamer

I just can't believe Sia thought this would be a good idea. There are so many red flags in this movie it's a forking circus. And as a person who is autistic, many of them were obvious from even the trailer, interviews, and music videos alone.

The first red flag is the obvious, Maddie Ziegler isn't autistic, and many of us are tired of non-autistic actors portraying us on screen. Hey Sia did you know that 85% of autistic people are unemployed or underemployed? It's because of stuff like this. When an autistic character is made we want to portray them ourselves. We're tired of just being shown in movies, we want to be employed!

Red flag #2 this movie is not accessible to autistic people. Sia claimed she got an autistic actress to portray the main character but the actress couldn't take the set. So rather than make accommodations she just fired her. And I can see why the set didn't work. In the first song we get flashing lights, bright colors, loud music, fast movements etc? If Sia did a lick of research like she claimed she did she would realize that 25% of people on the spectrum have epilepsy issues. And 100% of them have sensory issues. So what is the point of making a movie about someone on the spectrum when this movie is inaccessible for many people on the spectrum?

Red Flag #3, bogus research and a completely inaccurate portrayal of autism as a whole. In some interviews, Maddie Ziegler claimed that in order to act out an Autistic meltdown scene, she watched videos on Youtube of autistic children having meltdowns. What's the problem with this? These videos were posted by ableist parents who film their children in their most distressing times without their consent, just for their 15 minutes of fame. Meanwhile, Maddie's acting is more like how bullies in school mock autistic kids. She even went to Sia crying during production saying, "I feel like I'm mocking people." And she was right, many producers and directors and writers fail to see that when you meet one autistic person you only meet one autistic person. We're not all the same. Some of us are not on the more severe end of the spectrum.

Red Flag #4 the treatment techniques and how this movie uses an Autistic character as a prop instead of treating her like an actual person. During the entire movie, Music is infantilized, and treated like a prop for our main character, Zu who is trying to get sober for good. Music mainly exists for Zu's story and not her own. Worst of all, during the film when Music has a meltdown, the character who tries to help out Zu, restrains her and gets on top of her. That's literally one of the most dangerous techniques to use when trying to calm down a meltdown. It can literally harm people to the point where they need the hospital or worse a morgue.

With all of these red flags it's clear that this movie was just made for Sia to try and bait for the oscars but she thankfully failed miserably.

Usually adult animated shows fall into two categories, shock and gore like South Park and Family guy. Or dramatic comedy like BoJack Horseman or any Simpsons clone trying to get by with lazy writing and swear words for laughs. This brings a new genre to adult animation I've never seen before, musical theater.

Rather than being a straight up comedy series or dramatic series, it revolves around things that adults can relate too such as if we should question traditions that lead to harm. Seeing if redemption is possible for anyone who wound up in Hell. And being vulnerable with the people you trust in the end.

Many of the episodes are very well written, the animation is top notch, the cast of characters are likable and well designed, the voice acting and songs are also excellent. Just by getting some of the best names in Broadway on this show is impressive in itself.

And the fact that the songs are so catchy and fun makes this series worthy of the praise it gets. I can't wait for season 2 and the plots we get in the future.