Big Neurodivergent Energy Films: 1-5

We’ve looked at a few Big Neurodivergent Energy TV shows, now how about some movies? Most of the films on today’s list are newer entries that I’ve watched in the last year, but they quickly joined the ranks of my favorites. 

 

Amélie

This was an early “grown-up” film that I really loved, so it makes sense that it has exceedingly autistic vibes. Arguably, every Jean-Pierre Jeunet film does, but this one does it in such an endearing, lovable way. From the narrator fastidiously detailing every character’s likes and dislikes (and obsessions,) to the painfully shy heroine concocting “stratagems” to connect with the man she likes, to Amélie’s deep-seated desire to help others/punish injustice combined with her intense need not to be perceived doing either, it just feels so lovingly autistic. Amazing!

 

The Little Mermaid

Yes, I’m specifically talking about the live-action adaptation here, although points can definitely be made for the animated version. While the neurodivergent coding may not be quite as deep-seated here as it is in some of the other films on this list, it was one of the first—maybe the first—I saw once I’d really started considering the possibility that I was autistic and ADHD. And Ariel and Eric both leapt off the screen for me. I love the tenor of their relationship, how it develops through their special interests and grows without the need for verbal communication on both sides. Seeing people online talk about how neurodivergent both of these characters are really helped crystalize my understanding of myself.

 

Nimona

Nimona is definitely an example where the film itself feels autistic/ADHD, not just the characters. I love the fast-paced humor and frenetic action combined with the emotional character drama and the found-family themes. I love Nimona’s explanation to Ballister about what shapeshifting feels like—the trans allegory is evident, of course, but I also see it as a commentary on masking and the importance of giving yourself permission to be “free.”

 

Nope

I love both OJ and Em, how their traits are so different from one another and clash so much, but how they both come through for each other the best they can. And I love how their respective traits end up helping them succeed—not in an “autism/ADHD is actually a superpower!” kind of way, but in a way that their particular situation dovetails so well with OJ’s special interest and Em’s penchant for collecting hobbies. Their respective autistic- and ADHD-coded traits can create challenges for them professionally and interpersonally, but when it comes to a UFO over their ranch, they lock in!

 

Polite Society

Oh my god, I love it so much. Ria’s hyperfocus and daydreaming, the way she infuses her life with the tension and drama of an action film, the general energy and humor and pacing and secondhand embarrassment. It’s so ADHD to me—I feel it in my bones.

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Em Haywood (Nope)

*Spoilers.*

While watching Nope, O.J.’s autistic-coded traits leapt out at me easily, and I saw how, in many ways, his sister Em was his polar opposite and yet they worked well together. However, I didn’t clock Em as neurodivergent as well until I saw some fanart of the Haywood siblings emblazoned with “ADHD vs. Autism,” and I went, “Oh, of course she is.”

O.J. is a frequently still and silent man who’s uncomfortable around people, but Em is kinetic and loud, always in motion, always “on.” When she breezes (late) onto the film set where she and O.J. are animal wrangling, she launches effortlessly in the spiel about their family’s history in the industry, cheerfully incorporating O.J.’s mumbled correction into her speech. But she also veers off the point—she’s supposed to be leading a safety meeting so everyone on set knows how to safely interact with the horse, but she instead spends most of her time talking herself up as a Jill of all trades who’s super available for a wide array of work, ranging from acting to stunt driving to sewing.

O.J. plays things close to the vest, but Em’s up front with everything. When something’s bothering her, she wants to talk about it. When she has a question, she asks it. You always know what she’s thinking and feeling, both because it’s written all over her face/body language, and because she’ll probably tell you.

O.J. feels most in his element at the farm, but quiet and stillness make Em restless. When she tags along to O.J.’s meeting with Jupe, she wanders around Jupe’s office, scoping out his Hollywood memorabilia and frequently interrupting the meeting with her unrelated questions. After she’s just blown their animal wrangling gig with her lack of focus during the safety presentation, O.J. is worried that she’ll blow his chance to buy some of his horses back from Jupe.

A lot of what I’ve looked at here, clearly, is about contrasts, and O.J. and Em are two very different people. But just like there’s a lot of overlap between autistic and ADHD traits, the Haywood siblings understand and complement each other despite their differences. Em loves her brother and looks out for him, and even though he’s not as demonstrative as she needs, she knows he loves her too. Once the UFO makes its appearance in the sky, they set out on their mission to capture it on film together, and while they clash and bug each other a lot in the process, it also takes both of them to succeed.

If O.J.’s autistic traits are critical to understanding the alien creature and interacting with it, Em’s ADHD traits are critical in getting their coveted “Oprah shot.” She’s the one who comes up with the idea to film the UFO in the first place, selling the footage for enough money to get the farm out of financial straits. She throws herself into the project and pesters O.J. to go along with it at first. Later, when they put their climactic plan into motion, her laundry list of random skills and hobbies comes in handy, sewing inflatable men to help them see where the creature is moving and jumping on a motorcycle to lure it out. And at the very end, when their camera has been destroyed, she remembers one last way to get the shot: the “well” photo op at Jupe’s theme park. Earlier, O.J. walked right past it, a man on a mission, but Em was looking around at everything in her curious, eager way. So she knows it’s their final option and gets the exact money shot they were looking for.

A Few Thoughts on Nope

*Spoilers.*

In my review of Nope, I gushed as much as I was able, which is tough when you can barely discuss what the film is about without spoiling important stuff. So we’re wading into full spoiler territory today, mostly looking at theme but it may veer into a few different topics.

One of the things I loved about watching Nope was seeing all these little throwaway moments and scenes that felt baffling or out-of-place at first, only to have them come together in critical ways in the second half of the film. It doesn’t get peeled back like an onion—it opens like a flower, the dense bud blooming into a wonderful array of overlapping petals that make up a superb whole.

The largest theme of the film, one that’s explored in multiple ways, is the connection between fame and exploitation. The Haywoods run the only Black family-owned animal wrangling business in Hollywood, and they claim to be descended from the jockey riding the horse in the very first motion picture. As Em points out, history lauds the man who invented and operated the camera but has completely forgotten about the man who was the world’s first movie star, stunt man, and animal wrangler rolled into one.

That idea, of opportunities for fame falling through the cracks, is further exemplified in the character of Jupe. His Wild West theme park, we learn, is inspired by his role in Kid Sheriff, his big break as a child star. “You were the Asian kid from Kid Sheriff?” Em asks with delight as she looks at the memorabilia in his office, later asking “whatever happened to” the talented young Black kid who costarred in the movie. We don’t know, and Jupe clearly isn’t the movie star he’d hoped to be. His acting career, it’s implied, fell off after the horrific, hushed-up tragedy that occurred on the set his sitcom Gordy’s Home, an incident in which the trained chimp began brutally attacking the actors during filming.

Because Nope looks at the exploitation of animals as well as people. The way everyone crowds around Lucky the horse and gets in his space on the film set, spooking him, as O.J. fruitlessly tries to get them to back off. The way Gordy the chimp was placed in an environment he was never meant to be in, withstanding various noises and stressors until he felt pressed to attack—in the end, he was shot and killed, and he definitely hurt people, but humans were the ones who put him in that situation to begin with. And O.J. and Em come up with the idea to save the farm by filming the UFO they glimpse in the sky over their property, dreaming of the big payday of capturing the perfect “Oprah shot.” When they learn they’re dealing with an alien animal instead of a spaceship, they use tactics out of O.J.’s horse training playbook to essentially get the creature to do “tricks” for the camera.

The most brutal, interesting moments of this idea of fame and exploitation come in the intersections between humans and animals. Whether it’s Jupe chasing stardom—first as a child and later trying to recapture it as an adult—O.J. and Em chasing dollar signs, or Holst chasing the perfect shot, all the human characters actively put themselves in dangerous situations with unpredictable animals in the hopes of getting what they want. They use these animals as they in turn allow themselves to be used by their desires, getting chewed up and spit out for the sake of “entertainment” (and in more than one case, that’s actually literal.)

The flashback of the Gordy’s Home tragedy is the scariest, most disturbing scene of the film. Jupe was clearly traumatized by witnessing that as a child, but he displays his trauma for clout, taking O.J. and Em into his hidden room of Gordy’s Home memorabilia and reminiscing about the SNL sketch inspired by the speculation into what really happened on the set that day. What’s more, he evidently didn’t take away the obvious lesson of “don’t work with a volatile creature who can destroy you,” because when he discovers the UFO, he and his family start secretly working on a routine to incorporate into the live show at their theme park. Even knowing that the thing sucked up one of his horses, he feeds it more, thinking he’s “training” it until he believes it’s predictable enough to build a show around it. Let’s just say, he’s very, very wrong about that.

O.J.’s expertise and affinity with animals gives him and Em the best chance to actually get the coveted money shot of the creature. With Angel and Holst helping them out on the camera side, they devise a plan that’s based on O.J.’s general knowledge of animals and his specific observations about the creature: drawing it out with movement, monitoring where it’s going to appear based on what gets affected by its EMP-like defenses, and staying aware of its aversion to eye contact to keep (relatively) safe. As O.J. points out, Jupe’s mistake was thinking he could “tame a predator” when, really, you can’t do more than “come to an agreement with it.”

But while O.J.’s knowhow protects the group, it can’t fully shield them. Unsurprisingly, much of the pull toward danger comes from that earlier itch for fame. Holst is hidden away, filming from a safer distance as O.J. takes calculated risks to get the creature to perform for the camera, but when he realizes “the light is going to be perfect soon,” the pull is too great. He can’t resist, and he points his camera straight at the mouth of the beast, not caring that it’s going to swallow him up. And while O.J.’s methods are more respectful to the creature than we’ve seen most characters behave toward any animals in the film, they’re ultimately still using the creature in the hopes of a big Hollywood payout, getting it to do tricks for their profit.

Everyone is complicit, everyone takes advantage of other living things, and everyone offers themselves up to the abattoir at the gates of Hollywood. What a film—I love it!