Rain Man - Grade: 75 PDF

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CSAD- communication disorders through film and media...

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Rain Man Michelle Valentin Nova Southeastern University February 6, 2020

2 RAIN MAN Rain Man In the movie the Rain Man, Charlie Babbitt was a self-centered man that owned his own car dealership in California. While heading on a trip with his girlfriend, Susanna, he received a call stating that his father has passed away, forcing Charlie to return home to Cincinnati. Charlie thought he was receiving his father’s $3 million fortune, but he later found out that he is not the sole beneficiary to his father’s estate. Through it all, Charlie discovered he had an older brother, Raymond. Charlie did what he could to find where his brother lived, and he found him living in a mental institution. His father’s fortune was being left to Raymond, and Charlie felt enraged. Charlie was so motivated to gain access to his father’s money, that he decided to take Raymond out of the facility and go on a trip cross-country to Los Angeles. This trip changed the lives for both Raymond and Charlie and built a bond of brotherly love. In the beginning of the film, Charlie was disappointed after his father’s passing. Charlie was only left an exotic car and the rose bushes. The rest of the estate was left for his brother who he did not know existed. Raymond was sent to a mental institution at a very young age after a childhood accident with Charlie. Raymond was diagnosed with autism and had a pragmatic language disorder. Since Raymond lived in the institution, he had support, but he still continued to live a restricted, rigid and obsessive routine. Raymond also had difficulty communicating with others and had limited vocabulary, making his initial relationship with his brother very complicated. Raymond was diagnosed with autism with a pragmatic language disorder. He had impairments in social interaction, verbal communication, and pragmatic skills. He also had other impairments in cognition, motor behaviors, sensory input, eating, and sleeping (Tanner, 2013). For example, Raymond needed to sleep next to the window and had to have lights out by 11pm.

3 RAIN MAN Another example was that Raymond always needed to eat his food, especially his cheese balls, with a toothpick. Raymond was also considered to have Asperger syndrome, which is often referred to as “higher functioning” autism (Tanner, 2013). People that have Asperger syndrome are usually not delayed in language development or have any impairments in cognition, but they do have social impairments in many different ways. Many people who have Asperger’s have nonverbal behaviors and have trouble with social and emotional reciprocity. Raymond had many outburst’s when he had difficulty expressing when he was uncomfortable. For example, when Charlie tried to get Raymond to fly to Los Angeles, Raymond was scared and started to hit his head and scream. This led Charlie to make the decision to drive and take the road trip to California. This also happened when Raymond was cooking in the kitchen and the smoke alarm went off while Charlie was sleeping. Raymond felt all the smoke and sensory overload and did not know what to do, so he started to bang his head on the kitchen door until Charlie came in to help. Raymond was an autistic savant who combined certain deficiencies in social interaction, language and sensory processing with extraordinary abilities in math and memory. He was also able to remember every phone number and address in the phone book and solve math equations precisely. In addition, Raymond was very particular in everything that he did, which is one of the behaviors of people who are diagnosed with autism. At first, Charlie was very impatient with his brother and had a very hard time understanding what autism really was but as time went on, Charlie grew to understand and love Raymond. The communication disorder portrayed in the film was a language impairment with pragmatic difficulties. The disorder was accurately portrayed in the movie as Raymond clearly displayed repetition. Another language impairment that was displayed was echolalia, which is the

4 RAIN MAN repetition of which has recently been spoken, automatically repeating or “parroting” something (Tanner, 2013). For example, when Raymond and Charlie were practicing how to dance in the hotel room, Charlie said, “this is dancing” and Raymond would not stop repeating the phrase. Raymond was also able to express perseveration, which is the automatic continuation of a response (Tanner, 2013). For example, Raymond kept on repeating the phrase “who’s on first” when spoken too. He expressed issues using pragmatic, for instance, he had difficulty using space during communication. Raymond also had difficulty expressing his intentions and emotions. The inclusion of the disorder was necessary for the plot because if Raymond did not have autism, he would not have been sent away from living with his family. This would have led Raymond to grow up having a relationship with his brother and being raised by his parents. He would also have known what it felt like to live at home with family and nearby friends. Also, if Raymond did not have special needs and was able to have grown up with his brother, maybe the father’s inheritance would have never been an issue. The movie Rain Man, had a few stereotypes surrounding autism. First, despite of Raymond’s high-functioning abilities and his brother’s willingness to take care of him, the film suggests that he and other individuals with autism are better off being institutionalized rather than living with their own family. This does not necessarily apply for everyone in the autistic community. Another stereotype of autism is that they are mentally retarded. People can believe they are dumb and stupid. Also, most believe autistic people are incapable of their own feelings and emotions. One other stereotype is that they are unable to survive in the outside world. Even though people diagnosed with autism require extra attention and care, as they get older, they are able to obtain jobs and they are a lot smarter than what most people think. Lastly, most people

5 RAIN MAN believe the autistic community is intellectually disabled. This is untrue in many situations because most autistic people have normal to high IQ’s and have exceptional abilities as challenges, and some may excel at math, music or another pursuit. The barriers that Raymond faced was the relationship between his brother Charlie. At first, Charlie did not understand why Raymond was the way he was. Charlie was hard on Raymond and had very low patience. As time went on, Charlie had to find ways to adjust to Raymond’s needs and wants. Charlie had a lot of adapting to do all the way from the way Raymond ate, slept and communicated. Charlie was not able to understand why Raymond was the way he was, but he knew that he needed to accommodate him. Throughout their trip Charlie was able to find out new ways on how he can have Raymond live comfortably without having any outburst. At first, Charlie was not caring and accepting over his brother Raymond. Charlie had very little patience and did not welcome Raymond in the beginning. Charlie did not understand how severe autism was and if they are not accommodated appropriately there can be bigger problems to face. Charlie had very little patience for his brother and was not understanding to Raymond’s necessities. Instead of listening to Raymond, Charlie would lose his temper very quickly. As time went on, Charlie started to notice Raymond’s intelligence and that his autism was serious. Charlie was able to listen to his brothers needs and started to accommodate Raymond to make him feel safe and comfortable. In addition, when Raymond came into Charlie’s life, his girlfriend Susanna, helped play a huge part into making the relationship work. She did what she could to try and convince Charlie to be kind to his brother. Susana was accepting and loving to Raymond and she never judged him despite of him having special needs.

6 RAIN MAN In the movie, Rain Man I was able to establish a new standard for the realistic representation of autism. I was able to better understand how an individual with autism perceives the world. I have also learned that people with autism have certain deficiencies in social interaction, language and sensory processing, with extraordinary abilities in math and memory. This film shined a light that not all autistic people display the same patterns. Everything that I have learned previously about the autistic community was just the basic knowledge, but after watching Rain Man I believe that I have gained more knowledge and now have a better understanding on autism.

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References

Johnson, M. (Producer), & Levinson, B. (Director). (1988). Rain man [Motion picture]. United States: United Artists.

Tanner, D.C. (2012) Exploring communication disorders: a 21st century introduction through literature and media (2nd ed.) Boston: Pearson....