Re: Community
On Reddit, I found this to be a good read;
Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/community/co...r_in_tonights/So apparently the original post I responded to got deleted and someone asked me to re-upload it.The comment is from the comments section of AV Club's review of tonight's episode, and talks about Abed's behavior, and how it is an excellent writing/acting perspective on Asperger's. It's long, but a great read.
On Abed Being a "dick":
I don't comment here often. But I want to clear something up that I think is important. There have been strong indications throughout the show that Abed does have something like "Asperger's syndrome," which is a form of autism. I've seen multiple tweets or comments by bloggers about Abed being a jerk or a dick in this episode. For me, Abed's actions actually were where this episode really hit home, emotionally. Let me explain.
I was an RA (Resident Assistant) in college. One year, I was told that one of my new residents was going to be a student with Asperger's. For about five months, I lived and worked with an autistic, college-age young man. He eventually had to leave college because the environment was too stressful for him. Though I would never claim to be an expert on Asperger's, I think I can say that whoever wrote this episode and pulled this particular performance out of Danny Pudi definitely knows someone with Asperger's. Like Abed, the student with whom I lived and worked was able to fit in as part of our hall. I can say without a doubt that we loved him, even though some of his reactions were strange and he didn't always pick up on particular social cues. He was a funny guy and he wasn't AS socially awkward as most people would assume. Many people think that folks with forms of Autism just don't fit in social groups. This is not true. Like Abed, this young man was a good friend and a great person to hang out with. That said, the occasional instances when the markers of Asperger's did appear in this student's life were VERY hard to deal with. One day, I was called to go out to the courtyard outside of our dorm because this student was curled up in a ball, moaning to himself and screaming (sound familiar?). As I found out later, something one of his professors had said in class challenged a key system of thinking that he had set up in his mind. He had been obsessing over his professor's comment for hours, trying to fit it into his previous system. But he was unable to. This caused a mental breakdown. The student, like Abed, started pushing people away emotionally. And it took a while to get him to stop wailing and crying. He was basically acting like a two-year old who hadn't gotten his way.
As I watched this episode tonight, I flashed back to my experiences with this student. Where others have seen Abed's actions over the past few weeks as being a "jerk" or a "dick," I have really resonated with this portrayal. And the psychological analysis of Abed's fears tonight was, I think, very acute.
This very reaction of seeing Abed as being a jerk is the reaction many people have, unfortunately, to people with Asperger's. Without spending a lot of time with someone with Asperger's, many people are extremely put off by the violent, emotional, or sometimes even "whiny" way that people with Asperger's react when their previous systems are no longer adequate. Oddly enough, I think that most people who find that their ways of thinking are no longer adequate have a similar reaction, but they internalize it and/or react in a more subtly defensive way. People with Asperger's don't do this. They are not able to do this as well as others. Understanding this helps me to see Abed's actions not as "dickish," but as those of someone who has a form of Autism and is deeply struggling with the world changing around him. I think this is a major theme of this season. All of the characters have struggled immensely to deal with major changes in their lives. We have now turned this lens on Abed. This is uncomfortable to watch, especially for people who have not lived or worked closely with someone with particular forms of autism. But I thought that the writers, director and actors KNOCKED THIS EPISODE OUT OF THE PARK. Here I sit, at my computer, crying.
I applaud the writers of Community for being this bold and this emotionally daring. This is one of the most accurate portrayals of someone with Asperger's I have seen on television. And it really only works, I think, because we've had two and a half full seasons of a more "relatable" Abed. We care about Abed. If the writers had simply started off the show's run with these reactions from Abed, I think people would just seem him as a jerk. But, hopefully, people who have followed along have picked up on the clues that he has some form of autism. I can say without a doubt that this portrayal of a mental break for someone with autism is very realistic.
I worry that people who have not experienced autism will find this episode off-putting. I hope that they don't. Because this is award-winning, ground-breaking television. This is amazing stuff. And I still find Abed deeply, deeply sympathetic because I have experienced going through with someone else what he is going through now.
So, I understand the visceral reactions to how Abed has been acting. But I hope that somehow the message gets out that this is an incredible, incredible tour-de-force portrayal of someone with Asperger's. Great work, COMMUNITY. Danny Pudi should receive all the Emmys."
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Originally Posted by tatermoog
