Participants in the toast “Love On The Spectrum”.
Netflix
Appointments are especially unusual when you’re traveling through Netflix. The streaming service introduced several of these systems this summer, adding “Love is Blind”, “Too Hot to Handle” and “Indian Pairing”.
But the latest version, produced in Australia, leads others to take a closer look at the genre.
“Finding love can be tricky for anyone,” says one narrator in the opening scene of “Love on the Spectrum. “Then the twist: “This series follows young adults with autism who navigate the confusing world of relationships and encounters. “
In 2019, Australian audiences saw the show’s 11 autistic contestants, won the family circle’s recommendation, and reflected on what love might feel when placed.
“It would be like a fairy tale, ” said one participant.
“An herbal effect, I suppose,” suggested another.
“Love on the Spectrum” recently aired on Netflix in the United States and the United Kingdom, and has temporarily become one of the most unscathed displays discussed with autistic actors. But with a more global audience, there has been more discussion about the promises and traps of the screen. While some viewers say that the screen, as it should be, represents the love life of autistic people, others warn that it degrades them and is inherently voyeristic.
Related: Netflix’s “Indian Matchmaking” sparks over colorism and caste
The exhibition caught the attention of Charli Clement, an autistic activist in England.
“As soon as he came out, I thought, “Oh, no, I’ll have to see this, ” said Clement. “And I ended up seeing it all, a lot, in one night.
As Clement wrote in a review for UK Metro UK, he discovered that it was “liberating to see an organization of young people so brazenly autistic on conventional television. “
But she said “pretty fast, not very happy. “
“Many quotes gave the impression that they chose this user not for some compatibility, but simply because they were also disabled,” he continued. “And, to me, I was just saying that we date people without disabilities. “
I spent the whole night watching the new Netflix screen #LoveOnTheSpectrum oh my God, I have some thoughts. A THREAD⬇️ (spoiler warning)
This is an opinion shared through Australian YouTuber Chloe Hayden, known as Princess Aspie, who is also autistic.
“I know many, many, many other autistic people who in common or marry other neurotypical people,” he said in a video posted on his previous page this month. “Just as you wouldn’t fit someone blind with someone else who’s blind simply because they’re blind. “
But another autistic audience says they are accurately represented in the exhibition. Kerry Magro, who is autistic and from “Autism and Falling in Love,” says he identifies with one of the show’s contestants, in particular Michael, a 25-year-old. old autistic who says on screen that his biggest dream in life is to “become a husband. “
Magro said he likes Michael at 25.
“There’s a time in the series when [Michael] says, “I’m not looking to be anybody’s dad,” Magro recalls from an episode of the series.
“I don’t know if I would have said it exactly like that,” Lean continued, though it refers to Micahel’s candor.
People who hire the screen online say it’s fun, healthy and sweet, while critics say characterization is childizing, as are parts of the series when the narrator introduces a new actor.
“[Marcus] loves to play drums and watch the sunsets,” says the narrator, with drum and seagull sound effects underneath. “He hates thunderstorms and the feeling of [flips] between his toes. “
Netflix rejected The World’s request for an interview for the story, but in an interview on The Gist podcast, director Cian O’Clery said “Love on the Spectrum” is more of a documentary than a real television series. laugh and make the guys on the show laugh.
“For me, it’s a line you feel and it’s in your gut and you just know you need to do anything that’s absolutely respectful of everyone who participated,” O’Clery said. “And it is necessary, at the end of the day, to be really satisfied with the ultimate product. “
According to O’Clery, setting the dates of the participants is the only intervention of the production team.
“Of the seven singles we presented in the series, six of them had never had a date in their entire lives. So it’s not something we just attach ourselves to as a natural documentary because, you know, other people couldn’t end up in this world,” O’Clery said. “So we helped them a little bit. So the only type of intervention, I suppose, in our component to find a solution for the other people who looked for us to help them.
Related: Behind the Curtain in Pro-Autism Broadway Shows
The series introduces a dating coach and psychologist, any of whom helps consultant participants in conditions where they would possibly encounter appointments. Elizabeth Laugeson, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, who runs a dating education camp on the show, says “Love on the Spectrum” dispels the unusual narrative that other autistic people are not interested in dating.
“Most young adults – at most teenagers and even young people – with autism need to have friends. And as they get older, they need romantic relationships. But sometimes they don’t know how to do it. “
“This is rarely how it works,” Dr. Laugeson told The World. “Most young adults, at most adolescents and even young people, with autism need to have friends. And as they get older, they need romantic relationships. But sometimes they don’t know how to do it. “
During her training camp sessions, which were developed at the UCLA PEERS clinic®, dr. Laugeson says he tells other people that it is vital to be informed to be a friend before being informed to be more than a friend.
“We are essentially looking to break the same social world in which we all live in very specific regulations and social behavior steps,” he said. “What are the steps to start a conversation?What are the steps to flirt? If you’re looking to date someone, we not only describe other people’s social success, but we show those examples through role-playing games.
Magro said it’s refreshing to see dating coaches making these kinds of paintings about “Love on the Spectrum. “Magro, who painted as a representative of autism on television screens and films, said it was a sign that the screen had occurred with the participation of autistic people.
British critic Clement has something to remember.
“You know, it’s a neurotypical screen for other neurotypical people,” he said. “I don’t think this screen is designed for other people with autism. It’s not for us. “
Still, the exhibition was a publicity success. According to the production company’s website, the season of the moment has recently begun for the Australian channel ABC and it is not known whether Netflix will also get it back for audiences around the world.
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