Adaptation of the Film Rain Man - Essay Example

College Deconstructing the Perception of Autistic Persons: An Adaptation of the Film Rain Man Charlie and Raymond are two brothers facing various challenges. Raymond is an autistic child while Charlie his brother is a healthy person who barely understands the condition of his brother. Autism affects each of Raymonds actions making him act weird while his brother could not at times match the ingenuity of the autistic brother. Raymond portrays an extremely efficient brain that even an average child could not manage. For instance, in a restaurant, Raymond counted the correct number of toothpicks on the floor to be 246, a significant achievement that even the normal persons around him could not manage. Just like any other normal human being, Raymond has his fears and phobias. For instance, in an airport when Charlie and Raymond were boarding a plane, Raymond made clear his flying phobia by letting out a huge cry that Charlie took as a childish and annoying behavior. Even with ordinary human beings, some have much deeper phobias and they would not dare entertain the thought of flying, which Raymond courageously faced. After all, people do not welcome changes in their lives and would go an extra mile to resist, why not Raymond? Largely, Raymond was being fed up with Charlie; he viewed him as a dependent person who could not make his decisions. The fact that Charlie constantly gets annoyed with Raymond for acting weirdly would attest to the fact that Raymond was being defensive and fed up with the over-controlling behavior of Charlie, his brother. Moreover, Raymonds mental perfection that even an average person could not realize was in memorizing phonebook contacts at a glance with excellent achievement. Besides, Raymond was quick and perfect in memorizing and undertaking mental calculations with much ease, a test that his brother Charlie could hardly achieve. Certainly, most people have certain traumas that they developed in childhood, and which do affect how they operate and view occasions as adults. With these respect, the traumatized persons would react with fear to anything that triggers the memories of such traumatizing situations. Similarly, as children, Charlie had tried to give a birth to Raymond using hot water that scolded Raymond significantly. As a result, Considering Raymonds condition, any sight of hot water could be expected to trigger the childhood memories upon which Raymond would be expected to react to such memories. As such, when Charlie turns to hot water, Raymond could not help it but get frightened due to these childhood memories. This reaction could be expected from any normal human being considering that no attempt was made to address the trauma from Raymonds childhood. It was not until Charlie understood and appreciated Raymond as a mature person that the two finally bonded strongly and managed to live as brothers with strong attractions for one another. Rhetorical Analysis In most cases, autistic children are viewed as helpless and people incapable of achieving what a normal child could achieve. The film Rain Man, involving brothers one of who was autistic and the other normal offers a better perception on how the public views autistic persons. Cohen-Rotenberg in a review of studies on autistic children and their learning abilities stressed that even scholars have made a grave mistake by generalizing autistic children and their varied experiences. However, autistic children do suffer from some abnormalities that need extra care and empathy from the society, such children could not be said to very different from the normal children. In fact, as Cohen-Rotenberg explains, though autistic children do have slower learning experiences, with the required care, these children could learn concepts similar to normal children. As such, the film rain man fails in presenting autistic children as helpless and dependent children who require an average person to help them in their daily activities. A significant difference between the film and the adaptation above is the visual effects that the film presents to the audience. For instance, at the airport, as Raymond and Charlie prepare to board a plane, Charlie is portrayed as being fed up with the childish behaviors of his brother who refuses to board the plane. However, from the adaptation above, it has been noted that every normal person has his / her phobias to which they could react in the most bizarre manner. As such, Raymond acted like any other normal human responding to his/her phobia, a perception that is not apparent in the film. Another major contrast is that when Raymond acted ingeniously, the film portrays his actions as abnormal and as a result of his abnormal status as an autistic person. For instance, in the restaurant, Raymond counted 146 toothpicks on the floor to the amazement of those around him. Rather than portraying this as his perfection and strength despite his condition, the film portrays this as an abnormal case. This perception contradicts the fact that autistic persons are people with some degree of a healthy brain similar to normal persons. A similar amazement credit to Raymonds condition is in the memorization of phonebook contacts, an achievement that his brother could not manage. Consequently, in the film, instead of realizing these strengths in autistic persons, the film portrays these achievements as abnormal and characteristic of the autistic case. However, in the adaptation above, these strengths have been recognized as perfections that autistic persons could attest to their normality and proper functioning. As such, the adaptation targets an audience that seeks to understand autistic people from a positive side of view with strengths and not weaknesses. Similar to normal persons, autistic children also do have their shortcomings in life. For instance, Raymond lacked simple reasoning such as differentiating between the price of a car and a candy bar. Though the film portrays this as a major shortcoming in autistic persons, the adaptation above highlights such shortcomings in the context of challenges that even a normal person faces. Cohen-Rotenberg critics the ability-based and social assumptions that the public and scholars hold autism with and stresses that research has a duty to help in identifying better ways through which the public could understand and take care of autistic persons in the society better. The adaptation above has stressed the need to view autistic persons as normal people who need special care and attention in addition to helping them realize their potential similarly. The film ends on this note in that when Charlie finally understands and loves Raymond as his brother, the two finally bond together as normal persons with no reference to their weaknesses as they refer to one another as brother. Work Cited Cohen-Rotenberg, Rachel. Deconstructing Autism as an Empathy Disorder: A Literature Review. Union Institute & University. 2012, June 25. Web. 2015, May 26. Rain Man. Dir. Levinson, Berry, Hoffman, Dustin and Cruise Tom, 1988. film Read More