Disorders That The Rain Main Portrays - Movie Review Example

RAINM In Rain Man, the character of Raymond Babbitt is an autistic savant who has bee left a sum of three million dollars by his deceased father. As was mentioned, he has ben in a private institution that has seen to his long-term-care needs since late adolescence, and the movie begins when he appears to be in his thirties. Raymond’s autism is a high functioning variety: he can engage in conversations and seems to know what is going on around him, but exhibits several distinct behavioral idiosyncrasies. The tension of the movie lies in Raymond’s brother, Charlie, played by Tom Cruise, wanting the money for himself. Charlie “rescues” Raymond from the institution and the trio (Charlie’s fiancé is also present) cross the country in an antique Buick. During their road trip, Raymond exhibits many of the behaviors of his autism, some of which work as an impediment t the trio’s progress, and some of which work to its advantage. At the end of the movie, Raymond is re-institutionalized, having grown significantly in his social skills, self- concept, and self-reliance, and also having contributed to the growth of Charlie, who learns to accept Raymond’s differences and care for him in a supportive rather than abrasive manner. The character of Raymond Babbitt has several distinct behavioral characteristics which link his disability to the savant classification instead of just autism. This condition is in reality much more rare than autism, the prevalence of which was previously mentioned. The autistic characteristics displayed by the character of Raymond that are not linked to his being a savant are multiple. First of all, Raymond is very interested in rituals. He cannot let an episode of “The People’s Court” go by without an intricate ritual describing his involvement with the television program. His fascination with the television show borders on obsession, showing the trait of obsession that often marks autistic behavior. Raymond is also extremely resistant to change, which is another typical autistic behavior. He cannot easily get used to new situations, especially when he is initially accosted by his brother, Charlie. Although this typical autistic behavior changes as the movie progresses and Raymond is less anxious in new situations andmore at-ease with himself, other behaviors do not change. For example, his behaviors are generally lacking affect throughout the movie, which works to highlight key dramatic passages. Generally, the character’s disability is played with great sensitivity and acumen by Hoffman, who does not embellish or exaggerate any of Raymond’s autistic characteristics unduly. Raymond’s learning characteristics can be linked to the ways in which he changes as the movie progresses. His is a theoretical case in which an individual with high functioning autism is placed for most of his adult life in a controlled institutional setting, and then segued into the real world, to which he must adjust in terms of adaptation and non-adaptation. It is essentially a crucible or fish-out-of-water story superficially, but on deeper levels, the movie seeks to question the wisdom of cloistering functioning disabled individuals away from a society in which they can actively participate and garner significant gains and happiness. The movie presents an inclusion program without educational trappings by having Charlie and his fiancé take Raymond on the cross country trip. At the beginning of the trip, Raymond’s odd behaviors are marked and often the cause or effect of minor catastrophes. His behavior changes as the movie progresses, and the viewer begins to see that he is making what appears in many ways to be a successful transition into the large outside world. At the end of the movie, the viewer feels that Raymond may need institutional support, but not that he must live in the institutional setting indefinitely: there is hope for his inclusion into a larger society provided by the movie’s events. The savant characteristics of Raymond’s autism become clear when the viewer sees that the character shows a great facility with numbers and an extended ability to remember and recall information. Raymond rapidly counts hundreds of toothpicks that fall on the floor and memorizes entire phone-books. His verbalizations are often linked with certain sounds and are portrayed as being repetitive in nature. Overall, Raymond evinces the behavior of a high-functioning autistic individual in that he displays obsessive-compulsive rituals, idiosyncratic speech, and prominent special abilities mixed with concurrent marked disabilities. For example, although Raymond can easily count cards in a supposedly fraud-proofed Las Vegas casino, he does not grasp the concept of money and often misinterprets the value of objects, confusing the prices of new cars and candy-bars. In terms of speaking of educational strategies and methods strictly inn institutional framework of educational practice, the movie presents somewhat f a problem, because Raymond spends the length of the movie in transit between priods in which he is cloistered in a private institution. The viewer is expected to recognie that it is during this period of transit that Raymond grows and develops the most as a chracter in terms of his self-concept, his independence, and his ability to function in society. In a way, though, this is not so separate from the educational paradigm of the inclusion program, which, as mentioned, has gained recent precedence as a way in which high functioning individuals with disabilities are placed with peers their own age in regular, rather than in special education, classrooms. By the end of the movie, the viewer sees that Raymond has grown, but that he might not be totally ready for inclusion into outside society, as he returns to institutionl life. In comparison with what could be called the general education setting of the moie, the road-trip, Raymond needs special attention. He still displays odd and stereotyped mannerisms, and although he is more open to affection, he still clings to many of his rituals and evinces the same repetition. Charlie is frustrated because he has come to see and love Raymond in terms of special uniqueness and as a caregiver, but Raymond ultimately returns to institutional life. Still, the viewer is nagged as to whether or not this is truly necessary, or, perhaps more aptly, nagged by the fact that it established a strong pattern by being deemed necessary in the first place. In the movie Rain Man, the character of Raymond Babbitt is a high-functioning autistic savant who has been placed in a controlled institutional setting. He moves from this setting into the real world in a series of rather abrupt segues, and performs admiably throughout this ad-hoc inclusion program. Some of his behavioral characteristics an odd mannerisms do not change, but he becomes more open to affection and more socialized and able to assimilate himself in the world and adapt to a certain extent. This is perhaps a Hollywood extrapolation of the success of inclusion programs in education that seek to take high-functioning special-education students who have been seen to respond well to social cues and put them within normal curricula. It is still strongly implied, however, that people with disabilities like Raymond’s should have ample support systems and capable caregivers within this normal curriculum, and that some allowances must be made for their needs which may exceed the present parameters of the normal classroom The movie Rain Man does not focus on physical therapy treatment, although Raymond does seem to get more used to physical contact with others as he is assimilated into society. The movie also does not deal with neuro-chemical interventions, nor does it address the causal motivations of Raymond’s disability in concrete terms. Some have commented that the popularity of the movie and Hoffman’s portrayal have done more to raise public awareness of autism than many years of medical studies, articles, research, and advocacy have. Today, a shift towards group therapy programs became more popular, especially for high-functioning disabled student individuals, and special education services became more widespread as well, leading to a decrease in the number of functioning individuals with disabilities being constrained to home or institutional life. This gradually progressive process is spoken of in terms of deinstitutionalization as well as socialization and inclusion. As one thinker notes, “It is not fully clear who among the deinstitutionalized population would have been the long-stay patients in earlier areas” (Special, 2007). Often the process of institutional facility offered by long-stay programs is impaired by the perception that these programs keep socially maladjusted individuals from encountering problems in a complex outside world that is often defined by the same sense of boundary offered. A shift towards inclusion programs became more popular, especially for high-functioning individuals, and special education services became more widespread as well, leading to a decrease in the number of functioning individuals with disabilities being constrained to home-schooling or institutional life. As one source states appropriately, “pigeonholing in a way that suggests limits is inappropriate due to the wide range of autistic spectrum conditions” (Special, 2007) REFERENCE Special education—inclusion (2007). Education World. Read More