I’ve loved this book for decades. Read it multiple times. Thinking about it a bit, and I believe the Mc is autism coded.

Anyone else read this and agree?

Anyone have examples of this in other areas?

  • Liz@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Jonah Judah from Bojack horseman is very clearly autistic, but it’s never mentioned or even the source of any plot point. He’s just a regular character who happens to be autistic and has his own plot things and stuff.

    Edit: misremembered the name

    • Deestan@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Vincent Adultman also feels sympathetic. Not straight autistic, but clearly heavily masking.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      I think you mean Judah from BJHM. AFAIK that show doesn’t have a character named Jonah.

      But Jonah from Ozark is also fairly autism coded although it’s only ever directly implied once in the first episode when he’s called r*tarded by his sister

    • Sippy Cup@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Caliban’s war from the expanse series has a definitely autistic, arguably main character that is just delightful.

  • _cyb3rfunk_@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The ones that come to mind:

    • Captain Raymond Holt in Brooklyn 99
    • Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory
    • Mr Spock from Star Trek
    • Gus Fring (maybe), Gale and Lydia from Breaking Bad
    • Abed from Community
    • Persen@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Wait why Gustavo? I think he’s just masking as an oppressed gay (like all oppressed minorities do even if homosexuality doesn’t hugely affect his behavior), but I would be happy to get more insight. To clarify, I watched Beter call saul and around 3 seasons of BB.

      • _cyb3rfunk_@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        His unemotionality. The way he speaks formally. His precise mannerisms. The way he always seems to be putting on a facade, like he’s an alien pretending to be human.

        I don’t think he was intended to come across as autistic, he just vaguely seems like it.

  • Australis13@fedia.io
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    10 months ago

    Egon Spengler and his grand-daughter Phoebe from the Ghostbusters franchise. The character of Ray Stanz also has some traits, no doubt assisted by the fact that actor Dan Ackroyd is autistic.

  • Beefy-Tootz@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Yeah definitely a thing. I’m not familiar with the book you had mentioned, but I know from the show Bones, the main character Temperance Brennan, is very autism coded. It’s never officially indicated, in the show, what her deal is when it comes to social interactions, but it’s been hinted on officially by staff and writers that she is autistic to some degree. It’s not a very accurate portrayal of high functioning autism, however it technically counts I guess?

  • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I actually read this recently and I don’t think he’s autistic, but he was definitely written intentionally to show how a fairly confident, competent person (bordering on smug, but not quite) would struggle on prism.

  • eksb
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    10 months ago

    I read Kyr in Emily Tesh’s “Some Desperate Glory” as autistic.

  • Ivy Raven@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    No experience with that book, but a lot of literature has autistim coded characters. Lot, well sort of, debate in the Warhammer 40k communities about a fair number of autism coded characters there. I can’t remember who all they’ve said since I avoid a lot of the conversations but if I remember right a fair number of Space Marines, and their ‘traitor’ brethren are ‘autistic’.

  • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    I have heard heard some people claim that Jernau Morat Gurgeh (from Player of Games by Ian M Banks) is probably autistic, but personally i think he’s more Ace-coded than anything else. Maybe you might think otherwise?

    Personally I think a better example is Stafl-Preonsa Fal Shilde 'Ngeestra dam Crose, the Referrer from Consider Phlebas. She has a fixation on free solo climbing, and enough brainpower that supercomputers go to her for advice. I personally found the robot that was crushing on her to be super cute.

  • Delilah (She/Her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 months ago

    Is autism coded characters a thing?

    Short answer: Yes

    Long answer:
    rules:

    • no autism diagnosis (excludes Sean Murphey)
    • no possibility of autism ever suggested (excludes Gregory House and Regan from inside job)
    • no alternate diagnosis (excludes Komi from komi can’t communicate who is canonically SAD not ASD)
    • must demonstrate an autistic trait, though not necessarily the obvious one (Sprig is here because he experienced sensory overload in a cinama)
    • no traits only shown in fanfiction considered (I don’t want to be here all day)
    • have to be from a show I’ve watched and I personally have to see it (no Abhed from community, no Catniss Everdeen from hunger games)
    • they don’t have to be good representation (so I don’t have to justify several of my choices most notably Sheldon or Beverly)
    • no instances where the author obviously knew what they were doing when they created the character (excludes the Mitchells from the Mitchells vs the machines, but not sheldon because they fell into writing him like that by accident)
    • being an excentric genius isn’t a sign of autism (excludes Albus Dumbledor)
    • being an idiot savant isn’t a sign of autism (excludes Forrest Gump)

    so in no particular order:

    • Myne and Ferdinand from Ascendance of a bookworm
    • The entire La clan from Apothocary Diaries
    • Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter
    • Several Stephanie Meyers protagonists including Bella Swan from Twilight, Wanderer of the stars from The Host and the one who keeps changing her name so it’s not worth keeping track of it from the Chemist
    • L and Near from death note
    • Lios from delicious in dungeon
    • Mob from Mob Psycho 100 and Saitama from one punch man
    • Saiki K from the disasterous life of Saiki K
    • Akun from Aho Girl (also Yoshiko get’s an honorable mention for ADHD)
    • Star from Star vs the Forces of Evil
    • Mabel and Dipper from gravity falls
    • Luz from owl house
    • Marcy, Sprig and Polly from Amphibia
    • Ferb from Phineas and Ferb
    • Lilo from Lilo and Stitch
    • Peridot and Lapis Lazuli from Steven Universe.
    • Papyrus and Nabstabluk from undertale
    • Abby from NCIS
    • Spencer from iCarly
    • Commander Spock from Startrek
    • Captain Sam Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson and Thor from Stargate SG1
    • Sheldon, Raj, Beverly and Amy from the Big Bang Theory
    • A lot of spidermen, though it’s strongest in Penny Parker IMO
    • Every robot ever put to screen who’s name isn’t Baymax
    • Many, many aliens including some listed above