Skip to content
1981
Volume 11, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2042-7875
  • E-ISSN: 2042-7883

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of representational issues associated with interview-based animated documentary productions directed by non-autistic filmmakers, attempting to represent one or more autistic participants. The article draws insights from three case studies: (Webb 1992), (Glynne 2009) and the author’s own practice-based research film, (Widdowson 2021). Drawing insights from psychoanalysis, film theory and ethnography, the article will examine animated documentary practice in terms of the risks of Othering participants, look for evidence of the filmmaker’s unconscious bias and consider how the cinematic gaze can be used to decode ideological systems that informed their construction. From this analysis, the author reaches the conclusion that the properties of documentaries, that rely on animation rather than live-action cinematography, present a specific set of ethical responsibilities that skew towards issues of representation.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • The Wellcome Trust (Award 209795/Z/17/Z)
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ap3_00032_1
2023-12-20
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Animatedminds.com (n.d.), ‘Watch Our Series’, Animatedminds.com, https://www.animatedminds.com/watch-the-series. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  2. asiam.ie (n.d.), ‘Autism & language: What’s the best word?’, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c52ed424611a0dfb0370362/t/5d65196b24d57900014c12bc/1566906732015/Autism-And-Language.pdf. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  3. autisticadvocacy.org (n.d.), ‘Autism Self Advocacy Network’, https://autisticadvocacy.org//. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  4. Baudry, J. L. and Williams, A. (1974), ‘Ideological effects of the basic cinematographic apparatus’, Film Quarterly, 28:2, pp. 3947.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Brown, L. (2011), ‘The significance of semantics: Person-first language: Why it matters’, Autistic Hoya, 4 August, https://www.autistichoya.com/2011/08/significance-of-semantics-person-first.html. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  6. Bruzzi, S. (2006), New Documentary, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Butler, J. (1990), Gender Trouble, Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Chapman, R. (2019), ‘Neurodiversity theory and its discontents: Autism, schizophrenia, and the social model of disability’, in S. Tekin and R. Bluhm (eds), The Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophy of Psychiatry, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 37190.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Cowie, E. (1999), ‘The spectacle of actuality’, in J. M. Gaines and M. Renov (eds), Collecting Visible Evidence, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1945.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cowie, E. (2011), Recording Reality, Desiring the Real, London and Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Crosby, S. J. (2019), Unconscious Bias: A Psychodynamic Exploration, Dublin: Dublin Business School.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. DelGaudio, S. (1997), ‘If truth be told, can ‘toons tell it? Documentary and animation’, Film History, 9:2, pp. 18999.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Dervin, F. (2012), ‘Cultural identity, representation and othering’, in J. Jackson (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Intercultural Communication, Oxfordshire: Routledge, pp. 195208.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Firth-Bernard, K. (2021), Cloud Boy: An Autistic Journey, UK: University of the Creative Arts Farnham.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Formenti, C. (2022), The Classical Animated Documentary and Its Contemporary Evolution, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Foucault, M. (1990), The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, New York: Vintage.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Glynne, A. (2009), An Alien in the Playground, UK: Channel 4.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Glynne, A. (2012), ‘Interview with Andy Glynne’, Doc On-Line, 13 December, pp. 293304.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Goletski, G. (2018), HOLE, Canada: Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Grandin, T. and Panek, R. (2013), The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Honess Roe, A. (2013), Animated Documentary, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Krumer-Nevo, M. and Sidi, M. (2012), ‘Writing against othering’, Qualitative Inquiry, 18:4, pp. 299309.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lacan, J. (2010), ‘The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience’, in D. Birksted-Breen, S. Flanders, A. Gibeault (eds), Reading French Psychoanalysis, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 97104.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Leyda, J. and Eisenstein, S. (1988), Eisenstein on Disney, London: Methuen.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. MacKinnon, C. (2022), ‘Contexts of short animated documentary production in the United Kingdom’, Ph.D. thesis, Bournemouth: Arts University Bournemouth.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. McGowan, T. (2007), The Real Gaze: Film Theory After Lacan, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Metz, C. (1982), Psychoanalysis and Cinema: The Imaginary Signifier, London: Macmillan.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Miller, G. (2021), ‘Asperger’s vs. autism: What exactly is the difference?’, PsychCentral, 31 March, https://psychcentral.com/autism/aspergers-vs-autism-whats-the-difference. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  29. Milton, D. (2012), ‘On the ontological status of autism: The “double empathy problem”’, Disability & Society, 27:6, pp. 88387.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Minchin, A. (2022), My Thoughts on Autism… and Orangutans, UK: University of Hertfordshire.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Minh-Ha, T. T. (1990), ‘Documentary is/not a name’, October, 52, Spring, pp. 7698.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Moore, S. (2015), ‘Out of sight: Using animation to document perceptual brain states’, Ph.D. thesis, Loughborough: Loughborough University.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Muggleton, J. (n.d.), ‘A little about Josh’, mugsy.org, http://mugsy.org/joshua/. Accessed 14 March 2023.
  34. Mulvey, L. (1975), ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’, Screen, 16:3, pp. 618.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Mulvey, L. and Wollen, P. (1977), Riddles of the Sphinx, UK: British Film Institute.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Murray, S. (2008), Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Nichols, B. (1991), Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Nichols, B. (2017), Introduction to Documentary, 3rd ed., Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Piotrowska, A. (2012), ‘Psychoanalysis and ethics in documentary film’, Ph.D. thesis, London: Birkbeck University of London.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Pryluck, C. ([1976] 2005), ‘Ultimately we are all outsiders: The ethics of documentary filming’, in A. Rosenthal and J. Corner (eds), New Challenges for Documentary, 2nd ed., Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 194208.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Renov, M. (2004), The Subject of Documentary, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Robison, J. E. (2008), Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, New York: Random House.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Rothwell, J. (2021), The Reason I Jump, UK and USA: Picture House Entertainment.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Ruby, J. ([1979] 2005), ‘The ethics of image making’, in A. Rosenthal and J. Corner (eds), New Challenges for Documentary, 2nd ed., Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 20919.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Rughani, P. (2013), ‘The dance of documentary ethics’, in B. Winston (ed.), The Documentary Film Book, London: BFI and Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 98109.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Silberman, S. (2015), NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently, London: Atlantic Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Singer, J. (1998), ‘Odd people in: The birth of community amongst people on the autistic spectrum: A personal exploration of a new social movement based on neurological diversity’, B.Sc. thesis, Sydney: University of Technology Sydney.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Southern Ladies Animation Group (2003), It’s Like That, Australia: Southern Ladies Animation Group.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Thurschwell, P. (2000), Sigmund Freud, Abingdon: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Walker, N. (2021), Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities, Fort Worth, TX: Autonomous Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Webb, T. (1992), A Is for Autism, UK: Channel 4.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Webb, T. (2021), ‘Life, Animated (PG*) & A is for Autism (short) + ScreenTalk with Director Tim Webb & Artist Carla MacKinnon’, Autism and Cinema: An Exploration of Neurodiversity, Barbican Centre, 25 September.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Widdowson, A. (2021), Drawing on Autism, UK: Queen Mary University of London.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Weber, B. N. and Heinen, H. (1980) Bertolt Brecht: Political Theory and Literary Practice, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ap3_00032_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/ap3_00032_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test