The film ‘Music’ follows a young adult named Zu who has come into custody of her half-sister Music, a young girl on the autistic spectrum. While the movie aimed to exemplify the power of family and connection to one another, it ended up portraying ASD in a derogatory and disrespectful way.
The full plot goes roughly as follows: Zu, as aforementioned, has absolutely no idea how to take care of a child, let alone have the slightest bit of understanding of Music and her ASD. Throughout the entire hour and 47 minute film, she barely learns anything about how to properly support someone with ASD. Instead of shedding light on ASD and accurately portraying it in the film, the film instead focuses on Zu while painting Music as a nuisance to Zu’s everyday life until she learns how to ‘deal with Music’. It is overall very dehumanizing to those who struggle with ASD and has garnered a lot of backlash from viewers of this movie.
Not only was Music played by Maddie Ziegler, a neurotypical actress, but there were many facets to Music’s personality that people on the autistic spectrum found extremely stereotypical and offensive. Additionally, Music’s autistic outbursts and characteristics were used as a vehicle of growth for the main character Zu, which overall completely dehumanized Music as an individual and instead made her identity fully about her autism. There are even moments where Music seems to display little to no symptoms of ASD at all, the most notable being a scene where a bright metaphorical light shines on Music’s face and she becomes completely void of any autistic symptoms. According to the director, Sia, the intentions of this film were pure. However, Music’s ASD was mostly portrayed as an obstacle or a burden that the main character Zu must take care of and come to grips with, sending a harmful message to those who struggle with ASD.
The opening scene of the movie presents Music walking around town with several townspeople aiding her along the way, unbeknownst to Music herself. This scene mocks Music’s carefree demeanor by designating several townspeople to complete intricate acts to ensure that Music doesn’t have an outburst, lose her way, or hurt herself. This complex network of people working to aid Music in her everyday endeavors makes the entirety of the scene highly unrealistic. In addition, the significance of this introductory scene was that it set a narrative of complete lack of self sufficiency and an implication that others are inherently responsible for the way Music acts.
Another scene in the initial publication of the movie, now removed, shows mental health professionals restraining Music while she is having an outburst episode. With the ongoing debate on whether or not restraints are positive in helping those with mental health concerns, this scene was extremely controversial and outraged a lot of people who believed restraining those with mental health conditions was inhumane. Even though this scene was removed from further publications, there are many scenes in which Music is forcefully moved around whether it be pushed onto the ground, forced into a seat, or dragged along a road which is extremely objectifying.
Overall, this film did a terrible job with portraying ASD. In my opinion, the vivid and vibrant hallucinations were just there to promote Sia’s latest songs. Music’s ASD was only present when integral to the narrative of the story, and she was seen as this object of wonder and disbelief that could be turned on and off when it was convenient for the directors. The symptoms of ASD were either portrayed in an ‘over-the-top’ fashion, or simply portrayed inaccurately. Simply put: the reality of ASD is incredibly different compared to the way it is portrayed in this film. Since the release of this film earlier in 2021, Sia has come forward and since apologized to the autistic and neurodivergent community for some of the content of this film. However, ‘Music’ has yet to be refilmed, recasted, taken down, or edited in any way other than the deletion of the restraint scene. Looking forward, I hope to see other movies in which autistic people, whether they are the main character or not, are portrayed accurately so the audience can better understand and hopefully help destigmatize these mental health concerns.
