[Willow, narrator] To the Moon was made a decade ago
and yet still does a better job than many recent attempts at representing autistic characters
in the media.
So let's take a look at what To the Moon does right to learn how to make autistic representation better.
In case you haven't played To the Moon,
I don't plan on giving away any major spoilers in this video.
You follow 2 doctors whose job is to help people on their deathbeds.
The doctors travel inside the memories of the patient
to try to modify events so a wish the patient has requested comes true.
Think kind of like Inception or the opposite of 'The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.
Alright, let's get started.
#1. There is more than one gender
Inside of Johnny's memories we meet his wife River.
Even to this day we rarely see female representation.
The game has a lot of nods to the fact that women are less likely to receive a diagnosis too.
Which is important because boys are much more likely to get diagnosed.
This is because the diagnostic criteria was written for boys and doesn't take into account
cultural differences for other genders
like girls are more likely to have higher social expectations put on them.
While not in To the Moon, you should also consider
nonbinary, trans or gender nonconforming autistic characters.
It's quite common for many of us to have a different relationship with gender.
Like, I myself am nonbinary.
#2. No Special Ability Required
River may have good rote memory which is common among us,
but she doesn't have a savant-like ability.
To the Moon even goes out of its way to note such abilities are really uncommon.
Many times stories fall into treating disability like a zero-sum game.
So, if a character has a disability, they must have some other cool skill
to make up for it.
Worse is when the character only seems to be tolerated for this special skill.
On a side note, autism also isn't some sort of advanced evolution either.
That has problems for other reasons
that maybe I'll get into another time
#3. Have more than one autistic character
To the Moon also introduces us to River's friend Isabelle who is also autistic.
This is great because neurodivergent people seem to naturally find other
neurodivergent people when making friends.
Isabelle is also quite different from River.
This means the audience gets to see more of a spectrum.
Not only is this more realistic, it helps avoid stereotypes by showing a variety of experiences.
#4. Autistic Adults exist
We learn that Isabelle was diagnosed very young, while we get to see River not diagnosed
until she was an adult.
Off the top of my head, I'm not sure I can even think of another story
that isn't either focused on parents with an autistic child
or someone who was diagnosed when they were young.
In fact, many people believe autism is just a "kid" thing,
which can make it difficult to find services or support as an adult.
It's also just really nice having a late diagnosis shown.
It can be really surreal to find out your autistic later in life.
In a way, To the Moon's story serves as an analogy for that experience too.
Whenever you think you start to understand what's going on with Johnny
as you travel through his memories,
you discover some new piece of information that recontextualizes everything.
It's been almost 6 years since I was diagnosed
and I still have memories resurface that have a completely different meaning to me now.
#5. Small accommodations without interrogation
This can seem like a small thing,
but I loved seeing the doctor's office be so accommodating by stopping a clock
so the ticking noise wouldn't bother River.
There was no questioning of whether or not the discomfort was true
even though she hadn't received a diagnosis yet.
#6. Fitting in is not the goal
In the same scene Isabelle explains how her and River are quite different,
we learn about the struggles Isabelle has endured being diagnosed so young.
That she has had to be an actor all of her life to try to fit in.
In doing so, she says she's not even sure who the real her is anymore.
In the autistic community, this is often referred to as Masking.
And it can take an extreme toll on our energy.
We often see the opposite of this in other stories, where the goal is usually
to learn how to Mask,
so the character can try to appear more Neurotypical.
#7. Being different doesn't make you wrong
Even when characters may be confused or find River's behavior strange,
we still see the Neurotypical protagonist Johnny's behavior questioned.
I have talked about before how what's "normal" can automatically be assumed to be good.
It was nice to see moments where common behavior is questioned
especially when it's noted it's something that would upset River.
#8. We are more than our trauma
River never feels like a 1-dimensional character to me,
even though we are only seeing her through Johnny's memories.
Often stories want to show difficulties autistic people face in society,
but in over focusing on this end up creating a simplistic stereotype as a character
which just seems to try to invoke inspiration or pity.
River does fall into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope,
but the narrative even pushes back on that.
And to be clear, negative things happening are fine in a story.
I cried multiple times in To the Moon.
It's part of the human experience.
It just shouldn't only be about that especially if it's centering on being autistic.
#9. Talk about real issues
Autism itself is not River’s challenge in To the Moon.
There are natural conflicts that arise due to communication differences,
but the blame does not somehow fall on River throughout this story.
In many ways River's challenge is mistreatment from Johnny.
Representation of autistic characters often hit some of the common differences
many of us experience.
Things like sensory processing differences or communication
and the challenges those bring especially related to social expectations.
While many of these characters I can relate to on some level,
they often feel kind of shallow,
like they're missing the depth of how these differences
actually shape our experiences in the bigger picture.
River is seemingly able to get a diagnosis and support relatively easily
where as many of us struggle with money and finding these supports,
but we are also only seeing key moments in Johnny's memories.
Although it is interesting that in this setting technology has been invented to give someone
a dying wish by modifying their memory,
but people still don't have free healthcare.
#10. You shouldn't need to say a character is autistic for a story to work
To the Moon doesn't even mention the word 'autism'
although if you are familiar with it you will likely pick up some references
like you receive a book written by Tony Atwood, who is well known
for pushing the fact that women are underdiagnosed.
And then of course using words like 'Neurotypical'.
-[Day9] What did he call me, like a psychonormal?
Or like a neurostandard? Something like that?
Earlier.
So there's some sort of- perhaps sci-fi bend to this
-[Willow]In case you don't know, 'Neurotypical' just means someone with no neurodivergence.
The first time I played the game I had no idea what was being referenced either.
I was diagnosed autistic myself a year later.
I do want to note it can feel odd to see autism referred to as a 'condition 'a lot in this game
I can understand why it was phrased this way given the story of the game,
and think it was better than using the word 'autism' in this case.
The story doesn't center being autistic.
Instead it's just a story about someone whose differences
change what some challenges may look like.
I think this is also why there are a lot of characters autistic people
relate to who were not specifically written to be autistic.
And that's 10 things we can learn from To the Moon to make better autistic characters.
If you haven't played the game, I do highly recommend it.
Some of the words used are dated and there's some light ableism
so it's not perfect by any means,
but it's a really great story and only takes maybe 4 hours to playthrough.
Which I REALLY appreciate as a disabled parent.
This week I want to recommend another autistic creator Elle Summers.
She does video essays I think fans of this channel would like.
I want to especially recommend her video on Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
I have one more video on autism acceptance that I hope to get up soon
but obviously won't quite make it for April.
Then I'll probably be saying something about Falcon and the Winter Soldier
because that show has had a lot going on.
Stay safe out there everyone, and remember
You're Not Alone.