Greetings Earthlings! 😀
This week I’d like to discuss the portrayal of autism in the 2001 drama film ‘I Am Sam‘ starring Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and a young Dakota Fanning.
So what’s the film about?
The film focuses on the title character of Sam (Penn), an adult man with autism who is struggling to raise his 7 year daughter Lucy (Fanning) on his own. As Lucy’s intellectual age begins to surpass that of her father’s, social services seek to take her into care, so Sam must go to court to fight for custody.
If you haven’t seen it before, you can watch the trailer here:
So what did I make of the film?
Sean Penn’s acting was superb as Sam (I wouldn’t be his biggest fan, but he’s completely obscured by the character) and he even received an Oscar nod for his role. But an Oscar nomination is not always synonymous with scientifically accurate portrayals, so how did the film fare?
When it comes to researching films about autism, ‘I Am Sam‘ is rarely mentioned. His intellectual disability is not specifically labelled in the film, but much of Sam’s traits are consistent with autism- his poor coordination, repetitive behaviours, echolalia, OCD and poor eye contact.
The film itself received mixed to negative reviews, however, some critics have praised it for focusing on a “real” autist, a man who’s holding down a job, has a social life, is raising a child etc- aspects of life that are often ignored or overlooked in media portrayals of autism. As I have discussed in many previous posts, the vast majority of autists live normal lives. We’re always hearing about children with autism, but we forget that children grow up into adults with autism; adults that want jobs, relationships, children- it just might be a little bit harder for us to achieve these goals. So it’s quite refreshing that this film portrays Sam as a functioning member of society and not just another autist incapable of independent living.
All in all the film is worth a watch at least once, even if just for Sean Penn’s acting 🙂
Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!
Enjoy the weekend! 🙂
Aoife
A Is For Aoife Not Autism 
Thanks for posting! Because of the “Music movie” I’ve been looking for a contemporary review of this movie lately because I remember it fondly. But haven’t watched it in like 15 years. Again, thanks for posting! 🙂
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I cried of joy just to watch Sean Penn act this marvelous part of a day who simply loves his daughter . He deserved to win the academy award that year……hands down
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I cried of joy just to watch Sean Penn act this marvelous part of a dad who simply loves his daughter . He deserved to win the academy award that year……hands down
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