This week in the Deep Hurting Project is a special movie, a piece of shit called Music. It was directed by pop star Sia, and apparently spent four years in post-production so she could get it just right. And it's still horrible. Why? Let's find out:
- Well, here's the first thing: Maddie Ziegler plays an autistic girl named Music. There's a lot of controversy about whether neurotypical actors should play characters with autism. And as someone with autism, I have to say that I don't think it's wrong per se. It's a plus, but by no means 100% necessary. Honestly, a lot of my favourite characters who canonically have autism (Max Horowitz from Mary and Max, Zack from Story of Luke, Temple Grandin in the movie of the same name, Christian Wolff from The Accountant) were performed by people who, as far as we know, are neurotypical, and that's not even going into roles that give strong autism vibes like Travis Bickle, Edward Scissorhands, Cameron Vale, or Sterling Archer. And, frankly, as long as Hollywood's going to rely on using big names to draw in audiences and there aren't a huge stable of autistic actors who can draw a crowd, I suspect it'll be inevitable. But what I think is necessary is that if you're going to use a neurotypical actor, they need to consult with people who actually have autism so they can get it right. And looking at Maddie Ziegler here, it all looks phony. I've known people across all ends of the autism spectrum and she looks like none of them, not even another barely verbal girl. At worst, it looks like something a bully would use to mock an autistic person. For what it's worth, I don't blame Maddie for this. Apparently, she had concerns about how she was portraying autistic people and even ran to Sia sobbing about it, and instead of making sure she was authentic as possible, just told her she'd never let people criticise her like that, and because they're Michael Jackson levels of close (up to and including sharing a fucking bed), they just left it like that. No consulting other people on the spectrum, not even getting David Byrne to do it (bear in mind, they've worked together and Byrne has autism). Also, the thing about how she allegedly had an autistic person playing Maddie Ziegler's role but she couldn't hack it and she had to fill in at the last minute is a lie, and all you need to do is look at the history of the film's Wikipedia page. Maddie Ziegler was always attached and she was always going to play the sister.
- Also, the aesthetics of the dream are just crap. It's all a gaudy shade of orange, the flashing lights have to be a big problem to a lot of autistic people, Maddie Ziegler seems to be darker-skinned than usual, and why do her headphones look like cornrows?
- So, the news agent tears out his inventory to give Music pictures of dogs? That's just unprofessional. Also, why can't she just get pictures of dogs off the internet? I know having any modern technology in a movie tends to date it instantly, but maybe it's less of a hassle to not have to account for destroying the inventory.
- Admittedly, Kate Hudson falling asleep in mid-meeting and having to pull out an entire wall wart worth of electronic devices does make sense to me.
- Does she not know how AA works? How has she been doing this shit and not know how the chip system works?
- Good God, Tig Notaro looks bored as the host of the Radgicals. Or is this what it'd look like if Robert Bresson created the Banana Splits?
- I'm going to leave this here:
- Jesus fucking christ! Aaron Burr, Sir just barged into the apartment and pinned Music to the floor! I thought there was only one scene where they did it. To be fair, unlike the other big restraint scene, it's at least supine and not prone. But even then, that's supposed to be done as a last resort and even then, only when the person in question is a threat to themselves and others.
- "My brother is dead now," said Aaron Burr, Sir, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
- Who keeps a jar of Monopoly money on a shelf?
- So, two questions about the 1+1 number: 1) Did Sia just write this for another project and just shoehorn it into this movie, and 2) why did Fat Bastard from Austin Powers and Pink Guy from Filthy Frank breed? And how?
- Let them know what they're doing wrong. Words of wisdom that should have been heeded in the production.
- Ebo Odom? Wow. He even shares Aaron Burr, Sir's real name. Does this mean Leslie Odom is from Ghana?
- Holy shit, I remember this park, and while I'm not looking forward to this, I do have to admit, I love the whole "kicking the sand to reveal the floor lights" imagery.
- Yep. It's that scene. The restraint scene.
Just so everyone's clear, while restraints are technically used in treating meltdowns, 1) they're to be used as a last resort, 2) only when they're a threat to themselves and/or others, and 3) not when the person in question is meant to be lying on their stomach. Why? Because this shit has killed autistic people. Seriously, did nobody involved in the picture tell Sia, during the four years this film spent in post, "Um, Sia, remember that scene from Music where Zu crushes Music with her love? An autistic kid just died under those exact circumstances." To be fair, apparently Sia had enough of an insight to claim she was going to remove those scenes and include a warning, but I just saw two scenes of these potentially lethal restraint and zero warnings that this was actually a bad idea. For more information as to how professionals who actually know what the fuck they're doing help calm meltdowns, Hell, just check this Wikihow article. And meanwhile, I think using any of these methods might have actually not only helped with Music's meltdown, it'd also aid in both Music and Zu's character arcs. - So, what I've heard about how the musical interludes are from Music's point of view, so why have the last two of them so far focused on Zu?
- And now, we not only have a third musical number not from Music's POV, but one that I can only assume is Aaron Burr, Sir dancing in smarty pants played dead seriously. And if you get that, you probably watched PBS as a kid.
- I'm sorry, the fact that Sia's in this movie and is apparently using an earthquake in Haiti as an excuse to have a vicodin-fueled orgy is just distracting as all fuck.
- Children's bones were dislocated and we're trying to make sure that rogue witches aren't trying to rob the graves of the dead and replacing them with drink, honey, and flowers. Yeah. That happened.
- Huh, apparently Music is wearing a hat that allows for a Droste effect.
- Well, at least Zu didn't try smothering Music when she had a potentially lethal beesting on her hand.
- Why did having to admit that she doesn't have a job cause Zu to have this meltdown of her own? For once, her almost dying wasn't actually her fault.
- You know, why the fuck is Felix not the main character? He's more in line with what I've seen from people on the autism spectrum- and of course he ends up getting killed before he has a chance to do anything. And why is he covering Zu with a blanket after he died?
- And at least Music has a little more agency than I had heard, but not that much.
- Well, that revelation that Music is more verbal than anyone expected kinda came out of nowhere.
- Also, how the fuck did Henry Rollins get involved in this horseshit?
- And the post-credits scene with the Radgicals just makes it more obvious that it was shit.
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.