"I don't want your pity"

February 12, 2017 12:50 PM

Asperger's Are Us is a Massachusetts sketch comedy group featured in the eponymous documentary currently on Netflix. All four members are autistic and while the documentary explores how autism affects them creatively and personally, its mainly about funny guys making funny stuff. Their website -- where a mention of The Big Bang Theory links to the Wikipedia article for Minstrel Show -- features the first episode of their ten second podcast with guest Mark Proksch a.k.a. K-Strass (previously), their favorite comedian. Their guest appearance on DJ Douggpound's Poundcast showcases their love of puns, "scripting", victim-less humor, and their intriguing chemistry. You can also watch some of their older sketch performances on Youtube: I'm Pregnant and Foster Parents.
posted by Hume (10 comments total)

I 100% love that minstrel show reference. Now I finally have a concrete way of explaining why I thin BBT is so freaking awful and harmful.

These guys seem awesome, can't wait to dive in.
posted by cooker girl at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2017 [10 favorites]

a mention of The Big Bang Theory links to the Wikipedia article for Minstrel Show

And BBT is the most popular comedy series on American TV. An important part of the American cultural sewer that has resulted in the political sewer we are also neck deep in. That and "Reality" competition shows, the WWE, Game of Thrones, heroic murderer/gangsters and zombie movies/TV shows indoctrinating millions that "the Other" is out to kill us. I'm mildly surprised that Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady haven't been offered positions in the cabinet.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:25 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm mildly surprised that Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady haven't been offered positions in the cabinet.

I'll just leave a link here to Chuck Lorre's most recent vanity card.
posted by mushhushshu at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The documentary is really great. It manages to focus on the creative process, mostly, along with foregrounding relationships with family and becoming young men. Felt very familiar to me, as someone who is not on the spectrum but relates to them in almost every other way. Not to say that the doc shies away from showing their struggles with Asperger's, especially as they become more independent, its in the name after all. I think a good counterpoint is Best and Most Beautiful Things, which lacks the focus of this doc and focuses on disability for the first hour before getting to the real story, which is way more interesting. Can't wait to listen to the podcast. Great post.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:45 PM on February 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's a great documentary and I'm glad to see it highlighted here. We watched it with our oldest daughter, who is on the spectrum, and it really resonated with her, even though spectrum disorders can present very differently in men and women. The interviews with the parents were most interesting to me. I found the extreme care they took in their choice of words very familiar. You have to balance your parenting with the very real hurt that sometimes results from the relationship with your spectrum child.
posted by Bresciabouvier at 3:16 PM on February 12, 2017

Sorry for the derail, but Lorre's Vanity Cards have always been a major source of Fake News (as I discovered when I wrote about them for a Real News Site a dozen years ago)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:19 PM on February 12, 2017

where a mention of The Big Bang Theory links to the Wikipedia article for Minstrel Show

Yikes. The concept of the joke is funny but the execution is wildly inappropriate.

I watched the header video on the website, and by far my favorite part is hearing the audience laugh that laugh you do when you don't know whether you should be laughing. Which is, very obviously, intentionally brought out of them by the act.
posted by FirstMateKate at 5:08 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

The concept of the joke is funny but the execution is wildly inappropriate.

It's not a joke. I am not equipped to take any particular position on whether anything that is not specifically anti-black racist can be called a "minstrel show," but whatever term you want to use for it, BBT is absolutely that for Autistic people.
posted by dorque at 5:30 PM on February 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

I wasn't saying it's a joke as in it's meaning wasn't intended. Say, for example, I was talking about Donald Trump's main strategy to stay in office for 4 years, and the link I provided was "the means by which fascism gains total control". No, it's not at all a joke the amount of pain and strife the country is headed in, but doing it in that manner is a very coy, joking way to present it. Especially since the context is "on a comedy troupe's website". I'd find it hard not to be intentional.

As far as the subject goes, the general rule of thumb is "no, that thing that is not anti-black racism is in fact, not at all like anti-black racism, so please don't co-opt anti-black history to prove your point"
posted by FirstMateKate at 5:52 PM on February 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

There are definite intersections here. The proliferation of negative stereotypes has a tendency to erase black (and other non-white) autistic people and reinforce the idea that only white people are neurodivergent (which contributes to the tremendous inadequacies of available services for many people/areas). While I agree that you can't make 1:1 comparisons between different historical/contemporary oppressions, it can be a quick way to get people to reflect to highlight parallels between things society considers abhorrent now and things society is still completely fine with. It feels like a somewhat tongue in cheek thing here that's calling out the negative stereotypes in BBT more than it's claiming BBT is the same thing as a minstrel show.
posted by byanyothername at 6:03 PM on February 12, 2017 [2 favorites]