I thought I knew what to expect when I sat down to watch Song. I am autistic, and the internet has been buzzing for months about the lack of care and research that Sia seems to have put in her film about a young girl with autism. I expected to be offended. Instead, I felt an intense second-hand shame because Song it’s 107 minutes of unadulterated and unintended contraction. I feel sorry for Maddie Ziegler, who plays the title character. I feel sorry for Leslie Odom Jr., who I assumed was more self-aware than apparently. And although Sia curses my community, the autistic community, on social media, I also feel sorry for her.
Earlier this month, Sia went to an Australian talk show, The project, talk about Song. She discussed how Maddie Ziegler felt uncomfortable playing music at the beginning of production. “She cried on the first day of rehearsals and was very scared. She just said, ‘I don’t want anyone to think I’m making fun of them.’ “It is not difficult to see where Ziegler may have come up with this idea. In the first few minutes of Song, Ziegler grunts, hums and bangs. She pushes her upper jaw forward in an exaggerated overbite. Then, the first musical number begins. Ziegler continues to squirm and stagger, but this time with background dancers and bright yellow costumes.
I don’t think Ziegler is making fun of anyone. However, the lack of malice does not reduce the acute discomfort of watching your clumsy monkey disability. Ziegler is a teenager and, by reassuring her about her role in this film, the adults in her life deeply disappointed her.
Autism is technically an invisible disability, but there is a physicality to it. Our bodies move in unusual ways. To be totally fair to Ziegler, we sometimes grunt, mumble, twitch, stagger and hit each other. I am grateful that she probably watched several videos on YouTube while researching for the role. One of the biggest controversies around Song it was Ziegler’s cast, and the idea that Sia should have cast an autistic actress for the role. An autistic actress would undoubtedly have been able to present a performance that more accurately incorporated autism.
But that would do nothing to solve the biggest problem with Song. Song it is not a film about autism, nor is it a film about an autistic person. Despite the film’s eponymous title, Music, the character is barely a person. She seems to exist for no other reason than to continually propel her half sister Zu (Kate Hudson) along a predictable arc of redemption. Zu is a recovering alcoholic and a small drug dealer who is forced to become Music’s caregiver when his grandmother dies. At first, she seems profoundly inadequate for the job. Her grandmother left a book meticulously detailing the daily schedule and Music’s needs, and Zu, on learning that there was no inheritance, did not read anything. In addition, for some reason, there are no school and child protection services. But do not worry! Zu has a heart of gold.
To be fair to Zu, the needs of the music are unclear and seem to fluctuate based on what needs to happen to advance the plot. It doesn’t seem that Zu needs to do much for the music, other than preparing breakfast and braiding his hair. Music gets dressed, brushes his teeth and walks from his home to the local library and returns unsupervised every day. Most autism organizations across the ideological spectrum denounced elements of the film as not representative and insecure, and I’m inclined to agree.
A notable exception: the National Council on Severe Autism. NCSA was founded by a handful of parents hostile to the idea of neurodiversity, a branch of the disability rights movement centered on the idea that cognitive disabilities like autism are normal parts of the human experience – essentially, the idea that autistic people they are different from our typical peers, no less. NCSA parents question neurodiversity because they see their children’s autism as a disease. NSCA chose to praise the film’s decision to portray “severe autism” based purely on the fact that some autistic adults online were offended by the premise and trailer for the film. Having actually seen it, I think they will be disappointed. The film does not portray autism as “serious” in any sense. Music’s autism is unrecognizable, its life miraculously, incredibly easy. Music neighbors love and support her. People on the street wave to her, handing her clippings from magazines and fresh fruit. In case you’re wondering, that’s not how the world usually responds to autistic people, more or less across the spectrum.
And there is Ebo, played by Leslie Odom Jr. Ebo lives in the Music and Zu corridor. Ebo is from Ghana. He had an autistic brother at one point, but – as he strangely gleefully informs Zu – his brother is dead. But everything is fine! You see, in your village, autism “was considered a curse”. What was your brother’s name? How old was your brother? Which village? He never says, and we will never know. Ebo is a kind of magical whisper of autism, entering Zu’s life to teach him how to care. He works as a boxing instructor, but he seems to spend time teaching Zu about autism.
Some of his advice is surprisingly terrible. At one point, Ebo teaches Zu how to hold on to the music after the song collapses in a park. Zu sits on top of Music, setting Music face down. This is called “prone containment” and is a practice that has resulted in several deaths. After some protests, Sia apologized and said that the scenes will be removed from future versions of the film. But that scene – as well as another one in which Ebo, an adult man, climbs on top of a panicked autistic teenager as if it were a common and even desirable way to respond to a breakdown – went all the way from filming to post -production apparently, without anyone raising an eyebrow is exactly the problem. It is a bizarre choice.
Song there are some moments of joy, almost by chance. Tig Notaro appears on an imaginary and capricious children’s television broadcast that I would have happily watched the entire time. I would have happily watched anything other than this musical Godforsaken. “Fuck, fuck, why don’t you watch my movie before you judge it?” Sia tweeted in November, when outrage over the film’s cast began to creep up. Well, I watched the movie, I’m judging, and it sucks.