This year Sia created a movie “Music”, that was meant to shed light on the struggles that autistic people face. From a distance, this seems great, like a noble pursuit for Sia to use her platform for such a big topic, however, the film was not all that it is cracked up to be.
Main character Maddie Ziegler was cast by Sia for this movie, she is completely able and has no mental set-backs as far as autism. Sia reported refusing to use actually autistic people in her film.
“The trouble started late last year when the singer-songwriter-turned-director’s feature debut was called out by many for casting Maddie Ziegler, the neurotypical dance prodigy and child star of several Sia videos, in the role of Music, a teenager with autism.”
This is really discouraging to many people; I feel we were all rooting for her; with a stunt like this, it takes all of the respect we had for her, as well as respect for her music away. Not only did Sia cast a neurotypical child for an autistic role, but she also instructed Ziegler to watch the meltdowns of children with autism in order to “act the part” correctly.
“…reports that the YouTube clips Ziegler watched for research into her role were videos parents had posted of their children having meltdowns — scenes showing these kids at their weakest and most vulnerable, that were now presumably being used to extrapolate a whole set of behaviors.”
It is sicking to think that she was able to film and produce this movie. You could say she had good intentions, but the choices she made obviously point to otherwise. In the movie it shows her older sister “Zu” trying to take care of her younger sister “Music”. They never show the challenges that Zu faces trying to raise her, just that it can be challenging. This seems to put almost a pressure of guilt on Music rather than the film trying to understand the character more.
“What are her needs, other than the walk she takes every morning and the list of allergies that grandma helpfully wrote out in a notebook? The film never really offers us insight into such matters. It simply assures us that it’s all quite a challenge — which might actually be the most offensive thing about it.”
To top it all off Sia not only did problematic casting, she also creates scenes that are unrealistic and an over-dramaticized version of what people with autism experience, It is like she is completely socially tone deaf. With this movie, she has not uplifted people with these conditions, but more offended them and created a mockery of them.
“She runs from a man dressed up as a shaggy dog while performing the angular dances that made her famous. Then she’ll jump with Hudson into a swimming pool filled with foam blocks. Does Sia think that autistic persons see the world like a cokehead Teletubby?”
Ending with this interesting statement, I think it is safe to say that Sia should have never taken her time to produce this dumpster pile of a film. It is insulting, derogatory, and invading. I hope she realizes this moving forward, and at the very least takes responsibility for the terrible actions she expressed in making her movie.