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Which will make my character stronger?

H

harmonica44

Maybe not stronger, but give him more depth. In my plot to a script I have in mind, the villain has problems in life because of autism, and that turns him into a criminal maniac, unleashing on the world, because it won't accept him the same way, as more common people. He is smart enough to cover his tracks, and the cops have a hard time catching him.

For the main detective I have two ideas. I can either make him autistic as well, and that causes him to be able to identify with the villain on a more personal level. Or I can make it so he's not, and that causes him to have to go outside his heart to try to get into the villains head. Either I go with the it takes one to know one theme, or it doesn't take one to know one, but unlike other people, he can identify with the villains problem.

Which is stronger? I'm thinking maybe the second but not sure.
 
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Remember, people with autism are into their own worlds. It is not done yet with a villain with autism. I've seen a Frankenstein movie where the hero cop, a female cop with a brother who has autism that she takes care of with a housekeeper to "show her Human side."
 
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Maybe have the antagonist be a remarkably functional autist while the protag secretly battles his own autism kissing cousin asperger's which provides him with unique insight.

Due to his hiding it from his police force buddies they don't understand when he comes up with these "magical" insights leading to his versions of probable cause which begin to start implicating him.


COP BUDDY - Something stinks to high heaven about all this. Mind tellin' me how'd you figure this out?
PROTAG - I'm not real sure. It just... made sense.
COP BUDDY - So, now all of a sudden you're super cop, or something?
PROTAG - Yeah. Or something.
Police team members exchange skeptical glances with one another.
 
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I think the villain may need more work than the detective. I'm not an expert on autism, but in my experience and to the best of my understanding, being aware of the degree of social disconnect from neurotypicals would be unlikely. The implied anger would be a real reach.

If you're looking to go with autism maybe Asperger's syndrome (a variant of autism) would be a better fit. Here is a link to an article aboutserial killers who have been speculated to have had the syndrome. I say speculated because I don't think there is a single undisputed claim in the lot.

Then again, even if I'm right, most of the audience would never know any way. People still think schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder are synonymous.
 
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Yeah I haven't yet picked exactly what type of but some sort of thing of that sort that prevents him from being as socially adaptable. Thanks.

Well I wasn't planning on the hero being a family man, but more of a loner. If he is a family man the plot I have in mind will not have hardly any time for a son, unless of course he justs mostly references him to the case at hand. The two main characters he spends the most time with are a woman, who's helping him, who turns out to be bad, and has her own agenda in the end, and his love interest, who is is having relationship problems with because of how the case is affecting him. I could possibly make one of those characters have some autism or similar condition, to the villain, if that would work just as well.
 
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Well there wouldn't be any time for the kid, since there is other plot I have in mind, and she would be in situations she wouldn't normally bring her kid too. I could have the kid appear in the scene that introduces her character, but once she is introduced, there is just no time for a kid from then on, and they will just have to reference him. If that's okay.
 
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You've gotten some good tips on character development but there's some story techniques that will create more depth for your character as well.

Through out the beginning, you present this guy as just an evil guy. As the story progresses, his autism is revealed, first through clues and then directly to the detective. This way, the audience doesn't immediately sympathize with him. They start to form a judgement but are then pulled back down to human sympathy simultaneously with the detective. They are literally in the story, side-by-side with the detective. Learning about the main character with him. This revelation changes the detective, changes the audience and changes the investigation/story. It adds great depth to the character and makes the story more dynamic.
 
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Autism Spectrum Disorders are an AWSOME idea for a villain. Its like a sociopath that cant make eye contact. Super high functioning, like a chess prodigy, or something like that, say super brilliant with and almost ALIEN intellect. There is a branch of thinking that suggest that high level Autisam is a step FORWARD in human evolution. There are even militant groups.

Interesting factoid.

Most folks with autism can recall being born. Hows that for alien to most of us..
 
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If you're going to put him in the autism spectrum, you should give him Asperger's. They're far more likely than others in the spectrum to commit violent crimes, and they're 'closer' to those with typical development. This would also give you more wiggle room when it comes to characterization.

Plus, someone further in on the scale might not truly grasp the concept of revenge as a personal motive. For someone with Asperger's it makes a lot more sense for him to feel very alienated and marginalized, since he's sort of inbetween the two worlds.
 
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right.. theres plenty of room for a villain in that spectrum.. so do your research to get the details right, but in the broad story sense you can move on to other issues..

EDIT:
This does make me wonder what are the social political ramifications of making a BAD guy with a condition like this or a handicap.



On one hand its like your giving EQUAL representation, but on the other, you might be accused of promoting a bigoted view"

Take this idea to an absurd level....

This is NOT suggestions for your script, more just an interesting sidebar..


In every movie with a mentally handicapped character, that character is invariable innocent and even though might do something bad, its usually a misunderstanding or a panic response..

what if you turned that up side down? A REALLY bad BAD down syndrome character for example. We remove all possible sympathy because he so obviously evil... do you think such would be received POSITIVELY by the community ?
 
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wheatgrinder said:
what if you turned that up side down? A REALLY bad BAD down syndrome character for example. We remove all possible sympathy because he so obviously evil... do you think such would be received POSITIVELY by the community ?
Click to expand...
In our overly PC society? I doubt it. Even a villain with autism who isn't made out to be a victim of the disorder would probably raise a little funk.
 
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