Life, Animated tells us the story of Owen who is autistic and how his connection to the intellectual properties of Disney helped him understand the world around him. In Owen's case Disney relics were mostly a positive influence although we were able to see some negative side effects.
When Owen was a boy there was a long period of time in which he was non-verbal. He would not speak, and from the sound of what the parents were saying, would not even make eye contact with other people. It was very emotional hearing about the challenges his parents faced to try to help Owen. It wasn't until years later that Owen articulated his first sentence saying that his brother was sad about growing up. "Like Mogli and Peter Pan." Using these characters Owen was able to conjure not just sentences but thoughts with complex meanings. In this instance Owen used the characters as a channel to communicate and understand emotions within the physical world. Years later using a puppet of Iago from Aladdin Owen's father was able to communicate with his son. What Owen's family didn't realize was the strength of the parasocial relationship that Owen formed with these characters from Disney movies. In his first conversation Owen said that specifically Iago made him laugh so he considered him his only friend. For the rest of his childhood his family was able to connect with him through these characters. I personally don't see the the harm in using these characters as a method of communicating for children. Seeing the video of the Disney club Owen was leading was heartwarming. There were so many kids with special needs that were able to communicate via the messages in Disney movies.
Now I personally don't think that the negative effects of this relationship are that detrimental. There was one instance wherein Owen was moving and he lost a necklace charm that was given to him from his then girlfriend Emily. We saw Owen quickly spiral into a fit when he thought he lost his charm. I think this is an example of an unhealthy dependency that can be harmful to children with autism in the long run. It is important for them to ease away from these dependencies that will leave them unable to operate on their own. Overall it is up to the support system surrounding children to use the media that their child consumes to be able to connect to the physical world
When Owen was a boy there was a long period of time in which he was non-verbal. He would not speak, and from the sound of what the parents were saying, would not even make eye contact with other people. It was very emotional hearing about the challenges his parents faced to try to help Owen. It wasn't until years later that Owen articulated his first sentence saying that his brother was sad about growing up. "Like Mogli and Peter Pan." Using these characters Owen was able to conjure not just sentences but thoughts with complex meanings. In this instance Owen used the characters as a channel to communicate and understand emotions within the physical world. Years later using a puppet of Iago from Aladdin Owen's father was able to communicate with his son. What Owen's family didn't realize was the strength of the parasocial relationship that Owen formed with these characters from Disney movies. In his first conversation Owen said that specifically Iago made him laugh so he considered him his only friend. For the rest of his childhood his family was able to connect with him through these characters. I personally don't see the the harm in using these characters as a method of communicating for children. Seeing the video of the Disney club Owen was leading was heartwarming. There were so many kids with special needs that were able to communicate via the messages in Disney movies.
Now I personally don't think that the negative effects of this relationship are that detrimental. There was one instance wherein Owen was moving and he lost a necklace charm that was given to him from his then girlfriend Emily. We saw Owen quickly spiral into a fit when he thought he lost his charm. I think this is an example of an unhealthy dependency that can be harmful to children with autism in the long run. It is important for them to ease away from these dependencies that will leave them unable to operate on their own. Overall it is up to the support system surrounding children to use the media that their child consumes to be able to connect to the physical world