Denise M.

My brother is clinically-diagnosed with Autism. We’ve both agreed that this is an inappropriate and ignorant representation of autistic people. We loved Sia’s music at some point, but this movie is ridiculously insensitive. If Sia really wanted to create a movie that represented the struggles of an autistic person, she would’ve hired an autistic actor/actress for the role. Not all autistic people are non-verbal, Sia. Music wasn’t portrayed as the main character; we expected her to be. She felt like a side dish to the main course... yet the title of the movie is “Music”? Oh please! If Sia’s goal was to represent autistic struggles, she should’ve put the movie’s focus on the actual thoughts and feelings of Music. Yes, Sia. Autistic people have thoughts and feelings. This movie gives off the grimy perception that autistic people are society’s little sidekicks— always needing the neuro-typical to save them. Spoiler* The scenes where Music was forcibly restrained physically made my blood boil. Those who don’t see anything wrong with the movie may now think that restraining is appropriate to perform on an autistic person suffering an episode. Sia has a wide influence. I’m disappointed that she didn’t do the right research in making this movie; she claimed to have done 3 years worth of research... but with a highly-suspect organisation, that’s questionable. I wouldn’t trust Autism Speaks (said organisation) with watering my garden! If you want to waste your money purchasing this movie, I’d suggest you use it to buy yourself a bag of crisps and a smoothie for yourself instead. Don’t watch the movie; don’t do that to yourself. And Sia if you ever read this, we were rooting for you at some point, but this is really disappointing. Not only that, but your tweets regarding the controversy and reacting people’s responses to your movie are despicable and immensely distasteful. There is so much more that I can pick apart from this mess of a film, but I don’t have the patience to dwell on this abomination any longer.