In January, well-known Australian pop singer and frequent radio star Sia, or Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, released her first movie “Music.” The film features Maddie Ziegler, a frequent collaborator of Sia, as a teenager with autism named Music and consists of a mix between music and interpretive dance to convey its meaning. While on the surface it may seem like a movie that fans of pop must see, underneath the film is a misconceived view on disability and a clear ridiculing of the autistic community.
By watching just the trailer for the film, anyone who has even the slightest experience with the autism community can immediately see how disrespectful this film is. Not only is Ziegler not an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) playing a character who has ASD, which can be interpreted as harmful in itself, but she is also performing movements such as rapid blinking that are perpetuated stereotypes of all members of the autism community. Simply put, it looks like Ziegler is mocking people with autism rather than portraying this marginalized group in a positive light as it claims.
Ziegler felt worried that she would seem like she was making fun of individuals with autism, but sadly, the film seems to do just that.
Sia also revealed that she had originally cast a member of the autism community as the actress to play Music, but it was too unpleasant and stressful. This is nothing more than an excuse from Sia. Films and television have cast actors with ASD in the past, changing the environment and stimuli to better adapt these situations for this population, and as a consumer, I cannot help but think Sia and her production team did not try hard enough to make sure someone with ASD felt comfortable filming on their set.
Furthermore, when fans went to the internet to express their concerns with the movie, Sia’s response was a pure slap in the face to people with autism everywhere. On Twitter, an autistic actor noted that plenty of actors such as herself could play the part and that Sia is just coming up with excuses, to which Sia responded, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.” There are more harmful responses by Sia, but for the sake of space, I recommend you search Twitter yourself.
As someone who was a fan of Sia and would constantly blast her Christmas album in my car, I am extremely disappointed, not only with this project, but also with how she directly responded to members of the autism community. As for Ziegler, I feel bad that she was put into that position, and as a young actress, she is surely going to feel the effect of this film for years to come. Needless to say, I will not be watching the film and I most definitely will not be supporting Sia as an artist, director or whatever else she plans on doing.
