So Rain Man is on telly. I think I’m going to watch it... and I might tweet about it.

It remains to be seen if this is a good idea!

First observation. The dead father bred prize winning rose bushes and in his will urges his son to appreciate the possibility of perfection.

Had not considered before possibility that Raymond’s father might also have been autistic?

Also, there’s a nice moment of repetitive speech from Tom Cruise when he hears he didn’t get his father’s fortune in the will.

Plus. Tom Cruise is so YOUNG!

(I should note, I’ve seen this before but not for twenty years or so)

Interesting watching Tom Cruise and his girlfriend touring the home where Raymond lives. Blank faces as they stare through the windows.

First description of Raymond as an “autistic savant”.

“There are dangers everywhere for Raymond” - doctor explains that his routines are his protection.

Very nice connection with Vern. “V E R N Vern, my main man Vern”

Goes without saying it would be better to see an autistic actor in this role. There’s a big issue here with “cripping up”. I’m not going to dwell on it. This thread is observations on the film at face value.

Raymond leaves his home for the first time in 30? years. Transition eased by putting his hotel room bed by the window, watching familiar TV show and ordering regular Monday meal.

Completely implausible?? Long-standing routines dramatically and abruptly overturned.

Uh oh.

The scene that launched 1000 stereotypes (part I) - Raymond reading the phone book. (Which we will later discover he has memorised)

Tom Cruise asks Raymond questions over and over again. Leaves him no time to process.

Raymond replies “I don’t know”.

Cruise v frustrated.

People make this same mistake today, all the time.

Raymond has memorised the waitress’ phone number having read the phone book last night.

I must say, he’s remarkably chilled about the extraordinary experience he’s having.

Oh. My. God.

The famous match-counting scene?

It was toothpicks!! He counts 246. The box says 250.

Cruise: pretty close, Ray
Waitress: there’s four left in the box

Another stereotype begotten

Major moment of distress in the airport.

Easily (unrealistically) resolved when they decide not to fly.

It’s feeling like the character of Raymond has been pitched to provide a representation of autism that filmmakers could claim to be “authentic” but which is in fact entirely polished up for Hollywood.

No matter what he’s put through, and however much Tom Cruise yells at him, Raymond is remarkably calm and steady with an exceptional array of coping strategies.

Watching now this is an autistic character who is flourishing...

... but I think the average viewer is seeing an autistic character who can’t cope.

For example, here Raymond is in a motel room drawing the pattern on the carpet in perfect detail.

He casually discards the sketch.

I presume using his sketch to process his new environment.

Tom Cruise’s character is finding Raymond’s desire to buy boxer shorts at his local branch of K-Mart hard to handle.

He is convinced that Raymond is ‘doing it on purpose’ - again a really common neurotypical mistake, definitely still see a lot of today.

Raymond sees the DONT WALK sign as he is crossing the road and stops in the middle of the crossing.

Over literal depiction of literalness...

Really interesting scene now. Tom Cruise takes Raymond to the doctor.

First, the nurse thinks he is “artistic”. She asks Tom Cruise to explain and he says “it means he’s in a world of his own”

Later the doctor says “I’m not a psychiatrist but I can tell you his brain doesn’t work the same way as yours and mine”

And also “he doesn’t mean to annoy you, when that happens you just need to take a break”

The scene ends with the doctor testing Ray with complex sums. And contrasting his precisely accurate answers with his uncertainty over the cost of a candy bar

Tom Cruise is grudgingly admiring.

I’m afraid the message is that Raymond has value thanks to his mathematical abilities and despite being autistic. He doesn’t have value as a fully rounded person.

Raymond repeats the Who’s On First sketch when he is anxious.

Cruise tells him “it’s not a riddle” and “maybe if you understood that you’d get better”

But it’s Cruise who doesn’t understand the purpose of the repetition for Raymond.

I have to say this scene is pretty moving.

First Tom Cruise realises that Raymond is the Rain Man he remembers from his childhood (and which he thought was imaginary)

Then he realises that Raymond was sent away from the family home because he scalded him (Cruise) as a baby

We also see how quickly Cruise has learnt Raymond’s routines and how carefully he gets the bed in the right place, the pens in a glass on the table, the right food and snacks...

CUE 80s MONTAGE SCENE

Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of an autistic man here is at its most caricatured. There’s no plot to flesh out the imitation.

Here it is. Tom Cruise is working out Raymond could help him make a lot of money in a casino.

The film soundtrack is going into overdrive.

Clearly we’re meant to be thrilled that Raymond finally has a purpose...

Jeez a casino would surely be sensory hell for Raymond?

We’ve seen his discomfort with sun cream and his preference for specific underwear. But in this noisy garish environment he’s merely curious.

Of course, every autistic person is unique - maybe Raymond finds the casino just fine - but it feels like any authenticity (based on what we’ve seen of Raymond so far) is being sacrificed in favour of optimal plot progress.

Raymond is admiring a woman’s necklace and she comes over to talk to him. She is “very sparkly”

Nice moment when Tom Cruise decides he can make his own choices, leaves him to chat with the sparkly woman.

And now Raymond wants to learn to dance so he can go on a date. It’s very tender.

Given how much society refuses to give autistic people their sexuality still, this scene feels quite charming.

Though it ends painfully.

Cruise wants to hug Raymond. He asks first, which is good to see. But when he goes for the hug Raymond is upset.

Cruise is hurt. He wants the end result of the time he’s spent with Raymond to be a socially normed display of affection.

The camera stays on Cruise. We are meant to sympathise with his hurt feelings. We don’t spend any time on Raymond’s inner life, in this moment at least.

Don’t know how I feel about this scene. Raymond kisses his brother’s girlfriend in the lift. Initiated entirely by her.

Having said I like seeing him allowed some sexual feelings, this now feels like Hollywood has decided he needs a “normal” romantic moment

Raymond and Cruise (character name is Charlie but I can’t get used to it) have finally arrived at Charlie’s home.

They watch the Who’s On First sketch. Cruise is questing for some sort of moment. I am glad the writers resist the chance to give it to him.

Really tough scene. The smoke alarm goes off. Raymond can’t get out because the back door is on a chain.

It’s filmed quite well to show how intense the experience is for Raymond.

They have a nice moment over pancakes too.

Raymond is concerned there needs to be maple syrup on the table before the pancakes arrive. They’ve had this conversation before.

This time the syrup is there. They both laugh.

Really interesting meeting to discuss what will happen to Raymond.

Raymond is present and is asked for his account of the past week.

Cruise is passionate about wanting to stay with his brother.

Now the professionals are claiming Raymond can’t make decisions about where he should live.

They ask him but in an awful way. They rush the questions. They ask over and over. No processing time.

Raymond is shown as being incapable of making the choice.

A tender moment between Raymond and his brother. They touch foreheads and Raymond spells his brothers name - something we know is a sign of affection.

Maybe I’m sentimental. But it feels earned. It feels nice.

Well. That’s it then. Charlie bids farewell to Raymond who is heading back to his home in Cincinnati

I was surprised to see how little the film made me wince. Tho of course I’m not the best judge (being neurotypical)....

But I’d say the damage done by this particular representation of an autistic person is not inherent in the character of Raymond, or even in Hoffman’s performance.

It’s in the fact that for so many people, for so long (& still today) this is the only model of autism they have.

Finally, this thread was really just opportunistic and to satisfy my own curiosity about the film.

I hope nothing in my observations is offensive - my deepest apologies if so.

Otherwise, I hope it satisfied your curiosity a bit too - thanks for reading!