Doing the end of the Reel Shorts Youth Screenplay Competition I made the controversial decision to make the protagonist of my story autistic. This was a move I made for the sole purpose of giving him a bit of a personality and to round him up a bit more. And I got to emit after this incident Cho’s became so much more you live for me.
It’s important for me to bring this up because this is how I approach everything about this series. If you be that the previous entries on this blog you will notice at this point Cho has been around for more or less 5 years at this point and I have already decided to make him autistic-like, myself,
A big factor behind this reasoning is to do to the fact that my own parents didn’t tell me that I was autistic I tell I was close to adulthood. Their reasoning was that they felt like it just didn’t matter and ultimately they were right. Yes, I always knew I was a little bit different. The obvious fact was that I was always put into special needs classes. But it did really occur to me that oh I was really that different than everyone else. To me, it was just me like I don’t identify myself as anything other than me. My autism is just a part of who I am but it’s not my identity. I am not my identity. My identity is me. And so I get that we have upset a couple of individuals but never negative about them.
It was for this very reason why I made the controversial decision to make Sato/Cho essentially a low functioning artistic rather than someone with Asperger’s or higher up on the spectrum. The idea of a low functioning autistic lends itself to better exaggeration and allowed me to focus more on those unique issues.
Now one of my first obstacles was to start researching on the subject. Thankfully there was a ton of resources for those with disabilities in the course of my own life experience but not so much on other artistic characters. Thankfully there was a comic book that recently came out that claim to have the fuss autistic superhero.
In order to be polite, I am not going to tell you who made this comic. Now I’m going to warn you I don’t have too many nice things to say about. So take this as another learning experience and so many people have similar things to say about my work.
So this that claims to have the very first artistic superhero. I felt a comic to be “offensively preachy.” It felt like the type of comic that I would’ve been handed as a kid and then dropped it. It was not the type of book that I would pick up on my own. The overall art of the book was actually really great. The crater said that he wanted the facial features to be more exaggerated and easier to read sense those on the autistic spectrum have a hard time reading people's emotions. Yeah dude, in my opinion, this was a bit of a mistake. I am not joking when I say this. I found the facial expressions in this book to be nightmare-inducing. I am seriously am still getting nightmares from this book.
I’m pretty sure anything I can be sent with the fact that their world has steampunk with aliens can also be said with my world. Now personally I don’t understand ping-pong but when I see it I’m just thinking of a lot of dirt granite as my series move on a spaceship with mid-evil knights. I’m just like a little storyteller in issue seven I have my characters arriving on a spaceship traveling on horse-drawn carriages.
Now they’re also another artistic superhero book that I’m aware of but unfortunately, I didn’t pick it up due to their main tag line “An autistic he will have arrived”. Oh boy, this is going to go into the much larger problem that the American comic book industry is currently facing. So yeah I have no other choice but I’m going to have to go on a bit of a tangent.
Many of you guys have heard of reasons like “representation matters”, “inclusion” and “how important it is for people to see themselves.” Wow just wow. Personally, I think he starts to be a bit insulting because they are very clearly pandering. I can tell his individuals are talking down to people. Same to the target line that they are not good enough as the young themselves unintentionally see themselves as superior. Like I’m sorry people I know of the way discovered that if literally the definition of &^*^%$.
A common opinion I hear from their opposition is “make your own stuff”. Which I 100% agree with! As all that is what I did I did what I spent years on the like doing before segment to come up. For example, I really want that was planning consummate in the same way that Peter Parker would’ve made so what I did was I taught myself how to saw and when I really want to tell this story but I had to do was to teach myself how to draw and right.
The reason why I’m not calling out the other artistic books by name is out of respect for them but I cannot help but point out the obvious problem which unfortunately has invested in the American comic book industry. If you guys haven’t picked up on it find it now. I did not decide to make my series about “dealing with” autism for the sake of pushing some of the agenda. There were a lot of creative opportunities that presented themselves.
I wanted to clamp work that anyone can pick up and enjoy being because fun and exciting. Heck mostly because of fun. I openly admit throughout the development of the series I added some stuff purely for fun. That’s it. The fact that I have a low functioning autistic as my protagonist is extremely unusual but it let us out for more creative opportunity. The fact is I see my book helping people on the autistic spectrum as a bonus
Whenever I’m trying Sato I don’t like them as much as a human being more as a monster. That creature we all come to see and often times the one character who we are more empathetic and can connect with more than the human character. I.e. the representation doesn’t matter. But that is as a writer we can be something like a rock the most empathetic and relatable character all without anthropomorphizing it. And that is truly is the grace challenge of any storyteller.
Yes, I am well aware that other characters since I started this project and researching and came out as being on the autistic spectrum. Like Billy the original blue Ranger from the Power Ranger or that kid from superhero elementary. Sato/Cho doesn’t fit in their mold but generally, the morning archetype on someone on the autistic spectrum is usually techie or into science. When Cho doesn’t quite fit in that stereotype. Characters like Dr. Odd and Robbie Fox might. Cho is too preoccupied with all the things I think he’s far more worried about trying not to kill someone.
Yeah, I know this is one great big long blog post. But I need to take a nice sip of tea, come down, and left up fun began.
So I went on that great big tangent was because I disagree with those individuals with who I will be fundamentally associated. The reason why I disagree with some isn’t that I’m unable to relate or emphasize with him is because I can and through my own personal experiences I feel that this another way and have.
Now when it came to trying to figure out what Sato/Cho has set it was important for me not to give him any powers that and the plate his disabilities. They are treated as a tool in his tool belt or any obstacle for him to overcome. And this reason I don’t focus on powers because his abilities and disabilities are one and the same.
Essentially my whole strategy was to dehumanize my protagonist as much as humanly possible. If it felt like something it was something that my readers can potentially emotionally connect with. I chuck it out the window. What would normally make my audience relate and empathize with my protagonist will essentially make my protagonists unrelatable?
There were three characters that I started using for reference to help me develop Sato/Cho to the next level. And these three characters are Superman, Stitch for Disney Lilo and Stitch, and Godzilla Jr. (Zilla Jr.) from Godzilla the animated series. Plus all three of them are nonhuman bonuses. See dehumanizing can be a good thing.
Now at this point were already a few unintentional similarities between Cho and the Man of Steel. So I just roll with it. I ended up having to approach Cho as if I was reinventing the wheel. Thus making a Superman archetype, like no other.
The next question I asked myself was there anything visual I can do to indicate that my protagonist is autistic? Surprisingly, there was one thing I can do. When I was in school I often time to classes with people and more severe disabilities and I recall some of them having trouble with their hands. I didn’t really think much about the time but what ultimately made me decide to go in this direction happened during one of the Grand Prairie downtown street performers' redo every July. I recall this bullying to the one kid with these claws like hands. I thought that would be pretty cool to get to my protagonists.
So I ended up deciding to give Cho this T Rex Style posture. And the reason for this can be given to his hypersensitivity and his super strength. I did forget that he essentially cannot feed himself and may also have trouble walking. It's lighting he’s constantly walking on a trampoline or the moon. One long step key you will basically himself into a Wall. Plus just so go great with that whole Kaiju monster vibe that I’m going with. less human equal to relatability.
Now there is also a question about his speech pattern. Unfortunately one of the big downsides is a literary form is that I have to make my characters regardless to have speech impairment are not understandable to the reader. A great example of this is Donald Duck. If you see any cartoon featuring Donald Duck noticed that he has a very recognizable speech impairment but when he’s portrayed in a comic this is, unfortunately, doesn’t happen. So my challenge is what can you do to make my protagonist let you some kind of speech difficulty yet still keep on understandable for the readers?
The first thing I do is distinguish speech patterns between Sato and Cho. Of course, is going to be some major overlap between them since I thought that the same person but even if I can integrate some subtle detail to keep the two identities be extinct we get the same person.
I need to do was make sure that Cho the hero persona so to speak normally. Forgiven his backstory he will most likely be selling a little bit gruffer and yet tired. In my mind, Cho's voice is his natural speaking voice.
But Sato is another story. Because the shuttle is far more where that people are generally afraid of him. He may have been intentionally raising the pitch of his voice to essentially make himself sound cuter. Whenever I’m trying Sato I’m effectively writing him like a child. This also has additional benefits because when we as foreigners are trying to speak Japanese we sound like children's native speakers. Thus a subtle way to add a speech impairment.
I will think that I also add to help distinguish the two personas is to have Sato’s referred to himself by name like he’s some kind of Pokémon. When you’re reading the comic paying close attention to when Sato is speaking. You hear him oftentimes referred to himself as “the Sato’s” instead of saying “I” or “me”. Ever Cho was speaking he will refer to himself as “I”. And of course, I also appropriate dehumanizing pronouns from the rainbow people. I like it I personally wouldn’t use on-the-front pronouns that I find to be derogatory and mean-spirited towards the said individual. But and Sato/Cho okay it is completely appropriate because I am trying to dehumanize him.
If you think I’m being mean now one of the big differences in how I write Sato when he younger compared to when he’s older what present age. Whenever my Sato when he’s younger I constantly thinking of what horrible new torture can’t I put this child for now. I thought nothing scream dramatic tension in seeking a child being tormented. I’m sick in the head. I mean seriously this is the kind of series when you asked the question. How many nukes does it take to kill a 12-year-old? I want I will he start issue one when Sato was 12-year-old being executed. That’s not a spoiler that’s the first page.
Okay, I am seriously laughing and smiling as I am writing this. Hehehe! Oh, sweet pepperonis. You can clearly tell that am having way too much fun with this.
In most other things if I’m getting wrong I generally will type to myself at his age in those situations. Answer me how would I at if I was him. And just how I would add it very similar to how he does in the story. Not like a normal part but like him.
Now there are many more examples that I could open but throughout this blog, you show me going through a ton of different emotions and I’m hoping for those of you reading this that you can tell how deeply passionate I am about this topic. Even though there are things about it that do make me angry. After all, I’m only human.
If this is the first of my blog post you read. I am first and foremost an entertainer. Thus, I take my responsibility on telling as many fart jokes as humanly possible very, very seriously. As a writer, my job is to torment my protagonist.
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