Cinema and Mental Isolation
Representations of Autism and Mental Health in the Short Film 'Corduroy' (Hugh O’Connor, 2009)
Keywords:
Autism, Irish short film, Corduroy, Hugh O’Connor, Jean Louis Baudry, IrelandAbstract
This article assesses film’s capacity to display and develop a unique relationship with autism by reflecting on aesthetic and formal innovations in the Irish short film Corduroy. The film’s use of various editing and camera movement techniques develops a novel experience for the audience as it begins to see the world through an autistic lens. The piece proposes that this opens up the way to a new development in understanding and interacting with a condition that is widely misunderstood. It may also act as both therapeutic and educational for autistic patients and their medical associates.
References
Baudry, Jean Louis. 1975. “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus.” Film Quarterly. Vol. 28, No. 2. Alan Williams (trans.).
Clayton, Alex. 2022. “Mind the Gap: Autistic Viewpoint in Film.” In Autism in Film and Television: On the Island. Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer (eds). Austin: University of Texas Press. 215–26.
Dixon, Wheeler Winston. 2016. “Slaves of Vision: The Virtual Reality World of Oculus Rift.” In Quarterly Review of Film and Video. Vol 33, No. 6. 50110.
Holl, Ute. 2017. Cinema, Trance and Cybernetics. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Maraglit, Avicahai. 2009. The Ethics of Memory. London & Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
