Autism Lessons from Alien Movies

By Trevor Pacelli

​Aliens. Hollywood’s always been obsessed with them. As far back as Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon in 1902, the concept of life on other planets has been meticulously explored. Many film critics have pointed out numerous parallels between aliens and international relations, The Day the Earth Stood Still being a common example, but never pointed out a parallel that makes perfect sense: the similarities between aliens and autism.

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Here are some examples:

War of the Worlds (1953)

Martians arrive with the intent of annihilating the human race. From the human’s perspective, they are here to cause chaos and mass hysteria. Think about how people looked at autism back in the 1950’s, as back then it was dismissed as the now unacceptable phrase, “mental retardation.” They too thought at the time that anyone who was mentally handicapped was a recipe for chaos in social order.

Star Wars (1977)

All the aliens speak different languages, yet can still understand each other’s words. The language barrier doesn’t help though in understanding what the other means (think of Han Solo’s exchange with Greedo). While the immediate interpretation would be other word languages, those on the spectrum possess an entirely different sense of body language and social cues that gets in the way of proper interaction from both ends of a conversation.

Six-Word Lessons for Dads with Autistic Kids, Lesson #16: They Don’t Read Other People Well.

Alien (1979)

Humans are curious about a creature from a world beyond their understanding. They go out to explore it, only to be killed one by one from the inside out by a hideous lifeform. In the same way, people at times feel somehow intrigued by autism, seeing how different it is, yet at the same time, they fear that getting too close to anyone on the spectrum will mentally destroy them from the inside out.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

He came here with a curiosity about the way people live. Yet his fear of blaring lights, loud sounds, and unexpected surprises overpowers curiosity. These are all traits to autism, especially when they’re in a place of frightening unfamiliarity.

Six-Word Lessons on Female Asperger Syndrome, Lesson #34: We are Socially Clumsy and Unaware.

Arrival (2016)

Nobody knows what to make of these odd foreign invaders, so language interpretation becomes the means to communicate with them to see whether they’re dangerous or not. Many would also rely on interpretation of speech to understand somebody with autism, as it’s not always clear. You can read more in my autism lesson on the movie here.

So the next time you watch a movie with intelligent beings outside of Earth, such as Life, don’t just think of it as mindless entertainment. So much deeper meaning exists in sci-fi than what meets the eye.

3 Takeaways:

1. Read up on blog posts and articles about the deeper meaning behind science fiction films. You may not believe so but their directors have more to tell us about humanity than you realize.
2. It’s not enough to just acknowledge a deeper meaning behind your favorite science fiction films, you also must apply it. For instance, after learning about the autistic signs in E.T., use that comparison to change how you interact with somebody on the autism spectrum. After all, if you can relate to a man from outer space, relating to a man with ASD should be no problem.
3. As your autistic child what they think of these depictions of aliens in film: are they responsible depictions or do they miss the point about human interaction?

Thanks so much for your time in reading! My book Six-Word Lessons on Growing Up Autistic is available on Amazon, Kindle, and iBooks. Be sure to go to TrevorsViewonHollywood.come for more movie reviews.