User:Madelineutter13/Rain Man

Savant Syndrome in Rain Man

Rain Man's plot revolved heavily around the depiction and performance of Savant Syndrome, as seen in the main character Raymond Babbitt. Savant Syndrome can be described as a subcategory of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ADD), in which certain individuals express extreme and unordinary talents in one or more domains. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ADD) can be described as a set of symptoms including (but not limited to) developmental and learning delays, extreme sensitivity to sensory stimuli, unusually specific interests, and difficulty in social situations. As seen in Rain Man, the character of Raymond Babbitt (played by Dustin Hoffman) displays characteristics linked to both ADD and Savant Syndrome; including a strict adherence to a repetitive routine, an unusually precise photographic memory, and an extreme aptitude for mathematical equations.

Although Savant Syndrome can be linked to a number of various developmental conditions, it is most commonly co-identified in Autism, with findings showing that up to 37% of people with Autism also share Savant capabilities. Because the emergence and cause of Savant Syndrome is still not fully understood by medical professionals, there continue to be a wide range of individuals who remain undiagnosed, and others who are improperly diagnosed.

Daniel Tammet, author of Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, faces similar experiences and challenges as the character of Raymond Babbitt, in that he too is an Autistic Savant with extraordinary mathematical skills and an extreme concern for repetitive routines. In his autobiography, he details how his rare condition has informed his life and the way that he sees the world. Like Raymond, Daniel notes that he deals with nervousness through repetitive multiplication of numbers, whereas the character of Raymond Babbitt deals with nervousness through his repetition of Abbott & Costello's famous "Who's on First?" comedy sketch. Daniel also exhibits other qualities characteristic of someone with Savant Syndrome, including his ability to fluently speak ten languages, including one that he invented himself, called Manti.

An emerging theme in Rain Man can be noted as the realization and exploration of the fact that individuals with developmental conditions such as ADD and Savant Syndrome do indeed feel emotions in the same way that others do. While individuals with ADD and Savant Syndrome are able to feel similar emotions as others, they aren't always able to manage them in the way that most neurotypical individuals are. As Pamela Heaton and Gregory Wallace note in their article found in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, children with ADD and children with Savant Syndrome often show the most difficulty in expressing and understanding emotions that stem from a social background, such as pride or embarrassment, but show a typical understanding in the expression and understanding of more primary emotions such as happiness or sadness. This finding is consistent with previous understandings of the emotional development of individuals with ADD and Savant Syndrome, as well as with several fictional portrayals of these conditions, notably the character of Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man.

Bibliography

Below is a list of additional source materials that I plan to analyze in order to create additions to the main page. These center around savant syndrome, which is not discussed enough in the main page as of this time.

Aguilar, Gabriela. (2019). Mental disorders in popular film: How Hollywood uses, shames, and obscures mental diversity: by Erin Heath, Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2019, 106 pp., $80.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-49-852171-0. Disability & Society. 35. 1-3. 10.1080/09687599.2019.1691838.

Chivers, Sally and Nicole Markotic. The Problem Body: Projecting Disability in Film. The Ohio State University Press, 2010. Project MUSEmuse.jhu.edu/book/27736.

Heaton P, Wallace GL. Annotation: the savant syndrome. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2004 Jul;45(5):899-911. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.t01-1-00284.x. PMID: 15225334.

Hughes, J.E.A., Ward, J., Gruffydd, E. et al. Savant syndrome has a distinct psychological profile in autism. Molecular Autism 9, 53 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-018-0237-1

Lyall, S. (2007, February 19). Living with savant syndrome: Learning to manage an extraordinary gift. The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/health/19iht-savant.html

Treffert, Darold A. “The savant syndrome: an extraordinary condition. A synopsis: past, present, future.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 364,1522 (2009): 1351-7. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0326

Production[edit]

In drafting the story for Rain Man, Barry Morrow decided to base the Dustin Hoffman's character, Raymond Babbitt, off of his experiences with both Kim Peek and Bill Sackter, two men who had gained notoriety and fame for their intellectual disabilities. Prior to the conception of Rain Man, Morrow had formed a friendship with the intellectually disabled Sackter, and in doing so ended up taking some situational aspects from his friendship and using them to help craft the relationship between Charlie and Raymond. Following the success of the made-for-TV movie he had written about Sackter, Bill (1981 film), Morrow met the notorious Kim Peek and was wildly intrigued by his Savant Syndrome. Initially going into the creation of the film, Morrow was essentially unaware of the intricacies of the condition, as well as of autism itself, deciding instead the movie was less about Raymond's intellectual disability and more about the relationship formed between Raymond and Charlie.

Roger Birnbaum was the first studio executive to give the film a green light; he did so immediately after Barry Morrow pitched the story. Birnbaum received "special thanks" in the film's credits.^{[citation needed]}

Real-life brothers Dennis Quaid and Randy Quaid were considered for the roles of Raymond Babbitt and Charles Babbitt. Agents at CAA sent the script to Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray, envisioning Murray in the title role and Hoffman in the role eventually portrayed by Cruise. Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack were directors also involved in the film. Mickey Rourke was also offered a role but he turned it down.

For a year prior to playing Raymond Babbitt, Hoffman prepared to portray Raymond's autism by seeking out and educating himself on other people with autism, particularly those with Savant Syndrome. Hoffman had some experience with disabled individuals prior to filming, having worked at the New York Psychiatric Institute when he was younger. Inspiration for the portrayal of Raymond Babbitt’s mannerisms was drawn from a multitude of sources, including Kim Peek and the autistic brother of a Princeton football player with whom Hoffman was in touch with at the time. Part of Hoffman’s research into the role also included in-person meetings with savant Kim Peek, wherein he would observe and mimic Peek’s actions in order to attempt to give an accurate portrayal at what an individual with Savant Syndrome might act like. His mimicry of Peek’s Savant Syndrome was deemed an ill-fit for the character by Hoffman, resulting in Hoffman deciding to make Babbitt not only a man with Savant Syndrome, but also a man with autism. This decision was one that proved to only further the misunderstanding of autism spectrum disorder among the general public: though autism is, in itself, a varying condition with numerous ways in which it is characterized, having both autism and Savant Syndrome is an incredibly rare occurrence. Even so, audiences were swayed into thinking that most autistic individuals were intellectually capable of savant abilities largely by the Hoffman's portrayal of Raymond Babbitt.

Principal photography included nine weeks of filming on location in Cincinnati and throughout northern Kentucky. Other portions were shot in the desert near Palm Springs, California.

There was originally a different ending to the movie drafted by Morrow which differed from Raymond going back to the institution. Morrow ultimately decided to drop this ending in favor of Raymond returning to the institution, as he felt the original ending would not have stuck with the viewers as effectively as the revised ending did.

Almost all of the principal photography occurred during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike; one key scene that was affected by the lack of writers was the film's final scene. Bass delivered his last draft of the script only hours before the strike started and spent no time on the set.

Legacy

After its release in 1988, Rain Man saw funding for medical research and diagnoses of individuals for autism spectrum disorder increase tenfold. Rain Man is a movie famous in particular for its portrayal of a man with both autism and Savant Syndrome, leading much of its viewing audience to understand the intellectual capabilities of those with autism in an incorrect way.

The character of Raymond Babbitt has been criticized for fitting into the stereotype of the "Magical/Savant" autistic character. Characters like these are portrayed as having an otherworldly intellectual ability that, rather than disable them from living a "normal" life, instead assists them in a nearly magical way, causing those around them to be in awe and wonder as to how a person might have this capability. Despite the fact that having Savant Syndrome is certainly a possibility for autistic individuals, it is more often than not incredibly rare.