The year 2020 brought so much chaos and news it was easy to miss a lot of it, such as the fact that Sia, the singer-songwriter best known for her song “Chandelier,” was a) releasing a movie, more importantly, and b) the autistic community is very strongly against it. So, if you are unaware of the Sia controversy, buckle your seatbelts and get ready to discover deep anger you didn’t know you had for the Australian singer-songwriter.
On November 19th, 2020 Sia released the teaser trailer for Music, a movie-musical she directed, co-wrote, and created music for. The movie centers around a character named “Music,” played by Maddie Ziegler, who has nonverbal autism, and her older sister “Zu,” played by Kate Hudson, who becomes her guardian. Throughout the movie, there are “musicals where she’s unburdened by any of her physical disabilities, the tics and the pain”(The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Sia — The Alchemy of Blockbuster Songs, Billions of Views, and the Face You’ve Never Seen (#452)). Immediately after the trailer was released, it sparked outrage among the autistic community — partly due to the decision to cast Maddie Ziegler, a neurotypical, nondisabled actress as a character with a disability. The outrage spread via Twitter, and the hashtags #ActuallyAutistic and #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs trended as members of the autistic community began to criticize the movie. Sia began debating with those critiquing the movie, digging an even deeper hole for herself in the process.
After Twitter users started attacking the choice to cast Maddie Ziegler, instead of an actor with autism, Sia replied — in a tweet — saying that, “My character was pretty low-functioning and after attempting a few actors on the spectrum they suggested I use Maddie.” She further explained that the actress she originally hired, “found it extremely stressful and overwhelming.” This defense failed among many disabled influencers, especially because this movie would have been the perfect opportunity to hire an actor with a disability. Additionally, if the environment was too difficult for the actor she originally hired, accommodations should have been made to fit their needs. Sia’s reactions to these critiques became more and more immature, even insulting an actor who remarked on how willing and able they and others with autism would be to act in the movie (even on short notice). Sia responded that, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.” The immaturity continued in another tweet, where she said “Grrrrrrrrrr. Fuckity fuck why dont you watch my film before you judge it? FURY.” For the creator of a movie that pushes a message of compassion, Sia’s response to the comments seems like that of an internet bully, not an adult defending their work.
Once the movie was under fire for its casting choices, more controversies came out. For example: the support the movie has from Autism Speaks, an organization widely known for its horrible representation. Despite being an organization to support those with autism, they have no autistic people on their board. Another controversy was the savior complex Kate Hudson’s character appears to have, and the many call-outs of its “inspiration porn” storyline. While there is something to be said for all of these controversies, the one that sticks out to me the most is the casting of Maddie Ziegler.
The casting of neurotypical able-bodied actors as characters with autism has a long and controversial history. While doing research for this article, it finally sunk in for me how many movies have been made about people with disabilities and how few actors with a disability have gotten to play the part. Forrest Gump, Rain Man, Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s eating Gilbert Grape, The Good Doctor, and the list goes on. The physically disabled roles are hardly ever given to disabled actors since they’re not famous. The roles are seen as Oscar bait, therefore they usually go to able-bodied big names. Eddie Redmayne, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, and Jamie Foxx have all won Oscars playing disabled roles. I know it may not seem like that big of a deal. I mean, who doesn’t like Forrest Gump right? The fact of the matter is that representation matters.
The people you are telling your stories about deserve to have a say in the story. Nothing should be written about disabled characters without consulting people with disabilities. Think about how much more powerful Forrest Gump would’ve been with a disabled person playing the leading role. Think about how much it would mean for a kid to see a main character on their favorite show use a wheelchair, just like them. I know that as a kid there was always a stigma around even saying the word disabled. Maybe if I had seen more representation, I could’ve learned all of this sooner.
Sia’s movie would have been an excellent way to show that you CAN cast an actress with autism in a leading role, and with the attention her movie already would have gotten, she would have looked absolutely amazing. Now, she does not. Somehow over twenty years after Forrest Gump came out, the level of representation is the same: big name, neurotypical actor over true representation. I can only hope that in the future Hollywood learns from the disabled community’s reaction to Sia’s movie and understands that nothing should be made about them without them.
Written by: Madi Terry, 14 years old
