The Big Short

[Aspychata]

☺☺☺☺
So l finally watched The Big Short. And l am thinking this dude is autistic- Michael Burry who was played by Christian Bale. One of his lines is "my wife says l should share more". He also drums/stims nonstop. So l looked up Mr Burry and he is autistic. He is a physicist and a hedge fund manager in real life.

This man foresaw the mortgage crisis way before it happened. Afterwards- he called the feds and asked if anyone wanted to interview him. Nobody called him back. But he was audited 4 times, and interviewed by the FBI the movie states in the closing credits. Excellent movie, casting was top notch, movie didn't drag. And l ordered the book because l really enjoyed learning about the last bailout of the banks. Basically these *weird men* realised the economic system could shut down at any minute and the subprime loans were nothing more than a house of cards. People were being approved for huge loans with poor FICO score, no job history.

So it's the autistic people who seem like the underdogs and see what nobody else can figure out.

Do you feel like the underdog? I loved that cartoon. That goes way back. Underdog wore a cape if l recall correctly. There's no need to fear, underdog is here! He was a humble loveable shoeshine boy who dashed into a phone booth and turned into underdog. Wally Cox was the great voice of this pint size hero. I always related to underdog, him and l were one battling through life. Do you identify with a cartoon character or anime personality?

 

[Mia]

Liked the movie too, it was pretty surprising that a group of people could analyze so well. But while watching it, I too realized that the main character had autistic traits. It's more than a bit like a chess game, where you can see many moves ahead.

There's also another movie I saw recently called "The Accountant" with a similar idea of a man with autism (Ben Affleck) who is able to figure out a large company's financial situation. By accessing all their documents and books by forensic accounting.

The only thing I didn't like about either movie is that the main characters, act quite strangely. As if they were typecast to 'act' as if they were crazy when they were not doing their 'savant' thing. It's as if aspies are already typcast in the movies. And very few of us are savants.

 

[Aspychata]

Liked the movie too, it was pretty surprising that a group of people could analyze so well. But while watching it, I too realized that the main character had autistic traits. It's more than a bit like a chess game, where you can see many moves ahead.

There's also another movie I saw recently called "The Accountant" with a similar idea of a man with autism (Ben Affleck) who is able to figure out a large company's financial situation. By accessing all their documents and books by forensic accounting.

The only thing I didn't like about either movie is that the main characters, act quite strangely. As if they were typecast to 'act' as if they were crazy when they were not doing their 'savant' thing. It's as if aspies are already typcast in the movies. And very few of us are savants.

Not a big Affleck fan so l passed on watching that.I actually like quirky. To me, Michael enjoyed music, loved drumming, stood alone and up against people calling him totally crazy, but he stayed the path. He kept it together in the end which l totally respected.

So l think he represented the underdog instead of the crazy guy.

Think being on the spectrum allows some of us to gather a lot of data and try to force something out of it, to tabulate it and classify it.

 

[Mia]

It's the way that they acted, the loud thrash music that Afflect (or was it Bale?) used when he was upset. The anger and shouting when he was disturbed. The abusive flashbacks from childhood. Think I'm blending the two movies together, and noticing patterns that seem like something anyone would do autistic or not.

It was the way Bale and Afflect could segue into normal life, but how people around them got all nasty, and were abusive to them and they remained so calm and certain. Later to go home and stim or do other activities to recover. It was as if the autistic portrayals were very limited and didn't show much about who they actually are as human beings. Showing quirky behaviours as their character, rather than things that they do to cope with existence in this world. More a result of anxiety and stress, to me it didn't show their real strengths as individuals.

Think the point of contention for me with both these movies, is that the characters did things that no one else could do. Like supermen really. And they were tolerated because they were so intelligent despite their quirks. Having known people who were not autistic who have certain quirks, what's really the difference between the two? Nothing as far as I can see, except instead of stimming alone, they might play golf or gamble.

 

[Aspychata]

Okay. Maybe that's a good thing. I thought he was just a headbanger- those guys that love heavy metal. This material was very dry- mortgages- so they needed gutsy characters to pull the story and keep it moving. The fact that Bale tried to contact the feds tells me he is human, he wanted to help out and then he gets harassed.

I totally respect you and l enjoy your take on these movies. Good point about how they sized up the market. Thought the movie did a excellent job of challenging our belief system in banks. The other guy tried to sue the bank about over-valuing the CDO's and every attorney laughed at him. It was a tricky portrayal of two larger then life men without totally trashing them and their personas. I wish l had written that myself.

 

[AngelaS267]

I love pointing out characters who are probably autistic. I often rewatch child cartoons that used to sooth me, and Max and Ruby is one where I know that max was probably autistic. Dwight from The Office is said to probably be on the spectrum. Me and him are different, but I feel like it's a fun autistic character where autistic people may feel included in the FUN. Henry from Oswald was totally autistic as well

 

[Pats]

Both movies sound interesting. I don't watch new tv shows or movies because most actors today tend to mumble and I can never make out what they're saying so I can never figure out what exactly is going on.

And I grew up on and always loved Underdog.

 

[Mia]

I totally respect you and l enjoy your take on these movies. Good point about how they sized up the market. Thought the movie did a excellent job of challenging our belief system in banks. The other guy tried to sue the bank about over-valuing the CDO's and every attorney laughed at him. It was a tricky portrayal of two larger then life men without totally trashing them and their personas. I wish l had written that myself.

It did really show their ability to trust in the truth and make it a priority. Agree that 'Big Short' was a pretty complicated movie, yet they continued on during some pretty nerve-wracking situations. Which may have scared off less ideological individuals, that was something that seemed honest about the movie.

 

[SusanLR]

I haven't seen the Big Short.
Throughly enjoyed The Accountant and want to see it again.
I was very taken with his life style of living in that little trailer and just picking up and going at will.
The line where the woman asked him where he kept his clothes and he replied "on me."
Loved it. I could go for living that way.
Only thing is I don't think you could put the little trailer in a storage unit. They would know you
were living in there at night because those places are filled with cameras.
But, I thought it was a cool idea.

I remember Underdog. I watched so many of those type of cartoons then and loved the comic books.
Hard to think what character I would relate to the most, but, probably Winnie-the-Pooh.
Seems he is always upset and kinda depressed over things that happen to him.

Here I am with Pooh Bear at Disney World.

 

[Wolfgangus Faldestolius]

Intuition (integrity of faculties: aesthetics = epistemology = metaphysics - logic - ethics; if it don't look right, it ain't right) (which is genuine empathy) gets schooled out of everybody. It's only us auties that carry on squirming (even if we fell victim - as I did). We get disliked because we are squirming, even if we haven't blown any whistles, even if we didn't twig. Do "they" subconsciously rely on a sense of "everybody" not squirming for their idea of security in schemes (if applicable)?

My favourite cartoon was Top Cat - a light hearted look at when "harmless" ( because just drawings) allusion to lack of integrity meets allusion to painful lack of alertness.

 

[Aspychata]

I haven't seen the Big Short.
Throughly enjoyed The Accountant and want to see it again.
I was very taken with his life style of living in that little trailer and just picking up and going at will.
The line where the woman asked him where he kept his clothes and he replied "on me."
Loved it. I could go for living that way.
Only thing is I don't think you could put the little trailer in a storage unit. They would know you
were living in there at night because those places are filled with cameras.
But, I thought it was a cool idea.

I remember Underdog. I watched so many of those type of cartoons then and loved the comic books.
Hard to think what character I would relate to the most, but, probably Winnie-the-Pooh.
Seems he is always upset and kinda depressed over things that happen to him.

Here I am with Pooh Bear at Disney World.

View attachment 61878

Beautiful picture of you and Mr Loveable. Your roomie? Lol

 

[Mia]

This was a song from the end of the movie: "The Accountant." I liked it.

Sean Rowe 'I was just trying to leave something behind'

 

[Aspychata]

I have the book by Michael Lewis. Excellent author. I need to buy another book he wrote.

 

[Mia]

I have the book by Michael Lewis. Excellent author. I need to buy another book he wrote.

I'll have to keep my eyes open for Michael Lewis, I'm going to a bookstore next week, the only english one in the area. Thanks Aspychata.

 

[Mia]

I'm going to a bookstore next week,

Quoting my own post, bookstore is open if you order online and pick it up in the front of the store. No browsing, or deciding or looking about. Kind of spoils it. Reading descriptions online and then buying is not the way I choose books, unless I manage to read a few pages and form an idea of the writer's style and ideas, page set up, fonts. So it's a 'no go' for now.

 

[Aspychata]

The Mall of America has a giant B&N in Minneapolis. We often took our daughter there as a family outing to get our fix and have something hot to drink during 25 degrees snowy days. There is a book store here but l haven't ventured to it. I missed this strange discount store that had obscure publishers of more radical authors in a prior city l live in.