10 Biggest Movie Controversies Of 2021
4. Music's Portrayal Of Autism Is Ableist
Music, the first (and hopefully last) film directed, written, and produced by musician Sia, slid into 2021 with all the grace and elegance of long, drawn-out fart. Just an absolute mess of a film from start to finish; criticised for everything from its amateur directorial style to the weak, painful performances of its cast.
The film was nominated for four Golden Raspberry Awards and won three, including the prestigious "Worst Director" award for its visionary talent, Sia. It can only be assumed said vision was obscured during filming by her trademark wig.
Music wasn't just offensively bad however, it was also the regular kind of offensive. In the film, Maddie Zielger portrayed the character "Music", a teenager with severely crippling autism.
Once the film was released, several people were less than happy with how the film portrayed the neurodevelopmental condition and considered it a cartoonish mockery of autistic people. A specific scene in which the main character was physically restrained was the main focus of the controversy, and garnered such an angry response online that director Sia took to Twitter to apologise and later removed the scene from the film entirely.