Watch The Trailer For The Documentary “Life, Animated”

I had a few things that I was going to write about this week, but when I saw the trailer for the upcoming documentary Life, Animated, I decided that those topics are nothing that won’t keep. This movie follows Owen Suskind and his family as they tell their story about living with autism. Owen’s father Ron is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who usually covers Washington and politics, but wrote a book about his family a few years ago. When I saw this trailer I remembered seeing the episode of The Daily Show where Suskind was interviewed about Life, Animated when it was first published. I would spend a whole paragraph describing the specifics of the documentary, but the trailer is too good not to watch.

Those of us who write for That’s Normal and the people who read what gets posted on the site every day are all here because we have a shared love of movies, television, books, etc. Most people are fans of those things in some form or another. So the Disney movie aspect of this story is going to make it accessible to the masses, but obviously everyone’s story is going to be different and there’s no one way to deal with the challenges that come with autism that’s going to be applicable to everyone. However, the message of the movie that I think is universal is the idea that different does not mean the same thing as abnormal. Because what does normal really even mean? Like Owen’s mother says, “Who decides what a meaningful life is?”

Related to children’s entertainment and autism, it’s wonderful to see that Sesame Street has added an autistic character to their lineup of Muppets. Julia is a new friend on the Street, and has been added to digital content specifically because autistic children are more likely to access their media that way. Julia is a great way to both allow autistic children to see themselves represented and give other children a chance to learn about what autism is.

_Source

Life, Animated has already screened as some film festivals, including Sundance (where it won awards), but I haven’t been able to find any information about whether or not it will receive a wide theatrical release.

Life, Animated will debut in limited release in certain cities beginning July 1st.

_{Source- Feature Image}