Could Napoleon Dynamite Have Aspergers - 558 Words

It was hard for me to watch this movie and separate Napoleon’s behaviors from his friends and family members. Many of the things he does and says are like those of the people around him. His overall weirdness was not behavior that I immediately would have identified as Asperger’s, rather someone who is simply a little odd. However, as I continued to watch the movie I was able to find certain examples that could be red flags for Asperger’s. From the very beginning of the movie, it seemed like Napoleon never opened his eyes. They are open just enough to be squinting, and they are rarely directed to be looking at a person. Asperger’s typically come with poor eye contact in social situations, and Napoleon definitely has this characteristic. Even when he is talking directly to someone, he doesn’t have the comfort level to look them in the eye. The second thing is that he is very uncoordinated. He is able to play tetherball, but just barely because he hits it with different amounts of power and so is constantly jumping out of the way. When he goes out to feed Tina the llama, he is awkward about getting the food through the fence to her, and then flings it on the ground in front of her with his fork. He also has an awkward walk that gets especially odd when he runs and is very uncoordinated. The third characteristic that is typical of people with Asperger’s is a lack of interest in the feelings and emotio ns of others. Napoleon makes comments to people that most of us wouldn’t