Temple Grandin is a real-life version of Sheldon. The zoology professor was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. She is extremely sensitive to sound and visual stimuli, has social impairments, and in particular, has an amazing memory and visual thinking.
Visual thinking means that all cognition is imaged. For example, when we mention a word, most people will only associate with a specific image, but her mind will mobilize all the related images she has seen before like google. This brain is like a small computer + movie projector. Ordinary people think in words, she thinks in images.
Visual thinking and autism made her extra sensitive to details, brought her countless embarrassment and ridicule in her growth, and also brought her a different vision. She can read the hearts of animals. As the real Temple Grandin said in his TED talk, animals have no language, they think through their senses, images, sounds, smells. For example, a fire hydrant is full of details for an animal with a keen sense of smell; for a cow, a man on a horse and a man on the ground are two different things.
Temple in the movie comes out of high school and arrives on the farm of Aunt West, a clumsy, nervous, overly frightened little beast. Only the animals there made her feel at ease. She can very keenly catch the sight of the horses, she lies all day in the middle of the cattle. Even after a fright, she burrowed into a device designed for livestock to calm herself down. She then designed her own squeeze machine, which she took to her university dorm. Whenever she was nervous or frightened, she burrowed in it, which made her, who could not accept physical contact, feel the peace and security of hugs inside.
"Nature is cruel but we don't have to be. We owe them some respect."
From the perspective of cattle, she designed a humanized processing system for the slaughterhouse, allowing the cattle to die peacefully. The end credits say that nearly half of the cattle in North America are currently processed by her design.
This drama made me think about the life and death of animals and the meat-eating habits of humans, and also gave me a new understanding of autism.
Movies about autism, as well as Mary&Max, Adam, etc., are different from other movies, this movie focuses on showing the growth experience of an autistic patient from childhood, her mind is opened and her talent is stimulated, and then Step out into a new world in your own unique world. If you're a parent, you'll get some revelation after reading it.
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