Beet-a Late Than Never: Autistic Representation in Bob’s Burgers (2011): Give ‘em something shiitake about

**Fig. 1 - *Bob’s Burgers* and the toothpicks.**

**Fig. 2 - The toothpicks in *Rain Man* (Barry Levinson, 1988).**

Audiences around the world have long enjoyed the animated sitcom genre. However, the genre is rife with inaccurate neurodiverse representation. This extends as far back as The Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989-), and as recent as Family Guy (Seth MacFarlane, 1999-). These sitcoms set a standard and created a mould that has been replicated and appended over the years, however a newer show has broken this mould, Bob’s Burgers (2011-.) The entire cast of characters in the show could be perceived as autistic using the DSM-5. (Duygu Kaba, et al, 2020, 108) Each character has autistic traits as well as a full personality, which is where many autistic representations fail. The show starts with an immediate mocking reference to a cliché representation of autism and savant syndrome in Rain Man (Barry Levinson, 1988). In the pilot episode, “Human Flesh” Tina is told that she is autistic and should be able to count how many toothpicks are thrown on the ground. She says a hundred, but there are only three (Fig. 1). This contrasts Rain Man wherein Dustin Hoffman’s character, Ray, accurately knows how many toothpicks have fallen on the ground (Fig. 2). This level of Savant Syndrome is rare but is a stereotype commonplace in autistic representation. “Savants is rare… movie-makers seem to have no trouble finding scientific authorities who are willing to endorse rather than correct the Hollywood stereotype of the autistic savant” (Douwe Draaisma 2009, 1477-1478). This is not the only example of Bob’s Burgers breaking down a common convention of the autistic character, and Tina Belcher is a splendid example.

**Fig. 3 - “Just one of the Boys 4 Now”.**

Tina is a socially active, if not awkward, thirteen-year-old girl. The first convention she breaks is that autism is a male-only disability. She has issues with understanding social norms, which can also be seen in the episode “Human Flesh.” She declares that her crotch is itchy and that she will scratch it. Despite her struggles to understand social norms she has a large group of friends whom she often interacts with, one of which is her sporadic boyfriend, Jimmy Junior. Tina is obsessed with boys and their butts, which actively breaks down the stereotypes of autistics being asexual, and she has a vivid social imagination in which she romances several boys. This can be seen in episodes like “Just one of the Boys 4 Now” (Fig. 3) and “Larger Brother, Where Fart Thou?” where, after brief eye contact, Tina imagines a romcom-esque situation for a relationship to blossom. Her family encourage her fixations and aid her to channel her passion into creative activities such as her “Friend-fiction,” a book where she writes her imaginary intimacies down. Although supportive, the family still look out for harmful behaviours, such as the episode “Every which way but goose.” When Tina falls in love with Bruce the goose, the family initially mock her for her strange crush but after seeing how much Bruce means to her, they instead support her to move on to healthier coping strategies. In the end Bob says a duck looks his type to help Tina not feel alienated. Bob is a great support to Tina because he understands her social difficulties due to their similarities. Bob offers this form of support not only Tina but his best friend and regular diner, Teddy.

Teddy and Bob are similar in many ways, and despite their bickering, they remain good friends. Teddy struggles with social norms, and is resistant to change, a common trait of ASD (Jollife, 1992 in Howlin, 2004, 137). A lack of forewarning to change causes Teddy intense panic, which is usually the main source of his arguments with Bob. Examples of this can be seen in “The Unnatural.” In which Bob does not write a burger of the day causing Teddy to have a meltdown saying, “It is the only constant in my life!” (Fig. 4). This can also be seen in “The Horse Rider-er” and “Sexy Dance Healing.” This is a truthful example of stress that unexpected change can create in an autistic mind. Bob can also be the instigator of arguments (Fig. 5). He has several hyper fixations throughout the show; espresso, patty-cake, and his knife in the episode “The Milliturian Candidate.” When Bob finds a new hyper fixation, he is incredibly driven by it and will submerge himself in it until he grows tired of it. He can become incredibly upset when the people he cares about don’t indulge in the special interests. “[Hyper fixation] is the intensity and duration of a person's interest in a particular topic, object, or collection…” (National Autistic Society, 2020). Sometimes these fixations cause arguments; when Bob starts bragging about his new knife, Teddy compares it to his prized hammer. The two end up having a head-to-head contest to find out whose tool is better.

This behaviour can be seen again in “Bad Tina.” When Bob becomes obsessed with pattycake and insist that Teddy do it with him, Teddy doesn’t like it and has a shut down over the physical touch (Fig. 6). The friendship does not solely consist of conflict, in the episode “Thankshoarding” the family assist Teddy during thanksgiving. While they help, Linda discovers that Teddy is a hoarder. Autistic people with fixations may collect things relating to their special interest, and being that Teddy’s is based on restoration, he has an enormous collection of broken objects (Fig. 7). The family help clear the room, which causes him to shut down and hide within the hired skip containing all the items to engage in his interest. This a common coping mechanism. “…pursuit of such interests is fundamental to their wellbeing and happiness” (National Autistic Society, 2020.) Inside the apartment, Bob is also engaging in his special interest of cooking. Like Teddy, Bob built his career around his special interest, cooking and food. Teddy and Bob both support each other in dealing with change and have a wonderful Thanksgiving together. Bob strives to be a supportive friend to Teddy and empathises with him through his special interests, like he also does with his son, Gene.

Gene is the middle child; he is loud, outgoing, and sassy. Gene is a fantastic example of an autistic child with sensory needs. He has a love for music and owns a keyboard and electronic megaphone that he utilizes to create compositions. Gene may stim using Echolalia; he repeats sounds that he hears on his keyboard, megaphone or verbally. “Individuals with ASD may echo the utterances of others in the environment, or their own utterances, or any audio media (live or recorded)” (Lillian N. Stiegler 2015, 751.) When stressed Gene can hit himself on the head (Fig 8), which can be seen in the episode “The unbearable like-likeness of Gene.” Hitting is a common harmful stim. Gene also has comparable issues with social norms to Tina and shares the tendency to try to make people feel better with his interests, at sometimes inappropriate times, such as the episodes “Human Flesh” “The Fresh Principle” and “Lil Hard Dad.” In these episodes Gene relates to or uses his musical abilities to empathise with others, such as playing fart sounds to people leaving a funeral. His intentions are good, but he struggles to recognise other’s emotions, extending to his own emotions too. He uses an imaginary friend called Ken throughout the series to self-regulate when stressed, such as in the episode “Mr LonelyFarts,” where he is left home alone. The pinnacle of sensory representation with Gene is the episode “The Laser-inth” in it, Bob and Gene go to a laser rock opera of Bob’s favourite childhood band, Zentipede. Although initially excited, Gene gets incredibly overwhelmed and has an autistic meltdown (Fig. 9). “A meltdown is an intense response to an overwhelming situation. It happens when someone becomes completely overwhelmed by their current situation and temporarily loses control of their behaviour” (National Autistic Society, 2020). Bob removes Gene from the situation, the two end up listening to the album on Bob’s car stereo leading Gene to want to go back. Bob makes him a pair of earplugs with a napkin so that he can enjoy the show. This moment is such an accurate representation of an autistic child being gradually overwhelmed until they explode into a meltdown. The visuals, sound design and build up to Gene panicking makes the audience relate and empathise with him.

Empathy with the character is where most autistic representations fall short. The character is often the centre of a joke or the focus of a singular episode. They lack a personality outside of their disability or condition, and that is used as the springboard for the jokes and mockery in the episode. Bob’s Burgers characters are authentically themselves consistently and that authenticity, whether the writers intended to or not, is an accurate representation of a neurodiverse cast navigating the world unapologetically the way they are. It is so refreshing to see people love these characters, including their traits, it’s such important exposure. It normalises the average autistic and if that means one less judgment stare from the public, it is a step in the right direction.

**Article published: March 10, 2023**

Bibliography

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Biography

Jayson Aaron Garnham is a current BA Animation Studies student at Nottingham Trent University. During his studies, he has begun to specialize in Social Disability Theory. His previous essays include a dissection of Blue Sky’s Robots and Pixar’s Cars 2 accidental eugenics themes, entitled “When life give you Outmodes, Make Lemonade: Allegories of Eugenics in your children’s favourite animated films.” In which he explores the effects of the plot hidden beneath the anthropomorphic characters and the effect that may have on the audience’s perception of disabled people. When he is not animating or drawing, he can be found watching his favourite animated sitcoms such as Bob’s Burgers and Futurama. He is also known online as: Bootleg Adult and JaysonAaron_