# TV Shows/Movies with SA characters



## DeeperUnderstanding

I watched the new In Plain Sight episode tonight (one of my favorite shows now), and one of the characters on tonight's episode had Social Anxiety. I really enjoyed seeing the episode.

Anyway, have you seen movies or tv shows that feature characters with Social Anxiety?


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## Adelleda

Haven't seen that show (probably don't get it) but it sounds interesting.
Personally haven't seen any movies with such characters, but I found a list here


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## giggles

well...jj from skins sorta has problems


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## Canadian Brotha

- "Clarence" & "Jerry" from Boston Legal, though "Jerry's" root cause is Aspergers Syndrome

- Matt Damon in "The Legend Of Bagger Vance" 

- Justin Timberlake in "Black Snake Moan"

- Phil Seymore Hoffman in "Owning Mahoney"

All those characters exhibit symptoms of anxiety if I remember correctly though some symptoms may fall under "General Anxiety Disorder"


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## vivienlyle13

*Oh, Justin*

I love Justin Timberlake in Black Snake Moan!!! I literally went from absolutely despising him to loving him unconditionally within the span of those two hours. Yeah, my moods are that crazy. I love him on SNL now!!


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## Ringbearer

Adrian from the Rocky movies had social anxiety...especially in the first movie. It's still one of my favorites.


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## sadsurvivor

The Secret Life of Words 

Sarah Polley plays "Hanna". She doesn't talk to anyone and seems to have SA and obsessive compulsive disorder, especially in the beginning.


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## VCL XI

Ally Sheedy in _Only the Lonely_, I think. It's been a while since I've seen it though.


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## cakesniffer

Michael Rapaport in "Special" definitely had some anxiety issues. The movie is about his character enrolling in a clinical trial for an experimental antidepressant, which he believes gives him superpowers. Fascinating movie.


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## AliBaba

Punch Drunk Love/Adaptation/Lars & The Real Girl/Greenberg


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## leave me alone

Brooke Nevin playing Julianne Sims in Breakout Kings.










_A fast-tracker with the Marshals, Julianne ranked first in her class at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center at Glynco before her social anxiety disorder, panic attacks, depression and other ailments derailed her career. She retreated to the basement apartment of her mother's home where she worked as a telemarketer, never truly having to interact with others. Ray hires Jules to work with the Breakout Kings, which she sees as her last shot to reclaim a normal, productive life doing what she was meant to do - catch the bad guys._


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## MothWingedPierrot

This is a bit of a stretch, but Dorothy, from Return to Oz. It's not really explicitly SA, but the idea of being lonely, isolated, and considered defective and strange, even by people who love and care for you, is a major theme in that movie. When Dorothy escapes the shock therapy she was sent to for her 'insane' talk about 'a place that doesn't exist' (Oz), and actually winds up back in Oz, her group of friends there consist of a robot, a flying sofa, a childlike pumpkin-headed stick man, and a chicken. The main villain Nome King starts out looking very rock-like, and grows progressively more humanoid. The more human he becomes, the crueler he gets. The whole movie is probably one of the most beautiful, dimensional, nuanced, and, (in my experience) meaningful depiction of mental illness in a fictional film that I have ever seen, and all in a children's film made by Disney in the 1980's! It is probably the movie that I have most identified with, and has most effected me, and I highly recommend it.


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## fanatic203

Raj in The Big Bang Theory... selective mutism around women


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## tutliputli

AliBaba said:


> Punch Drunk Love/Adaptation/Lars & The Real Girl/Greenberg


Yes, I agree with the first 3. I haven't seen Greenberg.

Todd in Dead Poet's Society definitely has some SA/self-esteem issues. I just wanted to give him a cuddle when he was forced to read his poem in front of the class.


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## ForgetMeForever

"The Heiress" 1949, based on the 1880 novel "Washington Square" by Henry James and starring Olivia De Haveland as the main character. Also remade in 1997 as "Washington Square', starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. I like both movies, though the 1949 version is more true to the original novel.

Set in mid-nineteenth century New York City, Catherine Sloper is a painfully shy and socially awkward young woman with a father who despises her. What she lacks in beauty and social ability, she makes up for with a rich father, which attracts the attention of a handsome, socially graceful but poor man. 

I can't see the movie without crying at some point in the story.


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## z3n

Tom Smykowski from "Office Space"


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## spidercentz

Me, if I were on the Office.


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## awkwardface

Necroline said:


> *Nicole - America's Next Top Model Cycle 13*
> "I feel, really really awkward and isolated. Ill meet new people and want to be their friend but I just have no idea what to say. I have like sat in the bathroom stall during lunch so I could eat my food but nobody will see me being alone"


Glad she won. I was rooting for her.

...









Simon from Misfits

It's not explicitly mentioned that he's got SA, but he's socially awkward and feels invisible most of the time (which eventually led to him being _actually_ invisible).


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## Chairman Dan

New French movie where SA seems to be the focal point. Hasn't received the most flattering reviews, but worth checking out maybe:


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## Nathan Talli

AliBaba said:


> Punch Drunk Love/Adaptation/Lars & The Real Girl/Greenberg


Lame. I was gonna say Sandler in Punch Drunk Love. Freaking epic social anxiety. Can you imagine growing up with those sisters?!


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## ryobi

Ringbearer said:


> Adrian from the Rocky movies had social anxiety...especially in the first movie. It's still one of my favorites.


I agree


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## G girl

Awsome movie.


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## Aphexfan

Eternal sunshine is the most obvious one that comes to mind (or any movie written by charlie kaufman for that matter :lol)


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## LifeGoesOn

Laura from "The Glass Menagerie"


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## ponyo

Deb from _Napoleon Dynamite_


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## Nyx

Adam. Technically he has Asperger's, but it's still a good movie about someone who is socially awkward.


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## Onomatopoeia

spoonman said:


> I started a similar thread in the "i have agoraphobia" egroup before I came across this one - heres a few more to add to the list.
> 
> Title: The Benchwarmers
> Medium: Film
> Character: Howie
> Video Clip:
> 
> 
> 
> More Info:
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437863/
> http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0146651/


Ahahahaha! I love Howie  I quote him all the time


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## LynnNBoys

I love the show Parenthood (based on the movie)! The character Max has Asperger's.

I think the character in the movie Parenthood has just general anxiety.


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## mrbojangles

Phyllis from 'The Office' seems like a shy person who has trouble asserting herself.


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## meganmila

Nyx said:


> Adam. Technically he has Asperger's, but it's still a good movie about someone who is socially awkward.


Yeah that movie is good. I can relate to him sort of except I don't have Aspergers.


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