Autistic headcanon : Gary King
I always loved Edgar Wright’s movies. But his “World’s end” movie was the one who really struck a chord with me (it’s a special interest of mine). And i think it’s because i identify a lot with Gary King.
For those who don’t know this movie, “The World’s end” tells the story of Gary King, a man stuck in the 80′s, who, when he was a teenager, got his friends to do with him the “Golden Mile”, aka drinking a pint in the twelve pubs of his town. They never managed to get the last pubs.
Years and years after, Gary King comes back in his friends’ life and manage to convince them to actually finish the Golden Mile. But his motives might be deeper than what they initially think… I won’t go in too much details about the plot, because there are lots of plot twists and you seriously need to watch this movie blindly. However, i can safely assure you that Gary King is one of my favorite autistic headcanon, mostly because he painfully reminds me of myself about a lot of things (he might also have ADHD, which i self-diagnose myself with).
Firstly, he can’t stand still. At all. He’s always moving, always doing something with his body, never, ever still. He loves to run, for no other reason than fun, and tends to jump over anything. He also spins on himself and dances without any reason.
[gif of Gary King, spinning on himself, his long coat following the ample gesture]
[gif of Gary King, spinning slightly on his rolling chair, in front of another man, sitting at his desk. The name “Andrew” is written in big, white letters on the screen]
[gif of Gary King, walking backwards at a fast pace, arms extended]
He tends to be “jumpy” when there’s a sudden and possibly loud noise, like in this gif :
[gif of Gary King, playing with a rubber band. He lets him escape and break something, which makes him jump and then smile slightly]
This gif can also be applied to the fact that Gary needs to keep his hands busy and, basically, stims a lot. He talks a lot with his hands, an habit that he had younger and kept while older :
[gif of a young Gary King, talking and moving his hands. One of them is holding an office item]
[gif of Gary King, speaking excitedly and waving his hands]
He has troubles to “read the mood” and to know exactly how to act when someone needs obvious help and comfort. He usually tries to stay “funny” and “energetic”, not realizing his behavior can hurt other people and that they might look for other forms of comfort.
Gary has some comfort objects that he can’t just let go (mainly, his very, VERY old car and his old cellphone, even though they barely manage to function). Presented with the opportunity to use something else, he tends to become defensive and even agressive.
I could go on and on about Gary King and my autistic headcanon, but i’d risk to spoil you and definitely, it’s a movie you should watch without knowing much about it. Also, neat anecdote : the actor Paddy Considine, who’s playing one of Gary’s friends, is autistic. And he’s awesome.
I’ll put some Trigger Warnings about the movie. If you think you don’t have any, then you can stop your reading right here, because it might spoil you a little bit about the plot.
If you want to be careful and to know what you’ll have to watch (or not, if you can’t watch a movie with this kind of subject, that’s totally okay), then here are the Trigger Warnings that i can think about :
TW : suicide mention, alcoholism, self-injury behavior, death, psychiatric ward mention.
I fail to see how any of this means that Gary is autistic.
Reacting to a loud sound, or a sound in general, is a very normal human response. You’d be surprised at how many people look up or around when someone enters a room or drops something. Gary was messing with a rubber band, and he made a normal reaction to letting it go by accident. Normal reactions doesn’t mean autism.
Moving your hands about when you’re explaining things, aka what people call, “talking with your hands,” is a normal thing. A lot of people do it; teachers, tour guides, TV presenters, advertisers, etc. If anything, him gesturing shows his charisma, as a leader of the group. Basically, this isn’t, “stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech,” (quoted from this chart on this NCBI study, comparing the listed symptoms of the DSM-IV to the DSM-V: here). Gary doesn’t stim.
“He has troubles to “read the mood” and to know exactly how to act when someone needs obvious help and comfort.”
Just an example (timestamp: 1:07:12): there’s a part during a fight where he’s witnessing the fight, with a pint in his hand, and he starts to drink it. Basically, it was a situation of, “they’re taking care of that, so I’ll quickly take care of this.” To me, his facial expression (the one you pull while going, “hmmm”) gave that away. I love the fact that he just stands there in the middle of all of the shit going on, and drinks the rest of the pint. Comedy. He was even grasping that pint TIGHT while being attacked, and constantly tried to finish it despite losing so much of the liquid, to which he eventually went to get a new, fresh pint. Nothing gets between an alky and their golden goodness—that Golden Mile wasn’t going to finish itself! Neck one down, move onto the next pub, repeat.
I don’t think that him not letting go of his car meant that he’s autistic. I would maybe agree if he showed some sadness when his car was damaged and eventually gone, showing signs of a strong emotional attachment and unwillingness to let go. But he didn’t at all. And anyway, anyone would be pissed off and/or upset if anything happened to their car. Your car is something that you chose, so you must’ve liked it, you take care of it—it’s a commitment and, unfortunately, a money pit. Having something that you put a ton of care and money into, to then get screwed is just a piss-take. You’d have to fork out even more money for a new car and the increased insurance (from a new claim).
About Gary being excited, “on the go”, and energetic… Gary wanted to get the Golden Mile finished; over and done with, once and for all. While his friends had happy families, high-paying jobs, nice homes, and something to look forward to… all Gary had was drinking, accompanied with the need to not be sober. To be able to complete the unfinished journey that he set foot on with his mates 23 years before the return, that was an exciting opportunity. Wouldn’t you be buzzing? And at the points where he wasn’t helping and when he wanted the final pint that, literally, awaited him upon a coaster on a table to itself… he got so far to give up.
Also, he was just having fun, too, since his life’s shit. He was more lively than the others, because this was what he wanted to do. He was the one that proposed the idea to each of his mates—who weren’t even really up to the idea—organised the meet-up, and led the way with a map and a pen. He was the leader of the pack, the Six Musketeers.
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention about his love for his favourite band, The Sisters of Mercy, somehow meaning that he has autism. This is nothing more than him having a favourite band. (He’s so based for being a TSoM fan. I’m one as well. It’s one of my favourite second wave goth rock bands, along with Fields Of The Nephilim, The Garden of Delight, Love Like Blood, Nösferätu, Rosetta Stone, and The Mission.) There’s a reason why I’m bringing this up. Nowadays, a lot of people confuse liking something with something being a highly-focused interest (you would typically have one or, at most, two of these; hence the “highly-focused” part, because you can’t be the aforementioned with more than one or two things.)
I can’t think of anything else to discuss about or mention. In conclusion, I don’t think that Gary is autistic.
It's called a headcanon for a reason, mate. I'm autistic, and I see Gary King as autistic, and that's basically what I wrote. You ain't gonna win anything by trying to prove me wrong.
