#Milo Murphy's Halloween Scream-a-Torium! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sirshio · 4 months ago

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I promised you all a long essay on Cavendish and his autism, so here it is. But first, some notes.

Disclaimer number 1: there are headcanons about Cavendish's parents and childhood, but they logically connect to his behavior.

Disclaimer number 2: I'm an autistic person and this essay is about my own experience with this disorder. Though many traits are common for autistic people, it's possible you won't find your issues because I don't have them.

Disclaimer number 3: I'm not a therapist (not a professional one at least, just a huge fan of psychology and a child of a therapist), but I’m a person who deeply relates to Cavendish and wants to share this with fandom.

Disclaimer number 4: English isn't my first language, so sorry for possible mistakes and all this stuff, I’m doing my best.

Well, let's start with something small and not so noticeable and then move to things that are almost impossible not to see.

- his gestures. Not only that moment in "Smooth opera-tor", where he squishes a gummy bear (and Dakota said that he "hypnotized himself"), because I assume that this action is recognizable as pretty autistic without explanations.

Have you noticed how he holds his hands together (what is important, when he was young, too) or clenches them in fists? I'm not sure if these actions do have a name (a type of stimming probably), but I do the same pretty often and in completely different moods, I just like to FEEL my body and my skin, this is a soothing and nice feeling, and when I'm nervous, it helps to calm down a little (let's remember how in "First impressions" Cavendish entered Mr. Block's office).

Another gesture that is important to mention is when Professor Time called him by his name and Cavendish literally squealed and held his hands close to his cheeks (in “Phineas and Ferb effect”). Not sure if this is autistic, but I can relate, so I decided to mention this scene too.

(Him touching and holding Dakota will be in another section, though it's somewhat about gestures too)

- his speech. Again, I have no idea if him using rare words (for example, the word “scrumptious”) is an autistic trait, but I like to do this, mostly because I have a special love for words and I like when my speech is as "bookish" as possible, and him quoting Shakespear “the game is afoot” makes me relate to him too, sometimes I like quoting authors from the past. Another thing that I find important is that Cavendish (unlike Dakota) looks like a well-mannered and polite guy, but sometimes it is Dakota who shows politeness and knows how to talk to people nicely. For example, in "The little engine that couldn't" Dakota uses some polite clichés in his conversation with Milo and confuses Cavendish who understands them literally. Or in “Field of screams” Dakota teaches Cavendish how to ask politely (in the scene with that man who believed in aliens). I think that these two examples show different autistic traits that I have too: understanding everything literally and being (slightly) confused about communicating with other people. Like, why should I ask politely? Why should I be nice to people I don't personally like?

- him listing places where Dakota should've put Time Grenade instead of a hollow pumpkin (in “Milo’s Halloween Scream-a-torium”). Again, I'm not sure if this is autistic, but I can relate, too. I love lists.

- his love for rules. As an autistic person, I like to read rules, to make rules (in the most pedantic way you can imagine) and to follow them (of course, literally) - but I follow only rules I understand and like. So I can relate to young Cavendish enjoying both reading rules for time vehicles and using them, but I can also relate to Cavendish who broke rules and wanted to steal some cool gadgets with Dakota (in “Abducting Murphy’s law”). He doesn't like these rules, that's why he easily disrespects them (and actually likes it). I still don't know why I love rules (and I know this is common for autistic people). Maybe because they help to make life predictable, maybe because they help me to behave "in a proper way" and to be accepted... or both at the same time.

- him talking to himself. Once again, I'm not sure if this is autistic or not, but I do this pretty often.

When I'm excited and/or anxious about doing something new, I often talk to myself, like: "Okay, Shio, let's get going, you can do it!" Remember "First impressions", a scene where young Cavendish sits in his student car and is very proud of himself? The same situation, I think.

- him being a Professor Time fanboy. Remember the scene where our gang visited Doofenshmirtz and Cavendish was so excited about seeing his idol (in “Phineas and Ferb effect”)? Above all, he mentioned he has underwear with Doofenshmirtz's image and offered to show them. Well, it was done as a joke, but this is something I can relate to. If I met my very special idol (I assume that Doof is that figure for Cavendish, he actually said that), I would want to share something personal about myself with them. Not my underwear, of course, but still.

- the way he acts and how he expresses emotions. I believe that's very popular among autistic people, that often it's very hard to suppress our emotions. There are more things that cause emotions (things that are just okay for others), we're somehow more emotional than other people (at least I am) and often don't think if this is appropriate to express these emotions right now. I was told to "act normal and quiet" A LOT of times throughout my entire life, and I only was being sincere with myself and my feelings. Let's look at Cavendish, his emotions and how he expresses them. At the beginning, he seems to be calm and well-mannered, but the more we see, the more we can understand that this is not true. He can pretend to be calm, and the way he does it makes me think that his parents had no idea (and didn't want to have this idea, to be honest) how to raise an autistic child. I'm sure that every time little Cavendish got emotional and was acting "inappropriate" (I say it once more, it's really common for autistic people), he was told to calm down and to be normal. That's why (maybe, but this is my headcanon) he pretends that he's super calm and "above all those sillies". But when he's either in a comfortable situation and feels safe and secure (with Dakota, naturally) or gets really emotional - or both - he lets himself be sincere. He exclaims in joy, he shakes Dakota or holds him close, he acts like a dedicated and overhyped fan (over Professor Time, I mentioned this before).

- him focusing on "wrong" things. Again, that happens with me really often. For example, in “School dance” Mr. Block tells these two to do their job because they have no proof Milo is a special agent, but all that Cavendish got from his speech is that he is allowed to find this proof, because this is what is interesting and important to him, which means he stopped listening after that. I can relate so much!

- his somehow childish behavior, especially in episodes with Dennis, his teddy bear. I found a great post by @heloflor . You SHOULD read it right now, before you end my essay.

Autistic people grow in another way, it's different from other people. In some areas of life we're more mature that other people of our age, and in some we're much more immature. I think this is because autistic children aren't allowed to have a childhood that they need. We're very uncomfortable (because the world is scary, there are loud noises, cars can kill you, being in a crowd is a life-threatening situation) and we can't even help ourselves or even express how afraid we are because This Is Inappropriate. Adults near us don't understand our special interests, they think getting stuck with them is a sign of developmental delay, that we're forever mentally infants. We even can't have our comfort objects that help us to live in this very scary world, because - let's repeat again - This Is Inappropriate. Heloflor wrote a really good post about Cavendish's comfort object, please go and read what he thinks about it!

So, to sum up: Cavendish is not childish, he tries his best to deal with his life, he hasn't really had a childhood and tries to fulfill what he needs now.

Before I'll continue with my analysis of Cavendish's autistic traits, I want to talk about his (pretty low) self-esteem. Of course, it's connected to his mental disability, but it is not the same. As we can see, Cavendish needs praise from someone, he needs to be told that he’s done something right, he can't understand it by himself. He and Dakota saved the world? He can't accept that he did good without praise from Mr. Block. What is also important is how he reacts when someone scolds him (in “Time out” there was a scene where where Cavendish lost a vial of strange liquid that caused rat mutation and Brick scolds him). Just look at him at this moment, he is like a child when his parents are angry at him.

This all makes clear that in his childhood his parents weren't happy with his behavior and never told him anything good about him. If a person can't value themselves, this means their parents didn't value them, didn't love them for who they are (or didn't show this love enough and properly). I believe that it is very difficult for Cavendish to understand that he can be loved because he is, well, Cavendish (NO SHIO PLEASE DON'T QUOTE DAKOTA NO).

When someone has a really low self-esteem, but at the same time has somebody who loves him (as a partner, as a friend, as a relative…), there are several ways to act about that (they may mix). First is to do everything for this person, to become a perfect friend/partner/child/etc. Because only when you're perfect, you deserve love. Always to be by their side, always to understand their feelings (without them telling how they feel), always to share their interests. And I mean always, like, really always. Second is to do something not nice on purpose, something that will annoy this person or make them sad, just to show them that you're NOT nice and do NOT deserve love. (I believe there are more ways, but I know only these two). And I think Cavendish chooses the second way in “Abducting Murphy’s law”, where he loses his temper when Dakota doesn’t believe him.

This whole episode (“Look at this ship”) is another important thing about Cavendish and his autism. First, it seems that Dakota is the closest and the most important person for Cavendish, he believes him, he feels comfortable with him, he feels that Dakota understands him and his special needs (just look at this post about a teddy bear), so it's natural that Cavendish expects Dakota to believe him that he saw an alien ship, but Dakota doesn't, and it's when Cavendish gets emotional and throws a tantrum. I don't excuse him, but I can relate. When someone that is so precious and dear to me, who always understands me, suddenly doesn't believe me, I feel hurt and not needed, I want to leave this person, I think that they are better off without me. And I think that is exactly what happened to Cavendish. Of course Dakota didn't deserve that (in fact, he said that he believes in Cavendish's belief, what means he respects him even without fully understanding), but again, Cavendish’s reaction is normal for someone like him. I believe that his parents never really cared about his needs, his emotions and so on, so Dakota who does this became the most important person. This makes his disbelief even more hurtful. And in addition, Cavendish already was very upset because of them being fired and treated clearly not as he wanted. All this make his emotional condition really bad, and Dakota's words were the last straw.

Second, the alien ship itself is for me a big metaphor for autism. There's something that is important to us (be it a sensor overload, a special need etc.) that other people don't see and don't understand. And some (a lot of) people will never understand, no matter how hard we try to explain. Sometimes it's devastating, sometimes we begin to fear that there's really nothing, sometimes we stop believing ourselves (a scene where Cavendish tries to prove that there's an invisible ship and jumps on it, but at this exact moment there is really no ship). Why didn't he just take Dakota to this thing? Because he already hadn’t believed him, and this is enough. Cavendish tries to get validation from some “experts” (journalists), but all that is in vain.

In addition, I think it is really important that this ship is alien (and not just invisible). Because for other people we are like aliens. We don't understand your rules, your emotions, your culture, we act strange and inappropriate, we are weird… And often you just think we imagined all this, that we are weird or crazy. We don't exist, like aliens.

One more thing before I end this pretty lengthy essay. I'm so glad that in this series people with mental disabilities and issues (like Cavendish) don't look like cute little orphans from a sweet holly story who are so easy to be compassionate with. No, sometimes they are selfish jerks and it's difficult to build a relationship with them. And I think this is really, really important. We are not “quirky and adorkable cuties”, we are people who are often difficult to be with. And it is difficult to be us.

Phew, this is a long essay. I hope I haven’t forgotten anything important! But if you think I have, please feel free to reblog and add :) And I hope you liked what I’ve written.

I wasn't planning to get emotional, but I clearly failed, because Cavendish is so special to me.

P.S. my Tumblr app is crazy, it doesn't allow me to make a post with actual screenshots, that's why I took photos of a screen instead :( sorry for inconvenience.

#milo murphy's law #mml #dakavendish #balthazar cavendish #vinnie dakota #analysis #mental health #mental disability #actually autistic #autism #shio's thoughts

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snekatiemmlpnf · 2 years ago

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Milo Murphy's Law Episode Tournament

Links to Polls under Read More

Round 1

Disco Do-Over vs Sick Day

Ride Along Little Doggie vs Cavendish Unleashed

The Race vs Love Toboggan

Teacher Feature vs Adventure Buddies

Star Struck vs Lady Krillers

A Clockword Origin vs The Ticking Clock

Agee Ientee Diogee vs The Dog Who Knew Too Much

Doof's Day Out vs Milo's Shadow

The Goulash Legacy vs Pace Makes Waste

Round 1 Results

Round 2 Part 1

Family Vacation vs. Sick Day

Snow Way Out vs. Free Fall

Some Like it Yacht vs. Backward to School Night

Party of Peril vs. Smooth Opera-tor

Picture Day vs. Cavendish Unleashed

Rooting for the Enemy vs. Sunny Side Up

Perchance to Sleepwalk vs. Love Toboggan

The Note vs. The Doctor Zone Files

Round 2 Part 2

Parks and Wreck vs. A Clockwork Origin

First Impressions vs. The Island of Lost Dakotas

Murphy’s Lard vs. Secrets and Pies

Missing Milo vs. Going the Extra Milo

The Substitute vs. Agee Ientee Diogee

Milo Murphy’s Halloween Scream-a-Torium vs. A Christmas Peril

Fungus Among Us vs. The Phineas and Ferb Effect

Milo in Space vs. Sphere and Loathing in Outer Space

Round 2 Part 1 and 2 Results

Round 2 Part 3

Dog Walker, Runner, Screamer vs. Milo’s Shadow

Milo’s World vs. Safety First

Battle of the Bands vs. The Math Book

Managing Murphy’s Law vs. Abducting Murphy’s Law

Field of Screams vs. Pace Makes Waste

Disaster of my Dreams vs. World Without Milo

Worked Day vs. Wilder West

The Little Engine That Couldn’t vs. The Llama Incident

Round 2 Part 4

Spy Little Sister vs. Teacher Feature

Athledecamathalon vs. School Dance

Mid-Afternoon Snack Club vs. Speech and Debate

We’re Going to the Zoo vs. Time Out

Look at This Ship vs. Star Struck

Cast Party vs. Escape

Game Night vs. Cake ‘Splosion

The Undergrounders vs. Now I am a Murphy

Round 2 Part 3 and 4 Results

Round 3 Part 1

Family Vacation vs. Snow Way Out

Backward to School Night vs. Smooth Opera-tor

Picture Day vs. Rooting for the Enemy

Perchance to Sleepwalk vs. The Doctor Zone Files

A Clockwork Origin vs. Island of Lost Dakotas

Secrets and Pies vs. Missing Milo

The Substitute vs. Milo Murphy’s Halloween Scream-a-Torium

Fungus Among Us vs. Sphere and Loathing in Outer Space

Round 3 Part 2

Spy Little Sister vs. Athledecamathalon

Mid-Afternoon Snack Club vs. We’re Going to the Zoo

Look at This Ship vs. Cast Party

Game Night vs. The Undergrounders

Dog Walker, Runner, Screamer vs. Milo’s World

Battle of the Bands vs. Managing Murphy’s Law

Pace Makes Waste vs. World Without Milo

Worked Day vs. The Llama Incident

Round 3 Results

Round 4

Snow Way Out vs. Smooth Operator

Rooting for the Enemy vs. The Doctor Zone FIles

Island of Lost Dakotas vs. Missing Milo

Fungus Among Us vs. Milo Murphy’s Halloween Scream-a-Torium

Athledecamathalon vs. The MId-Afternoon Snack Club

Cast Party vs. Game Night

Milo’s World vs. Battle of the Bands

World Without Milo vs. The Llama Incident

Round 4 Results

Round 5

Smooth Opera-tor vs. Rooting for the Enemy

The Island of Lost Dakotas vs. Fungus Among Us

The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club vs. Game Night

Milo’s World vs. The Llama Incident

Round 5 Results

Round 6

Rooting for the Enemy vs. The Island of Lost Dakotas

The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club vs. Milo’s World vs. The Llama Incident

#milo murphy's law #mml episode tournament #<- tag for this ig #most of these are episodes i didnt really like or didnt really stand out to me lmao #not all of them but a good few #*in regards to the first round #with my stupid premade bracket lmao

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