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Autistic Culture Podcast Rewind - The Good Place is Autistic
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In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, hosts Dr. Angela Kingdon and Matt Lowry, LPP dive into the afterlife with NBC’s hit show The Good Place—unpacking its autistic-coded characters, neurodivergent themes, and the profoundly autistic joy of moral philosophy.
🎧 What You’ll Learn:
- Chidi Anagonye as one of TV’s most autistic-coded characters—his special interests, concrete thinking, anxiety, and devotion to personal morality.
- Eleanor Shellstrop as potentially autistic, with her direct communication style, perspective-taking challenges, and trauma-filled backstory (common among late-diagnosed autistic women).
- Jason Mendoza through an ADHD/autistic lens—his monotropic focus and passionate interests.
- Janet’s journey as an AI echoing autistic unmasking: developing preferences, boundaries, and autonomy beyond “the programming.”
- Tahani Al-Jamil’s story as an allegory for masking exhaustion—with real-life parallels to actor Jameela Jamil’s co-occurring conditions.
- Michael the architect’s autistic tendencies—fascination with humans, concrete examples, and system-level thinking.
- Why the show’s obsession with philosophy feels so deeply autistic.
- Around 53:24, Angela spontaneously demonstrates elements of autistic culture in real time (listen for it!).
Resources:
- How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur
- How to be perfect with "The Good Place" creator Michael Schur
- Chidi Anagonye, the Autistic Nerd Character Done Right
- How The Good Place taught moral philosophy to its characters — and its creators
- 5 Moral Philosophy Concepts Featured on The Good Place
- Character analysis It’s literally all of them
Related Episodes:
The Trouble with Temple Grandin.
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🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.
🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.
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