Music Gamble

Music Gamble The female equivalent to Simple Jack, as well as the dehumanization of the neurodivergent and autistic community. Gender: Female Type: Ableist caricature Mary Sue Age: Teenager Species: Human Portrayed by: Maddie Ziegler Status: Alive Media of origin: Music (2021)

Music Gamble is the titular tritagonist of the infamous 2021 film Music. She is portrayed by Maddie Ziegler in her debut role.

Why She Can't Take It Higher

1. Comparable to Jeffy from SML, the core problem is that she is an ableist caricature without any personality whose characterization amounts to a bunch of autistic stereotypes and nothing else.
2. Her characterization drew comparisons to a school bully making fun of an autistic person, which is incredibly offensive and insulting towards the autistic community.
3. She is constantly objectified throughout the movie as she only serves as an obstacle for Ebo and Zu to overcome.
4. She is a complete Mary Sue who gets respected and liked at first sight by all the other characters. Not only that, but she is never shown to feel grief or sadness; she's self-sufficient enough to brush her teeth and dress without explanation, and always sees the world as a bed of roses.
5. In the dance number "Oh Body", she is depicted in blackface with her hand movements in said dance number been interpreted as motor tics of the fingers commonly used to mock the neurodivergent community.
6. Despite being the titular character of the movie, she is mostly portrayed as a supporting character as the film focuses more on Zu and Ebo.
7. She commonly overuses the same open-mouth smile throughout the movie, which can range from laughable to downright terrifying as seen in the picture of her above.
8. Her first name is absolutely ridiculous. What kind of parents would want to name their child "Music"? They could have stuck with another REAL first name for her that begins with M, like Melody, for example.
9. Maddie Ziegler does an shockingly absolutely horrible job portraying her, especially with the overuse of the open mouth as seen above; this is understandable as she was forced by Sia to portray Music like this against her wishes.
   • Not only that, but Maddie Ziegler was also a controversial casting choice for an autistic character to begin with as she is neurotypical and was only cast because she is a frequent collaborator of Sia, the director of the film.
   • As a matter of fact, Ziegler was so scared about offending autistic people during filming of the movie that she broke down crying on setǃ

Redeeming Qualities That Can Take It Higher

1. The concept of a non-verbal, severely autistic character in the film is good, even if it was executed at its worst here.
2. Music Gamble is admittedly beautiful and attractive.
3. She can be slightly hilarious at times.
4. Music Gamble can be slightly likable at times.
5. At least she is a nice and happy girl, cares about her friends, and has no bad intentions.

Trivia

• Maddie Ziegler hated her portrayal of the character early on. She was worried about making fun of autistic people during filming, to the point where she once broke down crying on set. Sia also forced Ziegler to play the role against her own will, meaning that Sia mentally and emotionally abused her.
• Maddie Ziegler has since regretted portraying her character, although she never really wanted to depict her in the first place as she was forced to do so by Sia.

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