History Film / TempleGrandin

The film is heartwarming, [[TearJerker tear-jerking]] and beautiful, even so far that the real Temple Grandin thought it was a masterpiece. ''Temple Grandin'' was nominated for '''fifteen''' Emmy Awards and won seven, including the Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

* DisappearedDad: Temple's father only briefly mentioned; the psychologist who diagnosed Temple asks to talk to Mrs. Grandin's husband, and she merely replies that he's very busy. Also at one moment when Mrs. Grandin is on the phone, a male voice from the other room says, "Who is it?" We can only assume that it's Mr. Grandin. In RealLife, Temple's father wanted her to be institutionalized and Mrs. Grandin refused to let that happen. He divorced Mrs. Grandin over their disagreement on how to handle Temple.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GoodIsDumb: Averted with Temple's cattle dip and slaughterhouse designs. She sells them on the fact that not only are they more humane to the cattle, but they result in less accidents, stampedes, and deaths that cause harm to the livestock and slow down production.

* YouDidntAsk: Until the incident mentioned under EurekaMoment, no one had ever thought to ask Temple about how she processes information, and therefore they never realized that her brain works in a way that's radically different from the norm, which turns out to be basically ''the'' key to understanding why she's struggling academically.

* YouDidntAsk: Until the incident mentioned under EurekaMoment, no one had ever thought to ask Temple about how she processes information, and therefore they never realized that her brain works in a way that's radically different from the norm, which in turn is the main issue at the heart of her academic struggles.

* YouDidntAsk: Until the incident mentioned under EurekaMoment, no one had ever thought to ask Temple about how she processes information, and therefore they never realized that her brain works in a way that's radically different from the norm, which is a huge part of the reason she struggles academically.

* YouDidntAsk: Until the incident mentioned under EurekaMoment, no one had ever thought to ask Temple about how she processes information, and therefore they never realized that her brain works in a way that's radically different from the norm.

* AbusiveParents: Subverted. While the doctors claim this is why Temple is autistic, the mother and audience know she was just born this way.
** In fact, the idea that autism was caused by so-called "refrigerator mothers" was widely accepted by the medical establishment in the 1950s and 1960s, but [[ScienceMarchesOn this is now discredited]].

* NotSoDifferent: Temple and her second roommate, who is blind, find that they have a lot in common. Some of it is more superficial (for instance, they both enjoy ''Franchise/StarTrek''), but they also both have the experience of navigating a world that isn't really designed with their needs in mind, and this allows them to empathize with each other on a deeper level.

* NotSoDifferent: Temple and her second roommate, who is blind, find that they have a lot in common. Some of it is superficial (for instance, they both enjoy ''Franchise/StarTrek''), but they also both have the experience of navigating a world that isn't really designed with their needs in mind, and this allows them to empathize with each other on a deeper level.

* EurekaMoment: After Temple's favorite chestnut horse dies, her science teacher tells her that while the horse may be dead, he lives on in her head and she should try to think about the better times. Temple immediately starts talking about everything she remembers about him, and then expanding it to all the chestnut horses she's seen, ''[[PhotographicMemory ever]]''. It suddenly clicks for him that her entire way of processing the world is different (she's heavily visual and thinks in images rather than words), and that a lot of her academic struggles come from a teaching style that just doesn't fit the way her brain works. He then offers to become Temple's primary teacher so he can design lessons based on her learning style. It works.

* PickyEater: Temple. It's not so much that's she's picky,' but [[JustifiedTrope she has a colon condition]]. The only foods she can eat without it hurting her are Jell-O and yogurt, and that's all we see her eat in the movie.

* PickyEater: Temple. It's not so much that's shes 'picky,' but [[JustifiedTrope she has a colon condition]]. The only foods she can eat without it hurting her are Jell-O and yogurt, and that's all we see her eat in the movie.

%% * TheRainman: Temple

* EurekaMoment: After Temple's favorite chestnut horse dies, her science teacher tells her that while it may be dead, but it lives on in her head. Temple immediately starts talking about all the chestnut horses she's seen, ''[[PhotographicMemory ever]]''. It suddenly clicks for him that her entire way of processing the world is different (she's heavily visual and thinks in images rather than words), and that a lot of her academic struggles come from a teaching style that just doesn't fit the way her brain works. He then offers to become Temple's primary teacher so he can design lessons based on her learning style. It works.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: When Temple is conducting her experiment with the hug machine, one of the subjects seems to have been a bit ''too'' relaxed...

* EurekaMoment: After Temple's favorite chestnut horse dies, her science teacher tells her that while it may be dead, but it lives on in her head. Temple immediately starts talking about all the chestnut horses she's seen, ''[[PhotographicMemory ever]]''. Her teacher realizes that for her, autism expresses itself by making her a heavily visual learner, and that a lot of her academic struggles come from a teaching style that's incompatible with this. He then offers to become Temple's primary teacher so he can design lessons based on her learning style. It works.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Temple's {{imagine spot}}s.
** Unusually, though, they're sort of [[invoked]]''meant'' to be taken that way, since we're seeing how the world looks to an autistic person. To Temple, figures of speech that sound perfectly normal to everyone else tend to come off as {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s, since the autistic mind wants to interpret them literally.

* ButtMonkey: Temple in school, but more notably at the ranch.

* DisappearedDad: Temple's father only briefly mentioned; the psychologist who diagnosed Temple asks to talk to Mrs. Grandin's husband, and she merely replies that he's very busy. Also at one moment when Mrs. Grandin is on the phone, a male voice from the other room says, "Who is it?" We can only assume that it's Mr. Grandin.
** In RealLife, Temple's father wanted her to be institutionalized and Mrs. Grandin refused to let that happen. He divorced Mrs. Grandin over their disagreement on how to handle Temple.

* LiteralMinded: Temple

* NoFourthWall: The opening.
* NoIndoorVoice: Temple. TruthInTelevision.

* ParanoiaGambit
* PhotographicMemory: Temple has this.

* TheRainman: Temple

* TheStoic: Pointed out by her aunt near the beginning.