Lumos! Action! Asperger's Cognitive Dramatherapy through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

The aim of this article is twofold. First, I argue that Asperger's Syndrome is a productive lens through which the characterization of Newt Scamander, protagonist of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay can be analyzed. His behaviours, including his love of animals over attention to wizard fellows, are reminiscent of the condition. I suggest, however, that these are not to be considered asocial demeanours but as reactions of empathy over non-human creatures stemming from a system of ethical values worthy of praise for a children's book hero. The second aim of this article is to use the stage directions describing these behaviours as guidelines in the context of dramatherapy for children diagnosed with Asperger's.