Based on a book by JoJo Moyes, the movie takes a rags to riches theme and spices it up with a plot line that brings out the vilest societal stereotypes about disability. The boy meets girl theme comes together when Louisa Clark (played by Emilia Clarke) gets a job as a personal attendant to Will Traynor (played by Sam Claflin). Louisa has lost her job as a waitress and Will is rich as Croesus.
They fall in love but do not live happily ever after. Rather, Will is convinced life is not worth living and against the pleas of his non disabled community, chooses death by physician assistance. Because Will dies and Louisa inherits his megabucks, she is able to "Live Boldly", one of the movies hashtags.
I manage to #LiveBoldly each day with my disability, thank you.
Yes it is fiction and creative license allows Hollywood to come out with whatever pablum movies they so desire. Yet this one has a dangerous message, especially to those coping with new disabilities. It models life with a disability as not worth living and better for you and all who love you if you get your favorite doc to help you die.
Where doctor assisted suicide is concerned, doors open wide if one is disabled while the non-disabled get sent to counseling. Twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act said that 59 million people with disabilities are a civil rights group and mandated the removal of barriers to community integration, Me Before You says suicide is a fine option if you are disabled.
Members of the disability community have written eloquently about the book and movie. Emily Ladeau has a piece in Salon where she outlines some of the able bodied beliefs that were highlighted (Spare me... ). Dominick Evans' piece in Storify (Evans in Storify) noted three myths underscored in Me Before You:
- Disabled people do not have healthy intimate relationships
- Disabled people's deaths benefit non-disabled people
- Disabled people are better dead than disabled
Some disability groups are gathering resources on suicide prevention prior to the film's opening on June 3. Not Dead Yet is calling for informational leafleting on opening night in cities throughout the nation. Protest disability snuff film
Lose the disability theme and Me Before You is a hackneyed, "poor girl marries rich" redux seen ad nauseum in a raft of movies like Sabrina. Color me bored.
