Warning: This post contains spoilers about the end of the film Me Before You.
What is meant to be a love story about living life to the fullest is on its way to being remembered as a film that failed at offering a fair portrayal of someone living with a disability.
Me Before You is headlined by two stars you will definitely recognize, Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games movie franchise and Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones. The film won't be released nationwide until June 3, but some people have had the opportunity to see it, and the ending of the film has been revealed.
In the final scene, Will Traynor (Claflin), who is paralyzed after an accident and falls in love with his caregiver, Louisa Clarke (Clarke), decides to end his life at an assisted suicide facility. A tearjerker ending indeed. But why does Claflin's character have to die? This is the question being posed on the internet. People are looking for answers as to why disabled characters are so often handed the most depressing plot lines in films.
As Emily Ladau at Salon points out, film portrayals like these of disabled characters are not uncommon. She notes that in Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks' character only feels freedom when he breaks out of his leg braces. At that point, he is ready to live life to the fullest. The same message comes across in Million Dollar Baby. As Ladau explains, when Hillary Swank's character Maggie "becomes a quadriplegic following an injury sustained during a match, the movie does not convey that life goes on. Instead, Maggie becomes desperate to die, begging for assistance to commit suicide. Maggie transforms from inspirational figure to victim, leading viewers to sadness and pity."
Almost ironically, Me Before You has also started a using the hashtag #LiveBoldly on Twitter, to encourage fans and followers to tweet messages about their own life journeys. But now, users have hijacked the #LiveBoldly hashtag to criticize the movie's representation of disability.
Many are responding to tweets like the one below, sent out from the movie's own account.
#MeBeforeYou is already leaving a lasting impression on fans. See the romantic phenomenon June 3rd. #LiveBoldly pic.twitter.com/LlCV4ymm9h
— Me Before You (@mebeforeyou) May 25, 2016
Here are the reactions flooding Twitter. Two new hashtags have also been initiated to counteract #LiveBoldly — #MeBeforeAbelism and #MeBeforeEuthanasia.
While celebrities fawn over #MeBeforeYou, disabled people in UK have been suffering unprecedented levels of cuts to our support #LiveBoldly
— Christine of Aaargh (@cdaargh) May 25, 2016
If Hollywood can make an "Angry Birds" movie, surely it can make a film about a disabled person who loves life. #LiveBoldly.
— Ing Wong-Ward (@ingwongward) May 23, 2016
I #liveboldly everyday of my life as a paralysed man for 35years so there's no way I'll b wasting time watching @mebeforeyou. #LifesTooShort
— Mik Scarlet (@MikScarlet) May 22, 2016
Hey, everyone involved in @mebeforeyou: I'm a disabled woman and I #LiveBoldly by embracing my life as it is and accepting myself as I am.
— Emily Ladau (@emily_ladau) May 23, 2016
What do you do when you have love, wealth, family and a hi-spec wheelchair? #LiveBoldly or kill yourself? #MeBeforeEuthanasia
— Catherine Hale (@octoberpoppy) May 26, 2016
Our lives are not tragic, pathetic pitiful. This film is. Disabled people the world over #LiveBoldly #MeBeforeYou pic.twitter.com/g68QKReDiL
— Not Dead Yet UK (@notdeadyetuk) May 25, 2016
let's talk about how it promotes the belief that disabled people's lives don't matter #MeBeforeAbleism https://t.co/m3vdsN7FUt
— ✨ sandra ☔ (@sicklefrijoles) May 26, 2016
Me Before Youcome outs June 3.
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