User:ColetteCucinotta/sandbox

Controversy and protests

Me Before You has gained a large amount of criticism and controversy over its depiction of disability and disability rights movement. The controversy stems from the movie's underlying theme that people with disabilities are a burden on their families and careers, and claim the film promotes the view that people are better off dead than disabled. The film’s depiction of a quadriplegic man, Will, who has made a decision to end his life by assisted suicide rather than live as a disabled man. The hashtag #MeBeforeEuthanasia started to trend on Twitter. One user, @grindmastrgrant, said: “I’m not your inspiration porn and I’m not a thing to be pitied or killed off to make the audience cry”. Celebrities such as Liz Carr, Penny Pepper, Mik Scarlet and Cherylee Houston and Not Dead Yet UK in the United Kingdom, and Dominick Evans, Emily Ladau and activists from Not Dead Yet in the United States. Controversy surrounded the fact that no one in the film had a disability. Me Before You is a high-profile movie with big names that automatically will bring attention to the movie. The high profile of the movie brought a greater disappointment when disability was portrayed by stereotypes. There have been protests across the county, in Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, various locations in Colorado and Texas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Connecticut, Rochester, San Francisco. The film was also protested in Australia.

Assisted suicide

A theme in Me Before You is how the quality of ones life is more important than life itself. The main character Will, who once was a daredevil and led an adventurous lifestyle has lost his mobility due to a spinal cord injury. Will becomes increasingly depressed living day to day in a wheelchair. Overwhelmed by the change of lifestyle he decides that ending his life is better than living with a disability. Will feels like less of a man because he feels as if he is nothing but a burden, thinking he can not love the in the way a partner would want. Many individuals in the disability community have taken a problem and denounced this film line because it creates the narrative to the non-disabled public that being disabled means that one's life is worse, one is only burdening the lives of the ones they love and they suicide is an answer. The film itself does have an emphasis on personal choice regarding assisted death but romanticizes the idea instead of showing the reality of the situation. It does not depict Will going through the process of assisted death rather just the outcome of giving Louisa a chance to live a life of luxury with the money he left for her.

Assisted suicide usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS). PAS is when the death is assisted by a healthcare worker or physician by the means of writing a prescription for lethal amount of pills or drugs. Physician-assisted suicide is not accepted by many and thought of as a crime. However, Assisted suicide is legal in some countries. Under explicit circumstances assisted suicide is legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Colombia, Switzerland, and parts of Australia and the United States.

Disability Portrayal in Hollywood
Hollywood's main leads usually are portrayed as straight, caucasian, non-disabled and cisgender, leaving out most of the worlds population. When characters are played by who do not fit into these categories their stories tend to become stereotyped. About 2.5 percent of speaking roles portray disabilities. According the CDC 61 million Americans have a disability while 95% of characters with a disability are played by a non disabled actor. There is a lack of inclusion and opportunity for actors with disabilities to accurately portray these roles. Disabled actors are also faced with a dilemma of accessibility. Film sets, studios and audition rooms lack accessibility immediately eliminating the possibility of using a disabled actor. Disability studies theorist Tobin Siebers uses the term "disability drag" when a non-disabled actor is used to play a disabled character.