Life is full of choices. What should I have for breakfast this morning? Should I put my left or right shoe on first? Which university should I go to? Should I sing or whistle in the shower today? Unfortunately, not all decisions are are so simple.
For the past four months, young romantics (including me) have been waiting in anticipation for the release of the romantic movie of the year, Warner Bros. Pictures' Me Before You. After attending the premier showing of the film, I felt confused and disappointed. I was expecting a romantic movie about a young couple overcoming the struggles of disabilities to find happiness in loving each other. Instead (spoiler alert), I got a movie about a paraplegic man (Will Traynor) who refuses to acknowledge the love that so many have for him in order to selfishly choose assisted suicide. In fact, the characters all claim that Will is being selfish, and his leading lady even once claims that she wishes she had never met him because of his selfishness. In hindsight, the movie is aptly named because of Will's "me before you" mindset. And yet, I find myself trying to reconcile my intense love of life with appreciation for the movie through the message of life that is sent from those around Will.
I understand that assisted suicide is a difficult subject. And it's true that no one can ever really understand the pain of such a choice unless they've faced it themselves. However, a few things are clear.
One of the biggest problems with Me Before You is that it defines masculinity incorrectly. In the movie, Will's father, Steven Traynor, is one of the only characters to support Will's decision to end his own life. Steven says that Will "needs to be allowed to feel like a man". First, this implies that a man with a disability is less of a man. This is terribly inaccurate and it hurts my heart to think that anyone could believe that. Beyond that, a true man values his loved ones and life in general. A true man sacrifices everything for his family, especially for the women (mother included) he loves. He doesn't end his own suffering to make that of others worse. He especially doesn't intensify the pain of a significant other but asking her to accompany him to his chosen death (as Will asks of his caretaker turned love interest, Louisa 'Lou' Clark).
On the other hand, Me Before You has a strong message in favor of life. This message of the beauty of life comes in the struggles of Will's family to fight for him. It comes in the spirit of Lou, who practically moves mountains in an attempt to convince Will to value his life. It comes in Lou's broken heart and the tears of Will's parents when they realize that Will is not going to change his mind about the suicide. The strongest message of life ironically comes from Will after his own death, in a letter to Lou. He tries to compensate for his decision with money (another flaw of the story) but also encourages Lou to "live boldly". This is advice I intend to take to heart.
Luckily, the tagline "Live Boldly", concerns the life-loving heroine of the movie, rather than the man who chooses death. If you make the choice to see Me Before You or read the book by Jojo Moyes (which the movie is based on), I challenge you to think critically about Will's decisions and the pain of his family. But I also hope you take his advice. So a choice must be made: what should you do when you realize that Me Before You is actually about assisted suicide? You should take Will Traynor's advice from the last line of the movie: "Just live."
