BRIAN VINER'S damning verdict on surprise hit Me Before You. Without a doubt, Me Before You is the box office triumph of the summer so far, unexpectedly reaching the number one spot in its second week of release. But it has not taken UK cinemas by storm without sparking furious argument, erupting around the story’s moral message. If you are planning to join the tens of thousands of cinema- goers undeterred by the poor critical response to this mawkish weepie, and did not read the novel on which it is based either, then this article comes with a heavy spoiler warning. Scroll down for video Me Before You is the box office triumph of the summer so far, reaching the number one spot in its second week of release. But it has not taken UK cinemas by storm without sparking furious argument. But in truth, the movie’s own trailer pretty much lets the cat out of the bag, not to mention the growing controversy as disability campaigners protest that the film carries a truly terrible message. Based on the best- selling 2. Jojo Moyes, the film tells the story of a romance between an able- bodied young woman and a wheelchair- bound man. Envisaging only an intolerable future for himself, even as he becomes head over heels in love, he resolves to end it all — to the understandable horror of our heroine. As the film continues to pack them in at the multiplexes — taking £8 million at the UK box office in under a month — its critics are concerned about whether it amounts to very much more than an extended advert for Dignitas, the assisted dying organisation based in Switzerland. In the words of one critical viewer, wheelchair- user Nikki Kenward, the audience is ‘manipulated, coerced and driven right into the hands of the pro- euthanasia lobby, without any thought for truth, balance or meaningful discussion’. If so, it could not come at a more sensitive time in the national debate over whether to legalise euthanasia. Based on the best- selling 2. Who could replace Daniel Craig as 007? 19 James Bond hopefuls ranked and rated. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a trilogy of young adult novels that take place After the End in Panem, a nation in what used to be North America that is.
Jojo Moyes, the film tells the story of a romance between an able- bodied young woman and a wheelchair- bound man. Only last week the British Medical Association voted to continue its opposition to assisted suicide, but a third of its members wanted the doctors’ union to adopt a ‘neutral’ stance. Assisted suicides are legal in Switzerland but not in the UK, with many people fearing that any step towards accepting mercy- killing is a slippery slope, leading to many more deaths than lawmakers might intend. MPs last year rejected Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, which would have made it legal for a terminally ill person to request assistance with ending their life in Britain if they had less than six months to live. But the campaign continues. Author Moyes, who also wrote the Me Before You screenplay, rejects the link and says her tale is not an endorsement of assisted dying. ‘I feel passionately that this should not be seen as a how- to manual,’ Moyes insists of the movie. The film’s director, Thea Sharrock, believes the story has been ‘fundamentally misunderstood’. But there can surely be no misunderstanding the manipulative way in which the film romanticises assisted suicide, presenting it as a kind of gift to the grief- stricken partner left behind, and greatly preferable to life in a wheelchair for a young man who is paralysed from the neck down. In fact, far from the character’s death- wish being alleviated by the boundless adoration of a good (and extremely attractive) woman, it actually seems to strengthen. Since supporters of the rights of the disabled and anti- euthanasia group Not Dead Yet picketed last month’s London premiere, the row has escalated. Dignitas, the assisted dying organisation based in Switzerland. Francesco Clark, an American who was left paralysed in his early 2. Walking Papers, which chronicles the ways in which his life changed once he became disabled.‘I’ve worked tirelessly to show people that being quadriplegic isn’t the end of your life, it’s another beginning,’ he says. I will continue to spread a message of positivity and hope for those who have experienced spinal cord injuries, either directly or as a loved one.’He has a further grievance, because his memoir is referred to in the film without his permission. While I understand that this movie is based on a work of fiction,’ he says, ‘my book, and my life, is not.’Certainly, the film is first and foremost a commercial love story, which conveniently glosses over the starker realities of quadriplegia. Moyes has said that the story was loosely inspired by the tale of 2. Daniel James, a highly promising rugby player until a training- ground accident left him paralysed from the waist down. His injuries were not terminal but he ended his life at Dignitas in 2. For her story, she invents the character of Will Traynor, played in the film by The Hunger Games actor Sam Claflin. He is a dishy banker who seems to have the world at his feet when he suffers a dreadful road accident, leaving him ‘trapped’ in an electric wheelchair. Despite an inauspicious start, Will and Louisa fall in love, a double- whammy breaching both the class divide and his physical incapacity. He tells his rich, upper- class parents (played by Charles Dance and Janet Mc. Teer) that he is unable to contemplate a long- term existence as a quadriplegic. Hoping to dissuade him, they appoint pretty, working- class, gently bumbling Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke from Game Of Thrones) as his companion. Despite an inauspicious start, Will and Louisa fall in love, a double- whammy breaching both the class divide and his physical incapacity. Each improves the lot of the other. She offers him unconditional love, while he encourages her to broaden her horizons even as he narrows his — to the clinic in Switzerland. In fairness to Moyes, the novel, while by her own admission hardly a towering work of literature, is a good deal more nuanced than the film. It provoked complaints and criticism too, but not nearly as many as the screen version. On screen, Will’s profound disability is sanitised to a laughable extent. On screen, Will’s profound disability is sanitised to a laughable extent. The greatest indignities he suffers are when his wheelchair gets stuck in the mud during a visit to the races, and when former colleagues are rather patronising towards him at his ex- girlfriend’s wedding. Moreover, Claflin was cast because he is lovely to look at, not because he is especially good at playing disabled, still less disabled himself. Had a wheelchair- bound actor been cast, the protests would not have been so vehement. But they would still have rung out. For disability rights campaigner Kim Sauder, it is morally questionable to give the formerly jet- setting, jet- skiing Will such an alpha- male background, for it implies that his paralysis is ‘more tragic, as if he lost more, and this is why he is unable to come to terms with being quadriplegic’. But the core ethical question surely concerns the issue of assisted suicide, the myriad complexities of which are worryingly simplified. Disabled actress Liz Carr, who plays forensics technician Clarissa Mullery in BBC’s Silent Witness, says the film ‘blurs the line — conveniently — between wanting to die for reasons of terminal illness, which was being pushed for via the various Bills in the past couple of years in the UK, and someone who is disabled but not terminally ill wanting to end their life.’Most controversially, Me Before You makes the decision to join Dignitas look not like a ghastly last resort, but the ultimate romantic gesture — a final gift to one’s beloved. At the screening I went to, none of the young women sobbing into their popcorn would have argued with that. Of course, not even Shakespeare was above romanticising suicide; take Romeo And Juliet. But his hero acts emotionally, not rationally, with the audience painfully aware that all hope is not lost (Juliet is still alive!) before he self- destructs. Me Before You, in contrast, offers no such signposts that its hero is making a disastrously wrong- headed decision. Will thinks not only that he is doing the right thing for himself, but also, crucially, that by ending his own life he is freeing Louisa to make the most of hers. That’s an incalculably dangerous message to give to the young people flocking to see this. Furthermore, the message is amplified by the casting of Claflin and Clarke. For those of us concerned about Me Before You’s possible impact on young people, it is of some consolation that Clarke’s performance is truly awful. Straining to be cutely lovable, she succeeds mainly in being acutely tiresome, gurning and simpering her way through the movie in what amounts to a masterclass in over- acting. The Hunger Games series of films, in which Claflin starred as the heroic Finnick Odair, have so far taken well over a billion dollars at the global box office. And U. S. fantasy drama Game Of Thrones, in which Clarke plays the dragon- riding Daenerys Targaryen, is a spectacular success on television. Both productions have vast, impressionable teen audiences. For those of us concerned about Me Before You’s possible impact on young people, it is of some consolation that Clarke’s performance is truly awful. Straining to be cutely lovable, she succeeds mainly in being acutely tiresome, gurning and simpering her way through the movie in what amounts to a masterclass in over- acting. Yet the cinema queues still form and the mass snuffling goes on, confounding the long- established equation that international football tournaments have a negative impact on movie- going. The explanation is simple, though. The demographic at which Me Before You is squarely aimed, and the people least likely to be distracted by the Euro 2. The audience numbers have also been boosted by a dearth of competition. The Hunger Games (Literature) - TV Tropes"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"— Multiple characters in the series, including President Snow, Effie Trinket, and even Gale and Katniss. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a trilogy of young adult novels that take place After the End in Panem, a nation in what used to be North America that is divided into numbered districts and a large capital city (the Capitol). In the first book, heroine Katniss Everdeen takes her sister Primrose's place when Prim is chosen to be a contestant ("Tribute") in the Hunger Games: an annual televised Deadly Game wherein 2. Her struggle for survival ends up igniting a firestorm that quickly goes beyond her control, until she finds herself embroiled in an all- out war that almost makes the arena look like Disneyland. The three books are: The Hunger Games (2. Catching Fire (2. Mockingjay (2. 01. A feature film adaptation was released in March 2. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. The film has its own page here. A film adaptation of Catching Fire was released in 2. Mockingjay released in 2. Now with a Character Sheet! Note: The title event of this book series is a fight to the death. As such, Death Tropes and death- related spoilers are plentiful. Proceed with caution. open/close all folders A- E Absurdly High- Stakes Game: The very definition of the trope. Accidental Murder: Peeta does this twice: in Games he accidentally kills Foxface with poison. Then in Mockingjay he accidentally launches a member of the rebel squad into a trap that kills him. Unless you are of the opinion that maybe Foxface knew exactly what she was eating. Acquired Poison Immunity: Snow, as part of his gambit when he made his rise to power. Subverted in that no antidotes are perfect, and he has long- term damage from the myriad poisons he's handled and ingested. Action Girl: Katniss and most of the other female contestants. Actually Pretty Funny In The Hunger Games: Effie after Katniss described the Gamemakers' reaction to her firing at the apple in their roast pig's mouth. While everyone else (Katniss, Haymitch, Peeta, Cinna, and Portia) is laughing outright, Effie is suppressing a smile. After that she agrees that the Gamemakers did deserve that. In Mockingjay: After Katniss kills the last enemy of the war - Coin. Snow, despite knowing he's about to die as well, cracks up laughing. Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: In- universe example. The longer the Games run, the more expensive it is for sponsors to send support to remaining Tributes. Adult Fear: The point of the Games was for the Capitol to show it has so much control over its citizens, they can kill the children publicly and there is nothing the Districts can do about it. This has caused Katniss to swear off the idea of getting married and having kids because she knows they'd have to face the Reaping. She changes her mind, however. Fifteen years after the rebellion that brought an end to the Hunger Games. Aerith and Bob: On one hand, you've got normal names like Annie and Johanna, but then on the other you've got more unusual names like Katniss, Peeta, Twill, Plutarch, and Beetee. On the other hand, those names are apparently usual in this new society, as we can pick up Theme Naming: Katniss, Primrose, Gale's surname Hawthorne, Rue and Thresh's names, are all derived from plants and agriculture, and the Capitol and Career districts have names inspired from Antiquity: Plutarch, Seneca, Coriolanus, Cato, Effie (for Euphemia), Brutus, Cressida, Messala, Castor and Pollux, or luxury things: Gloss, Glimmer, Cashmere, Effie's surname Trinket. Affectionate Nickname: Gale calls Katniss "Catnip", though this is really due to her being so shy when they first met that she mumbled her name and he misheard her. Occasionally used is 'little duck' from Katniss to Prim, due to the latter's habit of having her shirt tails untucked. After- Action Healing Drama: When Katniss finds Peeta in the arena, he has been slashed badly by Cato, and she has to treat him. And get medicine. After the End: Some combination of wars and natural disasters destroyed the entire population of the world except for Panem (North America). There are implications that Panem represents the entire human species. District 1. 2, the smallest District (possibly excluding 1. It also explains why, for all his machinations, Snow doesn't want to risk nuclear war. Airstrip One: The Districts are numbered and segregated by industry. Alas, Poor Villain: Not even an Ax- Crazy. Jerkass like Cato deserves to be Eaten Alive by Mutts for over twenty hours. Some sort of body armor that Cato most likely got from the feast earlier kept him from being instantly killed. The way Glimmer bites it is pretty nasty, especially her cries for help. The Alcoholic: Former District 1. Haymitch Abernathy. In fact, it seems that a lot of Games champions end up with some kind of drug or alcohol addiction, due to a combination of too much money and time on their hands, having no real way to cope with the horrors they faced in the arena, and having to mentor new tributes year after year who seldom if ever come back alive. Aloof Dark- Haired Girl: Katniss could qualify. She is aloof and dark- haired, and admired by many, whether it be her "fans" from the Capitol or some of her fellow soldiers and tributes in the Hunger Games. Amazing Technicolor Population: The people in the Capitol have some strange fashion ideas, among them body dyes. At least one person mentioned has dyed her whole body pea green. Ambiguously Brown: Collins has stated that we're so far in the future that racial mixing has blurred any categories that might exist today. She refuses to elaborate on what modern races the characters would be categorized as. Katniss herself has olive skin and straight black hair, in contrast to her blonde- haired and blue- eyed mother and sister. Rue and Thresh have "dark skin."And Man Grew Proud: Zig- zagged. Technology in the Capitol, After the End, far exceeds what we're capable of now, but the lower Districts are like third world countries. Some Capitolites are well- educated enough to know about the history of the world Before The Dark Times, but Katniss only has a very vague idea of the Dark Days and the world before Panem. Animal Motifs: Metaphorically, Snow as a snake. Visually, Katniss as a mockingjay. Tigris as a cat- person as both. Annoying Arrows: This happens unless Katniss hits a vital area. The Anticipator: Katniss is a sucker for falling for Anticipator characters. She is caught off guard no less than three times by characters waiting to talk to her. The usual Anticipators typically have power. In Catching Fire, Katniss finds that President Snow is waiting for her at her own house to confront her. He sits in a chair and doesn't even address her immediately and continues reading a book to show Katniss who's the boss. Later on, the trope gets played with. When Katniss enters her home, she is shocked to find that Peacekeepers are in her living room waiting for her. She has to feign normalcy after taking a nasty fall and injuring her hindquarters. Accordingly, the Peacekeepers are surprised to see her, as they set a trap up for her and expected her not to come home. So they were actually surprised by her survival and return. Katniss is surprised by President Snow in Mockingjay when she is walking around in his garden after District 1. Capitol. He is shackled in his garden by orders from President Coin, but he was obscured from view by some flowers. He speaks up and she is startled by his voice. Anyone Can Die: The Hunger Games is actually an interesting example. Many of the characters are guaranteed to die, due to the format of the Games; however, as with most other works, main characters are very rarely if ever killed (depending on who you'd be willing to count as a main character), and only in major events. Katniss, as the first person narrator, inevitably survives the entire series. Everyone else, however, is fair game, especially in Mockingjay, where the country goes into a full- scale rebellion with heavy losses on both sides. Apocalypse How: At least continental, probably global. In the first book, Katniss describes a massive natural disaster: "the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land." Wars erupted as factions tried to claim the limited remaining resources, and this appears to have led to the collapse of the North American nations that we currently know. Some time after that, about 7. District 1. 3 was seen as a particular threat since they controlled the nuclear power and potentially weapons, so the Capitol bombed them into oblivion. Arc Number: Twelve. Victor's Village, 2. Katniss, then voted down to 6, lightning strikes at midnight and noon in a certain section of the Quarter Quell arena, which later becomes important to the plot, and a 1. District 1. 3. Also, in the first book, both Prim and Rue are 1. Rue was one of 6 siblings. Arc Words: "And may the odds be ever in your favor." "Stay alive" Catching Fire has "Remember who the real enemy is." and "Tick tock, it's a/goes the clock." In the last book "Real or not real?"Artificial Limbs: Peeta is outfitted with an artificial leg after the first Hunger Games. Katniss, having had her eardrum repaired after it was ruptured in the first Games, feigns being able to hear forcefields in Catching Fire during the second games. Artistic License Animal Care: In Mockingjay, Katniss stuffs Buttercup into a bag and carries him over her shoulder, even elbowing him to get him to be quiet. She also bounces him against the floor. In the book, this only causes yowling, but in real life this probably would've caused him a great deal of injury. She also picks Buttercup up by the scruff of his neck without supporting his rump. He's a grown tom cat. Any pet owner will tell you that is a humongous no- no.
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