[The Action Alert below now includes embedded links to “Me Before You” protest leaflets, downloadable in color or black&white, a banner that can be produced at a local print shop, and a template press release for local disability activists to use for media outreach. For additional information and links to the many articles by disability writers about the book and film, please check out the incredible “resource hub” compiled by DisBeat.]
ACTION ALERT:
PROTEST DISABILITY SNUFF FILM ME BEFORE YOU!
WHEN: JUNE 3 (2,4 or 5), 2016, 0NE HOUR BEFORE A SHOWING OF ME BEFORE YOU
WHERE: YOUR LOCAL MOVIE THEATER, MANY CITIES, USA & WORLDWIDE
WHAT: PEACEFULLY DISTRIBUTE A LEAFLET
WHY: TO OPPOSE ABLEISM & THE FILM’S MESSAGE THAT DISABLED PEOPLE ARE
BETTER OFF DEAD (AND OTHERS ARE BETTER OFF WITHOUT US)
“Me Before You” is the latest Hollywood film to grossly misrepresent the lived experience of the majority of disabled people. In the film, a young man becomes disabled, falls in love with his ‘carer’ and they have an incredible 6 months together. Despite her opposition, however, the hero does the “honorable” thing by killing himself at a Swiss euthanasia clinic – leaving his fortune to her so she can move on and he is no longer a “burden” to her. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, “Me Before You” is little more than a disability snuff film, giving audiences the message that if you’re a disabled person, you’re better off dead.
WAYS YOU CAN PROTEST:
- Two or more people can peacefully hand out a LEAFLET (National: Black & White or Color; for California protesters, version with an added sentence about the assisted suicide law going into effect on June 9th: California flyer)
- Display a “Me Before You” protest banner which can be made at local print shops
- Send a press release ( you can use NDY’s template release, including local contacts) to send to your local media.
- Join the worldwide social media Thunderclap.
- Twitter using #MeBeforeYou #LiveBoldly #MeBeforeEuthanasia #MeBeforeAbleism
- Share the articles linked below with friends and colleagues.
For more information, see the following articles:
- Spare me, “Me Before You”: Hollywood’s new tearjerker is built on tired and damaging disability stereotypes
- Why Some Disability Rights Activists Are Protesting ‘Me Before You”
- People Are Annoyed About How “Me Before You” Represents Disability
- Hollywood Promotes the Idea It Is Better To Be Dead Than Disabled
- A Second Class Existence: Me Before You Gets It All Wrong
- Why Are You Complaining? Some People Actually Feel That Way: A Critique of Me Before You
For More Information or to discuss your plans, contact John Kelly (jkelly@notdeadyet.org) or Diane Coleman (dcoleman@notdeadyet.org).
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