Introduction

Me Before You is a drama film directed by Thea Sharrock and adopted by author Jojo

Moyes from her 2012 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of a man who becomes

paralyzed after a serious accident and his relationship with his caregiver. Me before you stars

Emillia Clark, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, and Brendon Coyle.

The film was released in 2016 and grossed over $208 million worldwide against a

budget of $20 million, The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the

performances of the cast while others criticized the film’s portrayal of disability.

In response to the backlash, author Jojo Moyes said the story was inspired by her own

family where relatives required 24-hour care, as well as a real life news story about a

quadriplegic man who convinced his parents to take him to a center for assisted suicide.

This research aims to analyze the characteristics and the hierarchy of human needs,

especially esteem needs, that appear in the main character of Me Before You.

The study will explore how the film portrays one of the main character’s struggle with his

disability and how it affects his self-esteem and relationship with others.

This research will also examine the impact of the film’s portrayal of disability on the

audience’s perception of people with disabilities. By analyzing the films themes and characters,

this research aims to contribute to the understanding of the representation of disability in

popular culture and how it affects the society.

CHARACTERS:

Louissa Clark

Loussa Clark ‘’Lou’’ is a resourceful, cheerful girl who has been wasting her potential in her

small hometown because she feels responsible for taking care of her mother Josie Clark, her

father Bernard Clark, and her sister, Katrina Clark ‘’Treena’’. She is also stuck in a long-term

relationship with her fitness-obsessed boyfriend Patrick. Lou becomes the caregiver for Will

Traynor and tries to show him that life is still worth living, even though Will suffers from

quadriplegia. Lou is endlessly optimistic, eventually falling in love with Will and the spark of

adventure he adds to her life. With Wills encouragement, Lou fulfills her dreams of going to

university to study fashion.

Will Traynor

Will Traynor is the second main character of the movie. In the midst of his high-stakes,

thrill-seeking life as a financer, Will suffers a traffic accident that leaves him paralyzed in a

wheelchair.

Katrina Clark

Katrina Clark ‘’Treena’’ is Lou’s younger sister, Treena is considered the clever one in

the family. Lou has always felt stuck in Treena’s shadow, and has to leave university to live with

their parents again. Though the relationship between the sisters is strained, they truly care for

each other. Treena supports Luo’s plan to show Will the best in life, and continues to be a

source of comfort for Lou.

Josie Clark is Lou and Treena’s mother, a woman who takes great pride in keeping her

house spotless and in caring for her two daughters, Lou and Treena, and her grandson,

Thomas. Josie is also the primary caretaker of Lou’s Granddad, who has suffered a stroke. She

endlessly supports Lou, though she cannot condone Lou’s involvement with Will’s plan to

commit suicide.

MINOR CHARACTERS:

Steven Traynor

Steven Traynor is Will’s Father, the picture of an English gentleman who nonetheless cheats

on his wife, Camillia, and has little contact with his son. Lou and Steven get along, but Lou has

little respect for him.

Bernard Clark

Bernard Clark is Lou’s father, a man in his fifties who is struggling with the recession and

the prospect of unemployment. He loves Lou fiercely, though he shows it y teasing her. He is

intensely loyal to his wife, Josie Clark.

Patrick

Patrick is Lou’s boyfriend of six years. Patrick is a physical trainer who is obsessed with

training for triathlons and keeping his body in peak physical fitness. He and Lou eventually drift
apart due to their disparate perspectives on life and Patrick’s jealousy over Lou’ close

relationship with Will.

Granddad

Lou’s Grandfather, who is still of sound body but is rarely lucid after suffering a strok. He is a

Kind and Patient man, though he rarely speaks.

Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark is Katrina Clark’s young son, who is the joy of Josie and Treena’s lives even

though he was the reason that Treena had to drop out of college.

Alicia Dewar

Alicia Dewar ‘’Lissa’’ is Will’s girlfriend before the accident. She is unable to reach Will

through his post paralysis depression and leaves him. She eventually marries Will’s former best

friend Rupert.

Rupert Freshwell

Rupert Freshwell is Will’s former best friend and a co-worker at the firm that Will used to

work for. After Will’s accident, Rupert begins to date Will’s ex-girlfriend Alicia and eventually

marries her.
Mary Rowlinson

Mary Rowlison is an old friend of Will’s who Lou meets at the unfortunate wedding of Alicia

and Rupert. Mary is one of few people who treats Will exactly the same after his accident.

Dandelion Lady

Dandelion Lady is a regular costumer at the café where Lou worked before she became

Will’s caretaker. Lou misses her and hopes that the Dandelion Lady has found someone else to

keep her company in the mornings.

Frank

Frank is Lou’s manager and the owner of the buttered Bun where Lou worked before she

became Will’s caretaker.

Syed

Syed is Lou’s personal advisor at the Job Centre who eventually helps Lou get an interview as

Will’s caretaker.

Michael Lawler

Michael Lawler is a lawyer who specializes in Will’s and personal estates. Will calls him when

he is ready to make his formal application for assisted suicide at Dignitas Institute in

Switzerland.
Nadil

Nadil is an employee at the resort in Mauritius who decides to take extra special care of Will.

Karen

Karen is the girl that Nathan dates on the island trip to Mauritius.
Setting:
‘’Me Before You’’ The castle dating back to 1903 and renowned as the Birthplace of King

Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty, was a major location for Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky and

briefly seen at the beginning of 1968 drama The Lion in Winter, with Katherine Hepburn and

Peter O’Toole.

In the town of Pembroke itself, the ’Buttered Bun’ and the ’Riverside Picture House’ were faked

on Main Street.

‘Grantchester House’, the Traynor family home within the castle walls, is Wytham Abbey, A

private manor house in Oxfordshire. All of the exteriors immediately around the house and the

exterior of the main house were shot there. It’s not open to the public.

The contrastingly Modest exterior of the working-class Clark house was filmed in Harrow in

North London, while a private home in Esher, Surray, doubled as the premises of the ‘Dignitas’

clinic in Switzerland, Also in Esher, Sandown Park Racecourse was used for both the day at the

races and to stand in as the airport check-in. Opened in 1875, One of the first racecourses in

England to charge admission, Sandown Park still operates today.

The wedding was filmed at St Michaels’s Church at Chenies, a couple of miles east of

Amersham in Buckinghamshire, is a grade I listed Anglican parish church alongside Chenies

Manor House – a frequent film location itself, seen in Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream, With

the Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrel, as well as TV productions such as Inspector Morse,

Midsomar Murders and 2008’s Little Dorritt.

The exotic holiday in ‘Mauritius’ was filmed on the island of Mallorca in the Spanish Baleoric

Islands, The Hotel is a few miles east of Port de Pollenca, up on the northeastern tip of the

island.
Lou, of course, finally realizes her ambition to visit Paris, where she gazes longingly into the

window of L’artisan Parfumeur, when it stood at 2 Rue de L’amiral de Coligny (the store has

since moved to Boulevard Saint-Germain)

The film’s main conflict is between Will Traynor, who has a disability and wants to carry

out an assisted suicide since he is quadriplegic, it disables him from doing many things he used

to love. He can no longer experience activities as freely as he could before. Lou gets in with her

mom however, is over her decision to join Will at Dinitas. Unlike Mr.Clark, who seems to have

some sympathy for the situation, Mrs.Clark is aghast that Will’s parents would allow something

like that to happen. This is an understandable reaction on a certain level, especially because

she is thinking about what she would do in Will’s parent’s shoes, rather than looking at the

whole thing from Will’s perspective.

‘’Young and quirky Louisa ‘’ Lou’’ Clark (Emilia Clarke) moves from one job to the next to

help her family make ends meet. Her cheerful attitude is put to the test when she becomes a

caregiver for Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), a wealthy young banker left paralyzed from an accident

two years earlier. Will’s cynical outlook starts to change when Louisa shows him that life is

worth living. As their bond deepens, their lives and hearts change in ways neither one could

have imagined.’’
 TONE/MOOD:

The tone of the movie Me Before You is generally heartfelt and candid, with the

protagonist sharing her feelings openly with the audience, The movie is a romantic drama that

tries to put romance in perspective, with witty conversation and gradually budding love. The

music in the film plays with the emotions of the audience, especially at sad parts, and has a

great impact on the overall tone of the movie. The film touches on various emotions, including

laughter and sobbing, and is powerful in its message. The mood tends to swing between

hopeful anticipation and dread, following the plot structure. Overall, it is a meaningful and deep

movie that manages to incorporate lightheartedness even in the saddest scenes.

The movie ‘’Me Before You’’ implies the first person point of view (Lou’s POV) the female

protagonist. Because it is shown in the whole film how a Young girl (Lou) who used to work at a

local café; doing her best to support her family with their daily needs, would also happen to be

giving courage and hope to Will, by giving him love and affection plus showing him that life is

still worth living after his accident and furthermore persuading him to no longer commit

euthanasia, as well as making her dream come true in pursuing her love for fashion.
 B. LITERARY SCHOOL

Gender Criticism

TECHNICAL DEFINITION

Gender Criticism examines the influence of gender on the way literature is written and read.

Some gender critics looks at work by men or women to see what approaches in these works,

including language use, portrayal of characters and plot, and use of images and symbols, are

essentially female or male.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

Gender criticism is present in the movie ‘’Me Before You’’ because of the traits of the

characters that was shown in the film, But only two of the characters stands out from the rest of

with their unique traits, and they are nonetheless Louissa Clark and Will Traynor.

Louissa Clark is deemed to be considered unique because of her cheerful, chatty,

optimistic, and feminine attitude which catches the attention of many throughout the entire film.

Will Traynor is quite the ideal handsome buff and wealthy man which has captured the

eyes of the female audience, making their hearts race whenever he makes a scene.
 Chapter 2

Literature Review

The movie Me Before You was inspired by the author’s true story, Jojo Moyes. She was

inspired by a couple of her family members who needed 24-hour care. Moyes has said that her

noel was inspired by a news story about an injured rugby player who chose to end his life with

the help of Dignitas, the real=life Swiss based assisted-dying organization that is featured in Me

before You. Young Louissa Clark moves from one job to the next to help her family make ends

meet. Her cheerful attitude is put to the test when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a

wealthy young banker left paralyzed from an accident two years earlier. Will’s cynical outlook

starts to change when Lou shows him that life is worth living. As their bonds deepens, their lives

and hearts change in ways neither one could have imagined.

Same as the movie Kita Kita, is a 2017 Philippine romantic comedy film written and directed by

Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo, And starring Alessandra de Rossi and Empoy Marquez. The flm

follows Lea, a Japanese fiance’s infidelity. After a while, fellow Filipino and charmer Tonyo

makes a sudden appearance and befriends the visually impaired Lea in the best possible ways;

eventually, they fall for one another.

In the story Me Before You, Will Traynor has quadriplegia which he can no longer move the

majority of his body parts but still fell in love with Lou. While in the story Kita kita, In one horrible

moment, lea’s entire worlds clouds over. It takes an unlikely stranger to help her see its beauty

again even though she was blind, In the end, both love still prevails with one of their partner no

longer being with them. Both movies have a love story that will leave a lot of romantic

excitement and hurtful lessons.

Literary Analysis

“I think if you live with that situation on a daily basis, you cannot fail but to ask yourself

questions about quality of life and what we are doing for people alive, because of the advances

in medical science but without necessarily the quality of life to offer them. So I guess all those

issues were high in my mind when I wrote it.”While this was all going on in my family, I heard a

news story about a young man in England who had suffered a terrible accident and it left him

quadriplegic,” she explained of the former rugby player. “Several years after the accident he had

persuaded his parents to take him to end his life. He was all about his body from the age of

three, that’s all he wanted to do was to play sports. I was so shocked by his story because as a

parent, I couldn’t understand how you would ever agree to take your own child to end their life.

Jojo Moyes was born on August 4, 1969, in Maidstone, England. She grew up in London. Like

the character Lou Clark in Me Before You, Moyes had several jobs before she attended college,

including taking bookings for British taxis, typing Braille, and writing brochures. Eventually she

attended Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. She then won a

scholarship from The Independent, a London newspaper, to pursue postgraduate newspaper

studies at City University. Moyes worked as a journalist, mostly for The Independent, for 10

years before becoming a full-time novelist.It is polished and laced with deep, heartfelt emotions

that will move the readers. The dialogues in the book are not only British but also hilarious,

engaging and free-flowing. The story of the friendship between Lou and Will blossoms

eventually through fights, dislikes, misunderstandings and films with subtitles keeping the pace

intact.Moyes' favourite book in childhood was National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. She cites

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson as a book that made her want to be a
better writer,[15] and she is inspired by authors such as Nora Ephron,[40] Marian Keyes, Lisa

Jewell, Jonathan Tropper, and Jane Austen.

According to "Andrew Lost" "This movie is amazingly beautiful the tone and the story are

completely perfect in every way. I have seen this move tons of times and every time it's simply

perfect The fact that she wrote two sequels to this which ties up the who story line is so good. I

recommend watching the move then reading the two sequels as they will never put them on film

and its worth it just to see the life she ends up living and it has the perfect ending in book three.

With all the rubbish movies Hollywood have been realising, I have no idea why they don't just

make these two books or even compress books two and three together, the audience is there.

To see these book put on film would be a great but like I said too much time has past so watch

the movie and then either audio or read the follow ups it really is worth it." I strongly agree about

his statement because in my opinion the author "Jojo Moyes" did a great job of writing it

because she has a warm, moving, and insightful without overt sentimentality or cloying

simplicity, type of writing style.

Findings

Firstly, our research has taught us the importance of reading reputable books and the value of

perseverance in pursuing a specific objective. Many readings that will support the topic and the

issue are necessary to do a research study. If a research project lacks credible material from

journals, books, and other related articles, it will not be successful.

We also learned that researching is not just about finding answers, it also provides a lot of

knowledge for us to be able to understand more what was the topic we are researching for.

Literary schools are also helpful because we were able to know what was the kind of

interpretation the topic is about. And since we were a group, it was a little easier for us to finish

our research.

Making a research is never simple, but all of the challenges and sacrifices are ultimately

worthwhile. The completion of the research is the objective, and that necessitates a great deal

of perseverance.
 Chapter 5

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https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Me-Before-You/author/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Before_You_(film)

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%20unspecified%20'English'%20town%2C,family%20is%20supposed%20to

%20live.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2674426/

https://www.gradesaver.com/me-before-you/study-guide/literary-elements