초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This paper investigates the discourse of euthanasia in three films: the 2004 film about a boxing trainer who helped the mercy killing of a boxer, <Million Dollar Baby>, the 2010 TV biopic about suicide-assist doctor Jack Kevorkian, <You Don’t Know Jack>, and the 2016 romantic drama about a paralysis patient who travels to Switzerland for assisted suicide, <Me Before You>. Though these films are similar in that they deal with euthanasia, they are a little different in their situation. The first film tells Frankie, a trainer who assisted the euthanasia of Maggie who was in an incurable vegetative state because of her injury in a world championship title match. The second film tells the story of Michigan pathologist Dr. Kevorkian, who over the course of his controversial career helped 130 people−all of them terminally ill−end their lives comfortably and humanely with an instrument that he made. Despite the gratitude his patients felt, his work sparked a national debate about the morality of euthanasia in humans and he was vilified by some prosecutors. The third film, <Me Before You>, is a fictional story of a wealthy young man in London, Will Traynor, who is left suddenly paralyzed by a road accident. In the end, Will decides that life without physical freedom isn’t worth living in spite of his love for Louisa Clark, his care-giver and he travels to Switzerland to die, leaving enough money to give Louisa the financial freedom to pursue her dreams. Will’s generous final act may confirm Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s belief “Everyone should growth until one’s death.” The process of euthanasia thus prompts us to consider preparing for a good death, and, possibly, a good life for those we leave behind.
