Johnny Got His Gun-The Morality of Assisted Suicide in Film.

So, Joey and I saw ‘71’s Johnny Got His Gun, made popular through Metallica’s “One.”  It’s the story of a guy in WWI, who took a missile header and lived, but came out a quadruple amputee while his face and ears were burned off.  His Medulla Oblongata’s the only thing keeping him alive.  Feeling isolated and unable to communicate with anybody, he uses morse code with his head to communicate his wish to die.

This made Joey and I start thinking about other movies that deal with assisted suicide after someone becomes a crip for whatever the reason.  Now, being born crips, Joey and I’ve considered suicide because of our perceived situation, but as we’ve grown up, we learned to deal, hence, us referring to ourselves crips (see Life from Two Feet Below).  It seems like if you become a crip in film, the best thing to do is off yourself.  For instance, ‘04’s Million Dollar Baby cleaned up in that year’s Oscars. 

OK, now, I love Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are legends, but…really, Eastwood, your boxer chick gets hurt, and the only recourse she has is to have help offing herself, because she perceives she has no future?  Really, Dude?  In the real world, there are athletes that’ve become crips, and they’re still active in their sport in some capacity…and, are valued additions.  So, having a well-known director concoct a story that condones this recourse in the name of entertainment drama is bullshit.

More recently, ‘16’s Me Before You perpetuates the same sentiment, but this piece of shit takes it a step further when the dude still offs himself knowing people love him and want him around!  Really?  I understand people’ll do whatever the fuck they want to do regardless of how many people express love to them, but it’s a chicken shit, douche thing to do to the people left behind.

Then, there’s Johnny Got His Gun.

This’s the dark grey area I find myself in.  Yeah, here’s a guy that, for all practical purposes should be dead…but, for whatever the reason, he’s not.  Now, delving into religion here, God kept his ass alive for some reason…for better or worse.  On the other hand, he’s a vegetable, and only by the grace of God and an observant nurse, was he able to get through to the people caring for him…but then, it was just to tell them to kill him.  Hmmm, the quandary.  I don’t know where I sit with this one.

Guys, sound off in the comments.  And, as always, be good to each other.

-J-