Everyone and their mother has heard of this show. It’s Netflix’s new cash cow, shoveling millions of dollars into their pockets and leaving an unfathomably large imprint all over the Internet, ranging from tumblr-users whining about how ‘problematic’ its content is to Instagrammers posting pictures with sad, pensive quotes from an episode as a caption. I am, of course, talking about the show 13 Reasons Why that the media can’t seem to make up its mind about.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, 13 Reasons Why is the adaption of Jay Asher’s young adult novel of the same name, published in 2007 and adapted by — you guessed it — on-demand media mogul Netflix. The series (spanning over one season as of April 2017) depicts the struggles of Clay Jensen, whose friend Hannah Baker has recently commited suicide and leaves him and twelve other people with thirteen tapes, detailing the reasons why she did what she did and why she blames these thirteen people for her untimely demise (hence the name).
However, with its graphic deptictions of both rape and suicide, the show has been classified as wildly harmful to its target audience. And if the target audience were a dart board, I’d be the bright red circle in the center with my fresh, young, exhausted eighteen years. Thus, I decided to share my thoughts on the topic with anyone who chooses to read this (by the way, spoilers lie ahead, so if you’re planning on watching the show or haven’t finished it yet, you should probably not read this).
Before I start this, however, let me just say that I’m by no means a professional. I honestly know nothing about mental illness other than what I have experienced myself and what I’ve read in various articles. Still, it can’t be much worse than what BuzzFeed has to say, right?
So, let’s start off with the boring part (that I need to get out of my system because I’m a huge nerd): The technical aspects. And I know I’m going to end up sounding like an idiot when I say this, but does anyone else think that the production on 13 Reasons Why puts the ‘eh’ in ‘meh’? I mean, it’s solid, I guess. The camera angles aren’t rollercoaster-like and they don’t make you sick, the sound is okay, the music selection is actually quite good (althouh I can’t quite believe that teenagers in 2017 listen to Joy Division a lot). Still, nothing about this makes me want to say ‘this is it, this definitely deserves the hype’. The lighting, meant to symbolise that Hannah is ‘the light’ in Clay’s life and without her everything is dunked in a dreary grey filter, seems a bit like a cop-out to me. There are other ways to emphasise loneliness and a cold world without being so here-you-go-there-you-have-it about it.
But that seems to be the overall topic of this show. The on-the-nose way in which it tries to manipulate the audience into going through an emotional pattern dictated by what the writers think is accurate for a particular part of the story is a big problem for me personally. Probably because this way, the show leaves absolutely no room for interpretation. There is no opportunity to actually make up one’s own mind about the situation or even form a somewhat valid opinion on the matter. It’s all been chewed thoroughly when it hits our plate, and this is a serial error that spans over all thirteen episodes. Even the last episode, which is supposed to present us viewers with this big open ending (in case the production company magically decides to make a second season for a show that was wildly successful), seems even more like a cop-out. Like the producers thought ‘Okay, the viewers might be pissed that we’re not giving them anything to think about, so let’s throw in some fan-forum discussion topics to bridge the time between seasons one and two’.
However, I have to say that I think it would be really cool if a second season were to be made. Not because I deem the show particularly well-made and wish to watch more of it, but because I think the interesting part in this case would be seeing how people manage to survive past the events of season one. Because that is the part that Hannah obviously did not think about before recording a bunch of tapes and leaving them with Justin Folley. What will her parents do? Sure, they will continue trying to push their lawsuit upon the school district and going on a relentless crusade (which I will talk about in a minute), throwing stones at those they deem guilty for their daughter’s death. But what comes after that? When their purpose, along with the last dusts of memory of their daughter, vanishes forever and they are left with a lot of money and a bunch of pictures? This is, to me, a very troubling aspect the show fails to talk about in even a remotely reasonable manner. Hannah does not have to deal with the aftermath. Everyone else has.
And who wouldn’t like to escape from all their problems forever? More than that, who wouldn’t want to be a hero? Because that’s the questions that anyone could ask themselves after they’ve watched the show. Because if there is one thing that no one does, it’s question Hannah’s somewhat warped morals. Of course, nothing that any one of the people she denounces through the tapes did is justifiable. But does that make her a hero? No. And it’s wrong to show young people that suicide leaves you in other people’s heads as a fond memory. Because it doesn’t. Suicide is not polished, it’s not pretty, it doesn’t occur when your nails are perfectly done and your makeup is on point. It’s ugly, it’s disgusting, and it leaves one hell of a mess to clean up. This sounds terrible, but it’s true. And that exactly is why we shouldn’t make a TV show about a girl who is a hero because she exposed actual crimes before killing herself — we should make a TV show about a girl who killed herself out of desperation, and how ugly it was for her and everyone else. The romanticizing of mental illness and suicide needs to stop. Now.
All right, then. Let’s move on to Alex, the ‘voice of reason’ among the mob of angry civilians who follow Clay around equipped with a bunch of torches and pitchforks led by Justin and Marcus. (I’m writing this based on the premise that Tyler didn’t shoot him but Alex shot himself, so please just let’s assume that’s the case, okay?) Okay. Anyways. Alex is the perfect example of what psychologists have predicted will happen after this show. One suicide causes a tidal wave of misery in its vicinity, sometimes even causing other suicides. Of course, we could argue that Alex had it coming because he is on Hannah’s list of ‘culprits’— but are we the judges? Can we actually say that someone deserved to die because he did a bad thing once? You know, I hate to quote the bible at people, but doesn’t it say that the one who is without sin shall throw the first stone? Throw ahead then, guys.
However, for all the bad parts, there’s a single ray of light. One character in particular is just a teeny tiny bit reflective about what they did — much too late, of course, but still. I am, of course, talking about Tony, the omniscient whistleblower. But should he really respect a dead girl’s wishes that much? Isn’t the world for the living, and shouldn’t we think about the living instead of the dead? That’s the question that Tony eventually asks himself and the reason why he chooses a different path in the end. He gives Mr. and Mrs. Baker the hard drive containing the tapes — and that’s when shit really hits the fan (excuse the expression). But should he even have done all the things he did before this sudden change of mind? Should he have left Clay in the dark, should he have lied to Hannah’s parents?
Another point that’s been addressed in many, many articles is the graphic display of rape and, eventually, suicide. This is something that I am not quite sure about. The rape scenes I will not talk about (not because I don’t think that we shouldn’t talk about it, just because I honestly know very few things about the subject and I don’t want to offend anyone — there is no shame in speaking up about this subject, none at all), but the imagery that the suicide scene for Hannah presents us with is more than too much. An aspect of 13 Reasons Why that has been simultaneously praised and condemned is its ‘open’ attitude toward graphic imagery. But is this really a realistic picture it paints? I honestly can’t say that I know what a suicide scene looks like, but the scene that we’re forced to watch seems like many things, but not reality. With the exaggerated use of lighting and colourful imagery, it’s all torn out of perspective. Clay’s dramatic voice-over narration paired up with the odd brown-cast filter are off-putting at best, and they, to me, destroy the artistry of the scene. As well as the credibility.
And last but not least (I know these aren’t thirteen reasons but I ran out of ideas and this article is going to be long enough as it is), I need to talk about the most important aspect that this show faces us with. The aftermath. Let’s be honest: This is a TV show about a girl who kills herself and after she’s dead (and probably doesn’t give half a shit anymore seeing as she’s, you know, no longer alive) starts playing the blame game. Which, apparently, doesn’t sit so well with the living. Hannah, by releasing these tapes, also releases an unbearable amount of guilt upon a group of thirteen people, most of them teenagers and absolutely unable to deal with a situation like that (whether they deserve it is a question I can’t and won’t try to answer). Some of them don’t even have a parent or any kind of authority figure that they look up to and confide in. Most of them, actually. Just try to picture Alex talking to his strict policeman father about how he thinks he’s responsible for his friend’s death. Or Justin venting to his deadbeat mother. And that’s where the problem in this show lies. It’s the utterly casual attitude with which it addresses this issue. I mean, putting suicidal people on a pedestal is one thing, but telling them that it is okay to want to take revenge on those who have made your life living hell? That is flat out wrong. And this revenge-at-all-costs attitude is what is most damaging to young people watching this series. We can’t tell kids that when you kill yourself, you get to point fingers at everyone and anything but yourself. Because that’s not the truth. The truth is that suicide is terrible, for everyone involved.
However, I don’t want to say that everything about this show is necessarily bad. It raises a lot of issues that we haven’t had the chance to talk about in the media. It makes us think. And the message that Clay cites at the end of the series is inspiring: We should all be a little nicer to each other, because you can’t know what anyone else is going through.
At the end of the day, though, I can’t tell anyone whether they should or should not watch this show. I suppose it’s good for what it does, some of the actors are very convincing (I particularly liked Alisha Boe as Jessica Davis) and the production isn’t too bad. However, the on-the-nose imagery and the blatantly obvious pandering to a certain tumblr-addicted age group are more than off-putting. While some of the morals expressed in the show certainly make for some interesting discussion bases, the approach with which they are introduced comes off as clumsy and plump at best. Still, all of this doesn’t mean that suicide isn’t an insanely pressing issue and that we shouldn’t take about it. I see this as a first step to becoming more open about taboo issues.
So, if you or anyone you know is thinking about taking their life or hurting themselves in any other way, seek help. Please. Do it for yourself. Don’t be afraid to scream, and don’t be afraid of not being heard, but talking to a friend is no substitute for professional help. Don’t ever be ashamed or afraid to speak up, because mental illness should never be belittled or disregarded. Neither should it be romanticized.
And if you ever find yourself contemplating at three AM, wondering whether all of this is worth it, just think of my words: It is always worth it. I’m going to be utterly cheesy here and leave you with the words of the wonderful poet Tim McIllrath:
“It’s always darkest just before the dawn.”
Now it’s your turn. Tell me what you think in the comment section.
