13 Reasons Why Cons

The recently released, very popular Netflix original series “13 Reasons Why,” based on a novel by Jay Asher, is important in that it brings awareness to the serious issues that teenagers can often face (such as sexual assault and suicide). However, even though the show seems like it had good intentions, it handles the very sensitive topic of suicide completely wrong, for several reasons.One of the main issues with the show is that it attributes the suicide of Hannah Baker simply to bullying and the string of awful events that happen to her. There is practically no mention of depression or any other mental illness. Instead, Hannah places all the responsibility for her suicide on those who bullied her, citing what they did to her as the reasons why she ended her life. These peers of Hannah’s all did some pretty horrible, unforgivable things to her. But ultimately none of them should have been assigned the sole responsibility of keeping Hannah alive.The show additionally somewhat romanticizes suicide, glamorizing it as the perfect revenge. Suicide is portrayed as a solution to all of Hannah’s problems. What the show doesn’t touch on was that these problems were only temporary, while Hannah’s decision to end her life was permanent.Additionally, it has been proven that the graphic way the show displays sexual assault and suicide can be triggering for viewers who have had similar experiences. According to Vanity Fair, those who worked on the show wanted Hannah’s suicide scene to be as graphic as possible in order to showcase the grim reality of ending one’s life, but for some viewers this content is more frightening than enlightening. This explicit violence could also provoke the suicide contagion effect which is when “exposure to the suicide or suicidal behavior of one or more persons influences others to commit or attempt suicide,” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This could be a truly terrible consequence of the show’s inadequate portrayal of such sensitive topics. Considering that the show mainly appeals to teenage viewers, some of whom may already be at risk for depression and suicidal thoughts, even if the contagion effect does not occur the controversial content of the show could be very traumatizing and harmful for these viewers. Furthermore, the show depicts school counselors as incompetent and not trustworthy. Hannah tells her counselor that she has been sexually assaulted and when she will not reveal who did it her counselor tells her her best option is to simply forget it and move on. In most circumstances, students should be trusting of their school counselors, especially at risk students who are probably attracted to the show and its subject matter, making this depiction especially dangerous. The show uses the very serious and real issue of teenage suicide for entertainment value. It relies on the dramatic tone that accompanies this intense topic to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, unable to do anything but binge watch all 13 episodes of the series. And even when the series has finished, wrapping up the plot line just as the novel did, hints at a season two are already being thrown out in interviews with the cast and crew, creating a franchise out of the sensitive issues of sexual assault and suicide. In addition, the reaction the show has provoked from the audience is unique, to say the least. There is a spectrum of reactions that the youth community has had to this show through posts and threads on social media. One popular reaction I saw circulating were parodies of the “welcome to your tape” line, which is mocking the phrase Hannah would say at the beginning of one of the thirteen tapes directed to a specific person that did some despicable thing. This is enforcing a behavior that glorifies suicide, and it’s due to the show “13 Reasons Why.” People are making jokes at a line about taking one’s life, and I don’t see how that's funny. Some viewers also started to send hateful messages via social media to some of the actors, just because they played cynical roles. It seems that this show covered some very important topics, but they did so sloppily. Some viewers seemed to be too immature to read past the character sub-plots and examine the true message behind the show. So, what was the message of the show? Apparently it was to explain to all that words hurt and can have a lasting effect on people. If my generation needed a Netflix series to tell them how they should be nice to everyone, then that is extremely disheartening. I have heard far too many people expressing how moved they were by this show for telling them to be nice to all. Seriously? That is not some innovative and unheard of concept. The producers of this show did not magically coin the idea of being a nice person. It is definite that this is an important topic to be discussed between teenagers and the people they trust. It is vital that the conversation be started, but a 13 episode drama franchise can’t safely breach it. The producers of this show had good intentions, I’m sure. However, they executed the production poorly. For a show that was meant for teenagers, they made it appeal to teenagers too much. They tried to make it more about the drama then what I think the message was behind Jay Asher’s book. The girl is dead, and they’re now trying to stretch the show out a second season. That’s just sad. Can’t a show be made and left to really let it’s alleged message resonate, instead of Hollywood-ing it?