13 Reasons Why Pros

“13 Reasons Why” opened a box that most of the country was too scared to touch. The degree of intensity and exposure into the personal lives of today’s teenagers was essential in order to make a statement and illustrate the struggle and the suffocation of a mental illness. One in five high school students endure a mental disorder at some point, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “13 Reasons Why” portrayed the effects of the stigma that society has created and showed victims that they are not alone.Many viewers were able to relate to Hannah Baker, and were transported back into their own memories that mirrored scenes from the show. It opened our eyes to the little things that we may not notice after saying or posting, but the eventual impact and toll it takes on the lives of others can become irrevocable. “No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same,” the character that the show revolves around, Hannah Baker, said. Her suicide was built up from the depression, bullying, sexual harassment and lack of help that she and many other students face everyday. The show was able to reveal the process of the down-spiral and demonstrated how people could have noticed the signs. The creators included an interesting detail of only using warm shades in the scenes and memories while Hannah was alive, and contrasted the colors to a dark and gloomy lighting in the scenes after she had died. Throughout each episode, the viewers could see the ups and downs of her life, and then flash forward to the aftermath of how her death affected students and her family. By the end of the show, Hannah walks through the halls feeling gray and already six feet under. She tries to get help through the guidance counselor, but her problems are minimized and not taken seriously. The show creates empathy for a person struggling with depression and reflects the way that students and adults can prevent it by being more aware of others issues and never brushing off the emotions of a teenager to hormones because they are just as real and raw and heartbreaking as any other. “Facing these issues head-on—talking about them, being open about them—will always be our best defense against losing another life. I’m proud to be a part of a television series that is forcing us to have these conversations because silence really does equal death,” Nic Sheff, one of the writers of “13 Reasons Why,” said in a Vanity Fair interview. The show is increasingly spreading awareness of the danger and seriousness of mental illnesses in teenagers and the effect of the digital age on today’s generations.In an era of social media and permanent memories with the click and a flash of a phone camera, our lives can change in an instant. We are the popcorn generation, aren’t we? We press a button on a microwave, and as the movie plays, we’re all sitting back watching the show of high school. We’re on the edge of our seats and can’t take our eyes away for even a second or else we’ll miss the drama, the breakdown, the life of another laughing stock spiraling into dust. Then, the microwave beeps but we’re still hooked because everything is about to fall apart. Right on the tip of the climax, the smell of butter fades away and smoke fills the air. The popcorn burns away, but we no longer care, do we? The movie is too good and we’ve got the best seats.“13 Reasons Why” portrays the impact of how society has become spectators and teenagers are only the product. We will pit ourselves against each other just for a laugh, just for the 400 likes, or for the memory. But a dead girl has no memories, right?So maybe the show unlocked Pandora’s box and maybe some think it was a little too graphic and triggering, but it was all vital in order to open the eyes of our generation and fill the air with the smell of the ashes of our beloved popcorn.