This spring, it seems as if every teenager and young adult has been bombarded with questions from their peers, asking them if they have been watching the new hottest craze on Netflix: Thirteen Reasons Why. This thirteen episode series is a Netflix original, and it is based off of the novel written by Jay Asher, which was published in October of 2007. Though the novel has been published for almost a decade, it was not heavily recognized by the general adolescent population until recently when the show was released. Now it is as if every high school student and beyond has been spending their time binge-watching the show and posting about it all over social media, causing a huge uproar across the nation. To some this may seem great; a great new show has finally been created, and it shows realistic realities of life as a high school student. But to others, when they find out what the show is really about, realize just how serious and potentially negative the message of this show could possibly be. The message differs from that of the original novel, and could lead to possible misconceptions as well as unnecessary glorification of mental illness and suicide.
Thirteen Reasons Why is a show about a 17 year old high school student, Hannah Baker, who takes her own life after being bullied throughout her high school years. However, she does not go out without leaving something behind for her bullies to ponder. Prior to her death, Hannah gathers seven cassette tapes and a tape recorder and decides to record a story on each side of the tape, resulting in a total of thirteen stories left behind. Each story is about a particular person, and it explains the impact they had on Hannah’s life as well as claims that ultimately they are one of the reasons that she decided to commit suicide. Just minutes before her death, Hannah brings a shoe box containing the tapes and a map of the town to the house of one of her most trustworthy friends, Tony, dropping it off with a note on his front porch. When he begins to listen to the tapes, he realizes what they are and tries to stop her, but it is too late: she is already gone. This left Tony with the responsibility to ensure that everyone who was mentioned on the tapes listened to them in their entirety, and if they failed to, another set of tapes would be publicly exposed and the bullies would potentially face both moral and legal consequences.
As someone who read this book about four years ago, I was not initially thrilled that it was made into a show. The book itself was great; it was as if I could picture everything that happened in my own mind, and I did not want to ruin my personal and unique visions by watching the show. However, when I was presented with the idea of writing an article about it, I was happy to let my guard down and start watching. I sat down one day and watched the three episodes, and after that I had to turn it off. It was not at all how I pictured it when I read it, and selfishly, it frustrated me that it was presented so differently than how I imagined it. I knew it was going to be an internal battle to finish the show without complaining about it, but I knew it was what I had to do for the sake of giving it a fair chance.
The first thing I realized was that the show should have come with a disclaimer at the beginning of the first episode instead of only at the beginning of the last two episodes. Throughout the series, characters live out and experience many difficult and controversial aspects of life, including bullying, drug use, drunk driving, rape and a very graphic, uncensored suicide scene. Many people who began watching this show may have initially been unaware of these types of situations being present, and they could potentially be triggering and upsetting for some people. Also, it is very easy for anyone to be exposed to this material without parental supervision or consent, leading to premature knowledge and exposure for more immature audiences. Nonetheless, a show that involves graphic scenes of any sort should come with a warning, or else some people could be exposed to situations they might have not wanted to see.
Secondly, the character development lacked in some parts, yet exceeded necessity in others. Understandably, characters and their qualities may had been altered in order to attempt to fit the twenty-first century high school stereotypes, and also to add more details and backstory to each character to make it more interesting to watch. However, it was done in a way that changed the overall message of the book. By digging deeper into each character’s life, it created more sympathy for the character that was created as a bully, and by showing or telling their side of the story, it leads the viewer to think Hannah was lying, being dramatic or just totally misunderstood their intentions. This was not what the message of the book was. The message of the book was to show that though what you may be doing or saying to someone may seem simple and irrelevent to you, you do not ever know what is going on in someone else’s life; therefore, your simple words or actions could take a great toll on someone’s mental health, and in some cases, their whole life. After all, according to The Parent Resource Foundation, more teenagers and young adults in the United States die from suicide than cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, stroke, influenza and chronic lung disease all put together.
In addition, watching the show definitely portrayed the characters’ reactions and feelings of Hannah’s suicide, whilst the novel did not go into much detail of their current state. Some characters, specifically Bryce, Justin and Marcus, seemed to show no sympathy or remorse while other characters, specifically Clay and Alex, seemed to completely change after listening and realized what happened. I believe this factor changed the way that the audience felt about those characters, and may have excused the actions that they had committed to make Hannah want to end her life. For example, Clay Jensen was the main protagonist and the narrator of both the show and the novel. Specifically in the show, Clay was the one who was able to give his back story the most, many characters felt more sympathetic for him than they did for Hannah, which potentially is an unintended consequence. In the novel, though Clay was the narrator, I did not feel sorry for him. I felt the same for him as I did for Courtney and Jessica; though she never made it apparent, he left Hannah in a time of need, just like the rest of her friends did. He never made an effort to talk to or see her just like everyone else, and that is accurately conveyed in the book, yet lacks in the show. Clay is just as guilty as everyone else, but the show makes his effect on her life less harsh that it was portrayed in the novel.
Contradictory to my initial reaction, and though there were many misconceptions and it contained extremely graphic and unnecessary scenes, I am quite drawn to the idea that the show will be continuing into a second season. There were many things in the show that were not included in the book, such as Justin’s rough home life, Jessica’s confession, Tyler’s terrifying collection, the introduction of the Baker’s to Hannah’s tapes, and the death of Alex Standall. These details were added to make the show juicier and, well, they worked. I am curious to see how the show will continue: Will Bryce be arrested? Will Clay’s mom continue with the case knowing her son was one of the reasons Hannah killed herself? Who killed Alex, or did he kill himself? Where does Justin go? There are many questions that I, as well as everyone who watched the show, want answered right away; therefore, I hope that a season two comes very soon.
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