#sorry i just needed to get this out
Typically, i don’t make posts like these on this account, but the topic felt appropriate.
The creators of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” have absolutely no excuse for their graphic portrayal of the events that took place on the show. In this post I’m going to plainly break down some gruesome scenes from this show and another, so if you’re triggered by r*pe, sui*ide, ab*se, child ab*se, self h*rm, h*mophobia and intense bullying, please don’t go further. If you still want to see the point of the post, scroll down and find the divider I’m putting below this section of text (im on mobile and can’t put a cut)
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That said, 13 Reasons Why is a show about the sui*ide of a high school student, and the boy who fell in love with her. Romantic, right? I have a lot of personal feelings about this production, but I’ll remain as unbiased and neutral as possible. I’m not here to bash anyone’s hard work or comfort content, I only want to make a point.
During the production of the first season of this show, producers were told by sui*ide and mental health professionals to not show the sui*ide on screen. That’s entirely fair, as a show about sui*ide would attract victims of sui*ide and seeing it could cause panic attacks, relapse, etc etc etc. They did it anyway, having the main character found in her bathtub with her wrists [redacted].
And then they went further in season 2. I don’t know the exact nature of the situation, as i only watched this one scene, but… A male student was in the bathroom at school, and some jocks came in. The lone kid was apologizing to them, saying he didn’t mean to do what he did and that he was getting help. The jocks weren’t listening, and they accused him of ruining whatever sports season they were hung up on. The ringleader slammed the lone boy’s head against a mirror and then the sink below it, if i remember correctly. Then, they dragged him to a toilet and drowned him in it. Worst of all, they pulled his pants down and penetrated him with the handle of a mop, all while calling him h*mophobic slurs. And all of this was shown on screen.
A show that deeply explores mental illnesses and societal flaws shouldn’t go so far, as victims and the mentally ill view these things and are affected by them. I had just taken my anxiety medication before watching the final scene i described and i was still shaking by the end of it, i felt like i was gonna puke. It was horrific.
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Most people argue that the producers did it so we’d feel the full gravity of the situation. The point of this post is to counter that.
I recently have been watching another Netflix show that is rising in popularity, The Umbrella Academy.
I’ll try to keep this unbiased as well, but I haven’t seen such well presented in depth coverage of the mental illness of fictional characters in a long time. The characters are written beautifully, and their mental issues all make sense and their traumas are depicted in a way that heavily impacts the viewer without scaring them. The best example of this is with a character known as both Harold Jenkins and Leonard Peabody. There is a mild description of child ab*se below, so proceed with caution.
The guy’s mother died immediately following his birth. His dad turned to alcohol and you can assume what happened from there. He was physically and emotionally ab*sive to his son, Harold. But the ab*se was never explicitly shown. In two scenes, Harold was smacked in the face by his father. In the first, the frame froze as he drew his hand back. In the second, we merely hear the collision of the man’s hand coming into contact with his son’s face, and then we see the boy laying on the floor.
As a child abuse victim, it did startle me. I felt the full weight of what that boy went through. But i didn’t feel scared. I didn’t get anxious or panicked. I just felt sorry for the kid. And then felt less sorry later when he m*rdered his father with a hammer, which was also not explicitly depicted, but still hit me hard.
My point being, you can enjoy 13 Reasons Why. You can support it. But it does real harm to people that could have *very* easily been avoided, especially being a show that dives into such real, home hitting topics. And there isn’t any excuse for that whatsoever.
