Warning: potential spoilers ahead!
By this point, if you haven’t watched 13 Reasons Why, you’ve at least heard about it and maybe added it to your list. The Netflix original took the internet by storm when it was released late March and has since been all over our timelines.
The show has received a lot of support for broaching important topics such as bullying and suicide and bringing awareness to something that isn’t talked about often enough, but some are concerned it does more harm than good in the way it approaches these topics.
For those who are unfamiliar with 13 Reasons Why, the show, based on the best-selling book by Jay Asher, tells the story of Hannah Baker, a high school student who commits suicide and leaves behind a series of tapes describing the events that led up to her decision. Each tape is dedicated to a fellow student she blames for her death.
The show does bring attention to a very real issue in schools and shows the consequences of bullying – and it does so in a real, raw, and unapologetic way, which is what makes it so poignant yet troublesome at the same time. Whether you loved it or hated it, most of us can agree that at the very least, it started an important conversation about the dangers of bullying, mental health, and about suicide itself. But it also leaves out some important ideas while focusing too much on others.
Although the show had me hooked from start to finish, here are a few problems I – and many others – had with its execution.
1. Hannah’s way of telling her story –the tapes – comes across as vengeful rather than educational
While it is absolutely important for people to see the impact their words and actions can have on the lives of others, the way Hannah does this comes across more as a final act of revenge than anything else.
And by showing the devastating effects her tapes have on each recipient, it sends a dangerous message that the best way to get back at bullies is to end your life and make them live with that guilt for the rest of their life, or make them try to take their own life as one recipient did in the show.
2. The show’s trigger warnings don’t make up for the fact that the show blatantly ignores guidelines on how to portray suicide
The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention has specific guidelines on how to safely portray suicide in the media, and the trigger warnings before the episodes depicting rape and suicide just aren’t enough.
The show changed the way Hannah commits suicide – from pills to slitting her wrists – and chose to graphically portray this. There’s a trigger warning, but this still goes against the guidelines in its explicit portrayal. If this scene was hard to watch for those who aren’t at risk for suicide, it’s troublesome to think how it would be received by those who are.
3. It also doesn’t provide resources for those considering suicide
This also blatantly ignores the guidelines set by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. At no point does the show provide resources for those going through the same issues as Hannah or those who are contemplating suicide.
It’s really not hard to do a little research and find some resources at-risk individuals can go to if they’re considering harming themselves. A simple phone number or website would’ve sufficed.
4. It potentially discourages students from going to their guidance counselors or another trusted adult for help
One of the tapes tells the story of how Hannah went to her guidance counselor displaying clear signs that she needed help and was a suicide risk, and he failed to identify these dangerous clues. She went home and killed herself that day.
This portrayal of guidance counselors could prevent students from confiding in their own counselors, or in other similarly trained adults, or adults in general, in fear of their problems being shrugged off.
Not only is this dangerous, it’s also inaccurate. This guidance counselor may have missed the clues, but counselors are trained to detect these things. Any qualified professional would’ve seen the signs and acted rather than brushing her off.
5. It ignores the mental illness aspect of suicide
Suicide isn’t a result of X amount of terrible things that happened to someone, or of one specific event. It’s a result of an internal battle within an individual, and that was completely ignored in favor of placing the blame on other’s actions.
By failing to focus on the mental health struggles Hannah must have been facing to come to her decision, the show missed an important opportunity to shed light on the importance of mental health and of mental illness awareness.
It simplifies a complex issue to one of causality: bullying + sexual assault + etc. = suicide.
6. It glorifies self-harm
When Hannah’s closest friend, Clay, notices another character’s self-harm scars, all she says in response is, “It’s what you do instead of killing yourself.”
This is dangerous in that it makes self-harm seem like a suitable compromise to suicide, when it’s a serious issue in and of itself. The show doesn’t offer a healthy compromise to suicide.
7. Even mental health experts are concerned the show glorifies suicide
An article published by NBC News shows how even mental health experts have some of the same concerns voiced by viewers.
Dr. Victor Schwartz, the medical director of the JED Foundation, says the show is filled with harmful imagery that could serve as a trigger for those dealing with suicidal thoughts.
He also believes the show doesn’t place enough importance on Hannah’s internal struggle. Instead, it focuses on the things that happen to Hannah.
“Sequences of terrible things happen to Hannah, and we don’t get a feel for her internalization until she kills herself,” Schwartz told NBC. “None of that stuff is made clear because it’s focused on the horrible things people have done to her. The whole thing is an extended revenge fantasy.”
And while the show carries an important message, the fact remains that these aspects could have been handled a little better.