In the month since its Netflix release, 13 Reasons Why has brought up quite the controversial argument. Based on the book by Jay Asher, 13 Reasons Why follows Clay Jensen as he listens to a set of tapes recorded by Hannah Baker before she committed suicide. On these tapes, Hannah describes in painful detail the 13 events, directed towards the people involved in those events, that contributed to the decision to take her own life. Bullying, rape, drunk driving and slut shaming are among the things she talks about.
It didn’t take long for high schools to suggest parents and students not to watch the 13 episode series because of its graphic content. These schools, and a variety of other sources, are accusing the show of glorifying suicide, depression, bullying and rape, as if these are trends to be followed. It’s also being argued that because the way Hannah Baker’s death is shown acts as a trigger warning for people who are, or have been, suicidal. Schools are arguing that the show dramatizes issues and scenarios that counter what those schools try to teach. So their obvious choice in dealing with things like bullying, rape and suicide is to not talk about them.
That’s the point of 13 Reasons Why. To make people realize that these things need to be talked about and dealt with directly. Despite what high school administrators and teachers would like to think, the kids they are teaching are not robots who spit out information they’re told at any given moment. They’re like people that way. They also need to know that if something happens, something like what Hannah Baker went through, that there is help out there.
Maybe that was the point. The New York Daily News reported that 1 in 12 teenagers have attempted suicide. Neither the show nor the book meant to glorify suicide or sexual assault. It meant to show people just how necessary the discussion of suicide is. If certain scenes were exceptionally painful or difficult to watch, the producers and cast did their job. If you had trouble watching, just imagine how difficult it must be for people who actually experience these things. People who are suicidal probably have a hard time initiating that first conversation. Telling people you need help isn’t easy. Why do that when you can just end it all yourself, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. The truth is that suicide is not something that will ever be mainstream for any reason.
Hannah Baker’s story is one that is all too relatable. 13 Reasons Why makes people face the truth about what experiencing things like bullying and slut shaming are like, and just how easily those things can lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. It’s like Hannah Baker said in the first episode, “See, the truth isn’t always the most exciting version of things, or the best or the worst. It’s somewhere in between. But it deserves to be heard and remembered. ‘The truth will out,’ like someone said once. It remains.”
If you or someone you know has experienced depression or thoughts of suicide, please direct them to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by calling 1-800-273-8255, or texting TWLOHA to a local helpline through To Write Love On Her Arms.