I have issues with this show.
It's an absolutely horrible representation of depression and suicide.
It is trash.
Let's start with the fact that it never actually addresses depression or mental illness. It never gives a name to Hannah's feelings of loneliness and emptiness and sadness. It turns a serious, tricky issue into a plot point in an angsty teen murder drama for people's entertainment.
While I am glad to have an awareness of bullying and suicide rising through the show, I hate 13 Reasons Why. I hate that it got so popular, and I hate that it is our only mainstream discourse in TV of suicide.
Arguably the worst part of the show is its portrayal of Hannah herself. I think she becomes reduced and minimized as a character. She is angry about everything but never DOES anything about it. This may be an attempt to show realistically how she was feeling, but all it does is make you scream at your television to do something, get someone, STOP HIM.
This show should be creating empathy for Hannah, making us see that she was nice and caring and just a little dark and sad and broken inside. It does not do that at all. I cannot think of a single time when I was like, "Oh, that's relatable" or "yeah, I like her."
The girl was depressed. Which sucks. It sucks a lot. But she should not have been reduced to that; that should not have been what totally defined her character. Depression or mental illness are not the only things which define people. I have friends who deal with this stuff every single day, but that's not who they are. They are wonderful, beautiful people who happen to have a chemical imbalance in them. Which is kind of awful. But they get excited about stuff and care about people and have lives and passions and existences and characters outside of this one thing. This how they should have portrayed Hannah.
And shall we talk about this "love will save you" trope? That is stupid. It is idiotic. Clay staying with her, Clay loving her, would not have saved her in the long run. It might have helped, it might have kept her alive a little longer, but a boy would not have healed her. A teenage boy cannot heal anyone. To quote my friend, "Love helps, but a boy isn't your savior. Someone else can't save you from your own demons. They can help you but ultimately you have to slay the demons."
This is something that we need to acknowledge for the people on both sides. Because yes, I will do everything in my power to save my friends, and they would do the same for me, but a single person can not take the whole weight of that. There were moments in high school when it felt like I had to save everyone. Which is stupid and arrogant as heck and unhealthy. You can only help to a certain point.
It is a Sam and Frodo relationship. Sam can be with you and help you, and even carry you for a bit, but you must carry and destroy the One Ring, whatever that be.* I don't think Hannah understood that.
Which brings me to the tapes.
The tapes make it look like revenge. And not, revenge and grief or revenge and guilt or revenge and insert-emotion-here. Just revenge. Which makes Hannah look more like a villain anything else.
Not to mention, another one of my friends pointed out that once a person makes a decision to take her own life, she is not going to take six weeks to make tapes to leave people. She probably won't care enough, at that point. It's far-fetched at best.
I also have problems with anything that romanticizes suicide or depression, which this absolutely does. In a really sickening way. The fact that they dragged out the story and expanded it from the book (which I read in high school) and are now making a season 2 also rubs me the wrong way. It feels like they are making money off of this, which makes me a little nauseous. Issues like depression, suicide, and rape should not be commercialized or used for entertainment. That actually makes me want to throw up.
All who I have talked to who has major issues with this show are people who have either first- or second-hand experience with it, which is very telling of how far off-the-mark the show is.
In conclusion, please find better representations of mental health. Have an actual, honest discussion with real people who know what they are talking about.
Also, if you feel like you can relate to any of the stuff in the show or that I am talking about, find a person to talk to. Preferably a responsible adult, or call the National Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. Or me, I'm always here.
*I really wish I could take credit for this analogy, but I cannot. My friend thought of it.
It's an absolutely horrible representation of depression and suicide.
It is trash.
Let's start with the fact that it never actually addresses depression or mental illness. It never gives a name to Hannah's feelings of loneliness and emptiness and sadness. It turns a serious, tricky issue into a plot point in an angsty teen murder drama for people's entertainment.
While I am glad to have an awareness of bullying and suicide rising through the show, I hate 13 Reasons Why. I hate that it got so popular, and I hate that it is our only mainstream discourse in TV of suicide.
Arguably the worst part of the show is its portrayal of Hannah herself. I think she becomes reduced and minimized as a character. She is angry about everything but never DOES anything about it. This may be an attempt to show realistically how she was feeling, but all it does is make you scream at your television to do something, get someone, STOP HIM.
This show should be creating empathy for Hannah, making us see that she was nice and caring and just a little dark and sad and broken inside. It does not do that at all. I cannot think of a single time when I was like, "Oh, that's relatable" or "yeah, I like her."
The girl was depressed. Which sucks. It sucks a lot. But she should not have been reduced to that; that should not have been what totally defined her character. Depression or mental illness are not the only things which define people. I have friends who deal with this stuff every single day, but that's not who they are. They are wonderful, beautiful people who happen to have a chemical imbalance in them. Which is kind of awful. But they get excited about stuff and care about people and have lives and passions and existences and characters outside of this one thing. This how they should have portrayed Hannah.
And shall we talk about this "love will save you" trope? That is stupid. It is idiotic. Clay staying with her, Clay loving her, would not have saved her in the long run. It might have helped, it might have kept her alive a little longer, but a boy would not have healed her. A teenage boy cannot heal anyone. To quote my friend, "Love helps, but a boy isn't your savior. Someone else can't save you from your own demons. They can help you but ultimately you have to slay the demons."
This is something that we need to acknowledge for the people on both sides. Because yes, I will do everything in my power to save my friends, and they would do the same for me, but a single person can not take the whole weight of that. There were moments in high school when it felt like I had to save everyone. Which is stupid and arrogant as heck and unhealthy. You can only help to a certain point.
It is a Sam and Frodo relationship. Sam can be with you and help you, and even carry you for a bit, but you must carry and destroy the One Ring, whatever that be.* I don't think Hannah understood that.
The tapes make it look like revenge. And not, revenge and grief or revenge and guilt or revenge and insert-emotion-here. Just revenge. Which makes Hannah look more like a villain anything else.
Not to mention, another one of my friends pointed out that once a person makes a decision to take her own life, she is not going to take six weeks to make tapes to leave people. She probably won't care enough, at that point. It's far-fetched at best.
I also have problems with anything that romanticizes suicide or depression, which this absolutely does. In a really sickening way. The fact that they dragged out the story and expanded it from the book (which I read in high school) and are now making a season 2 also rubs me the wrong way. It feels like they are making money off of this, which makes me a little nauseous. Issues like depression, suicide, and rape should not be commercialized or used for entertainment. That actually makes me want to throw up.
All who I have talked to who has major issues with this show are people who have either first- or second-hand experience with it, which is very telling of how far off-the-mark the show is.
In conclusion, please find better representations of mental health. Have an actual, honest discussion with real people who know what they are talking about.
Also, if you feel like you can relate to any of the stuff in the show or that I am talking about, find a person to talk to. Preferably a responsible adult, or call the National Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. Or me, I'm always here.
*I really wish I could take credit for this analogy, but I cannot. My friend thought of it.
