By Indira Midha
If you’re on any sort of social media, I’m sure you have heard of Netflix’s newest original hit 13 Reasons Why. The show’s basic premise – no spoilers here – is that the main character, Hannah Baker, commits suicide. She has already committed suicide prior to the first episode, but the show consists of both present clips and flashbacks to when she was alive. Hannah did not leave a suicide note, but instead 13 cassette tapes detailing the reasons she felt she needed to commit suicide – each of which is a different person. The show’s 13 episodes are each the story of how one person led Hannah to the dark place she was in.
13 Reasons Why has received lots of love from fans who binge watched the entire show in two days, but it has also received a lot of criticism for being extremely graphic and for depicting poor mental health, mental illness and suicide as things that can be blamed on people. I will say that the show has graphic depictions of violence, rape, and Hannah’s suicide, and those scenes are extremely brutal to sit through. The creators claimed that they created the scenes in such a graphic and real manner in order to draw attention to the severity of these issues. While it is a bit of a message flaw that the show depicts poor mental health and suicide as things that can be blamed on people, the show did that to ring in the message that all of your actions have a reaction or consequence of some sort.
The entertainment value of this show is extremely high. There is at least one character that anyone under the age of 30 can relate to in some sense. The fast-paced drama and element of mystery is intriguing and keeps the audience wanting more. I would highly recommend 13 Reasons Why to anyone under 30, as it is a bit more of a young-adult show based off a young-adult novel. The one demographic I would warn before watching is anyone whose mental health can easily be triggered by depressing events. I fit into this demographic, and I was quite sad while watching. Be weary that this show will make your emotions very turbulent.
_________________________________
Image Sources:
The Spread 