13 Reasons Why. The title alone could bring a variety of emotions, largely based on whether you've seen the show or read the book, and whether you liked the show or not. I recently finished the show, which was a nice throwback to the fourteen-year-old me who had first read the story of Hannah Baker. I've read many reviews and talked to a few friends about the show that has now become the most popular show on Netflix EVER. I feel that there was plenty of things that the show did right, but there is also plenty that they could have done better.
What They Did Right
13 Reasons Why brought many pertinent topics into the spotlight with its debut including mental illness, bullying, sexual assault and harassment, and suicide. And as much as some people say that the show was terrible or scoffs at it, it completed one of its goals; it got everyone talking. People are realizing that there are consequences to their actions and that they should be kind to people (I thought this was obvious, but apparently some haven't watched Sesame Street enough). People are recognizing the consequences of bullying and the pain and suffering it can cause people.
Along with this many people argue that Hannah's reasoning for leaving the tapes was "sadistic" and that she was purposely trying to hurt the people on them. But that wasn't it at all, Hannah made the tapes as her suicide letter. Half of the people on the tapes probably would have never realized what they had done if not for the little shoe box that landed on their doorstep. She wanted them to understand what they did wrong so that maybe they could better themselves as people as to not hurt anyone else.
Not only this, sexual assault was brought up close and personal in this show, and it was a necessary evil. I feel many people don't understand just how many people are sexually assaulted or harassed in America. Hannah had been sexually harassed throughout her sophomore year because of a rumor that made her seem "easy," which led to unwanted advances by Marcus as well as being sexualized at school. These things happen everyday at high schools and college campuses across America even without a rumor to make it that much worse. And although the rapes within the show were extremely graphic, it seems that it brought home just how devastating a rape could be to someone. Hannah's rape is what finally pushed her over the edge. She was traumatized, felt guilt for Jeff's death and Jessica's rape, and had mental illness and dealt with relentless bullying. And that's exactly why showing Jess dealing with her own rape was important for people to see. It showed how traumatized she was by it; she knew something wasn't right but didn't want to believe it. She began abusing alcohol and drugs, didn't sleep, her behavior became erratic, but in the end she did reach out to her father for help.
What They Did Wrong
Okay, although they did bring mental illness to the forefront of what to talk about, they did not truly show Hannah's struggling with mental illness, rather focusing on what everyone else did to her. I know that they contributed to her illness, but Hannah could have explained more in the tapes of how she was actually feeling regarding her illness. I also wish the show would have shown opportunities for people to get help more or to reach out.
Not only this, they should've focused more on Hannah's story and less on everybody else's. Don't get me wrong; the storyline was great with the other characters, but I feel like we needed a bit more of Hannah's feelings in some episodes.
This show could also be seen as extremely triggering to survivors. So if you're worried about triggers, please look up a list of triggers per episode.
In conclusion, 13 Reasons Why like any show did things right and wrong, but it's still worth the watch.
