With "13 Reasons Why" being in the spotlight for the past couple weeks because of the release of the long-awaited season 2, I wanted to take some time to shed my own light on what I think the shows true intentions were.
I understand that many people strongly believe that the show "romanticizes" suicide and perhaps "glorifies" suicide as an option for a way to cope with extreme feelings of both anxiety and depression. However, I think it’s important to realize that the show is doing SO much more than this, it is a series to daring to spark a conversation, a conversation that no one else seems to want to have.
This show exemplifies the severe results bullying can have and creates a storyline that is not afraid to talk about the crippling realities that are depression, anxiety, sexual assault, drug use, gun violence and suicide.
In my opinion, this show is not meant to romanticize suicide. In fact, there’s nothing romantic about it! Hannah takes her own life. Point blank. There’s no happy ending in regards to Hannah and her character, and there is never any glimpse of hope that things were going to turn out differently for her.
She left many people behind that loved her and some that were in love with her.
She left behind her tapes to speak HER truth and I think that is something that we all need to recognize and understand.
This series takes its’ viewers on a journey that we all need to be made aware of and acknowledge that some of the topics touched upon in this Netflix drama may be someone else’s reality. Together as a society, we need to realize that our actions have consequences and that our words, our words mean something; and I think that the show is a perfect portrayal of what it means to be a child or teenager growing up in the twenty-first century.
The series may be dramatized, but then again everything in Hollywood is. But this also might be someone else’s truth and this may be horrifyingly relatable for others. Good TV is not comfortable TV and I’m sorry that it might be hard to hear.
This show has such important, meaningful characters and stories that NEED to be shared with the world.
This series is by no means comfortable, and sometimes it’s hard to watch. I’ve found myself pausing it to gain composure for what the next scene might hold.
However, these scenes are what makes it authentic. They’re not trying to sugar coat or simplify. Instead, they’re showing the disturbing realities uncensored, demanding that these issues are not diminished any longer, that they are both seen and heard.
This series should not be silenced.
Topics like this should not be silenced.
It is because of this silence that suicide, sexual assaults, gun violence and drug use happen so commonly in young adults. We need to open our eyes and our ears.
We need to stop sweeping the "hard to talk about" concepts under the rug and instead we need to air it out and talk about it so we can understand, learn, and grow.
