Welcome To Your Tape: Why I think '13 Reasons Why' Is a Major Fail!
11:48:00
I’m sure everyone has been following the hype around the new
‘breakthrough’ series of the era, 13 Reasons Why. Sadly though, as much as the
show is trying to tackle a VERY serious issue, i.e. teenage suicide, it ends up
glorifying it more.
WARNING: For those of you who are still to watch the show, this
post INCLUDES spoilers!
Brief Summary:
The show revolves around a teenage boy, Clay Jensen, who’s
listening to his friend/love interest’s tapes that she recorded before she
commits suicide to identify and blame her wrongdoers. What good the tapes would
do, is a mystery to me! Each episode is based on one side of a tape, dedicated to
one individual, i.e. one reason out of 13 that compelled the victim Hannah
Baker to take her own life. Funnily though, one wonders why it takes Clay SO long to listen to the tapes. Had I been in his place I'd want to know which one is mine and listen to that first! I mean, who has that kind of patience? And I don't see the need of the retro vintage touch by including tapes; in today's world, that's not very believable.
I have unfortunately not read the book it is based on, so I
cannot comment on that. Before I begin to point out everything that I thought
was wrong with the show, here are the
reasons I watched it and/or liked it:
- Bullying, rape and suicide are ALL issues that need to be addressed over and over again. The show claimed to do that.
- I (like everyone else) was curious to know the 13 reasons that the protagonist, Hannah Baker, states for her taking her own life.
- Most actors (except the lead actress ironically and a few others) did a pretty good job acting wise. They fit their roles and I think did justice to the script.
- The last three episodes of the show were the saving grace and probably the only ones that I found remotely gripping.
Now, comes the rant.
I’m going to start with a simple question directed towards everyone
who says this show is amazing. Do you not feel that leaving behind tapes to
blame anyone and everyone she could think of was a VERY evil and manipulative
thing to do and is probably the opposite of ‘victim behaviour’?
Hannah was a MAJOR drama queen. I’m sorry this sounds
insensitive but PLEASE. Almost everyone has been bullied at some point in time
and has gone through the high-school dramas involving boys and reputations and
the likes. The thing is. These ARE issues that NEED to be dealt with (I am not
saying you put up with it or ignore) BUT the way she blows things out of
proportion is RIDICULOUS. She keeps pushing Clay away even when he’s trying to
be that one friend that everyone needs. She has an amazing set of parents that
she alienates for God knows what reason. She gets herself stuck in sticky
situations and then starts the blame game. I really feel that Hannah Baker was
NOT a character people would sympathize with, based solely on her stupid
choices.
Here is a list of all the evil things people did to her:
- A High School jock, Justin: After one date and kiss, she begins to assume that they’re in love while he starts bragging to his friends making up stories that begin to spread like wild-fire and hence Hannah’s reputation goes down the drain. While that is a pretty **** thing to do, she should have complained or confronted or stood up to him! Why do they show her as someone so weak that she couldn’t speak up for herself and shut the rumours down?
- Her friends Jessica and Alex, who ‘ditch’ her because they start dating. Umm.. SO WHAT? Get new friends or play it cool so they don’t feel awkward and hang out with them! Then there was Alex’s list which, again, was something SO CHILDISH that she SHOULD not have let it get to her. If it did, there were lots of ways to deal with it.
- Tyler, a stalker/photographer/nerd. Stalking= NOT cool. Make it a reason to kill yourself = also NOT cool.
- Ryan publishes her poem in the school magazine without asking her and it is a very intimate and personal poem. Fine, bash him, complain, fight, start a rally against him. But, kill yourself? No.
- Courtney, who by the way was trying too hard to be all ‘Mean Girls’, but fine. She doesn’t want to come out of the closet. SO be it. She did not become your best friend overnight. Just, let it go. Mistakes happen. Yes, what Courtney did later at the Ball was unacceptable but as said about Ryan, do something about it. Don’t. Ugh.
- In my view, Sheri and Zach did not even do anything that would add to her list of miseries. Knocking a stop sign over needs to be reported but doesn’t need to be portrayed as the end of the world. Zach, I still don’t know why he was on the tapes. Actually. Please enlighten me.
- What Marcus does is ALSO mean and pathetic. She should have taken a stand.
- THE ONLY VERY HORRIBLE thing that happens to her is the rape. NO ONE should ever go through that and the rapist needs to be taught a lesson. And so she SHOULD have reported it. She should have taken some action to ensure Bryce DOESN’T DO it again, especially considering she had witnessed one before also! But no.
- Hannah goes to the college counsellor, Mr Porter, and refuses to give him a name or anything that he would need to help her out. And then she makes HIM a reason also by blaming him for NOT helping her. She was so adamant on always being the victim that she did not give him enough information herself!
- Last but NOT the least, Clay, the central character. He did nothing but always try to be a friend to her. The mutual infatuation was SO obvious. His genuine fault was that he was shy to express his feelings.
- And then there was Bruno Mars lookalike, Tony, who was her friend/confidante only to the point of giving him the second set of cassettes but not to talk to him and try and confide in him about her issues.
Alright. So. The point is. I FULLY understand that not
everyone can voice their issues and hence they pile up and lead to such
disasters. I also understand that it’s easy for one to say these things and
judge her for her choices but believe me, I FULLY understand that mental
illnesses are NOT a light subject and they need to be dealt with
professionally. I, myself, have been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses
and different points of my life. Which is a BIG reason why I don’t think that
over-dramatization of the problems JUSTIFIES suicide.
Yes, that is EXACTLY what I felt while watching the show. By
labeling each and every individual and showing them in the grimmest possible
light, it feels like the writer is trying to justify her suicide.
Hannah needed help, and that is what the show SHOULD have
highlighted in order to prevent such mishaps happening in the future. Instead,
it actually glorifies it. By showing the actual suicide scene which was
difficult for many to digest, I really, STRONGLY felt that this show did
nothing but glorify something rather than educating the masses against it! I think the show is over hyped and fails to do justice to the actual issues at hand: bullying, rape and suicide.
P. S Jeff shouldn't have been killed off. He was probably the nicest and sanest character on the show!
This post is based solely on my opinion, which I am entitled
to, if you agree, let me know. If you don’t agree, you can tell me why BUT
kindly don’t bash the post!
2 comments
I love the Bruno mars analogy. But other than that I think the show explicitly entails that the man character is going to be drama queen, right from the word go. Also I like how the show develops awareness for those that might be going through mental issues, clay becoming friends with that goth girl in the end. In the end the show was all about clay's heartwarming character and his chemistry with Hannah, something you feel pretty sad about throughout the show.
ReplyDeleteI totally empathize with Clay. He didn't deserve being put in such a weird situation!
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