Critical Essay Sample: The Fictional Show "13 Reasons Why"

"13 Reason Why" is a Netflix mini-series centering a young teenager character, Hannah Baker, who decides to take her life by slitting her wrist in her bathtub. This event occurs immediately after she records 13 audio tapes with the complete details on the individuals who are to be blamed for her suicide. This television show is based on a fictional novel, "13 Reasons Why," by Jay Asher.

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The series picks after Hannah Baker - Katherine Langford, commits suicide leaving her parents and fellow schoolmates with the mission of trying to figure out the reasons behind her death. Mysteriously, one of her dear friend, Clay, gets a delivery of a package full of tapes. These are the same tapes that Hannah recorded before committing suicide; they provided complete details of the "thirteen reasons" behind her death, especially the thirteen individuals who are to blame for that decision she took.

In Each tape, Hannah Baker singles out everyone who did not stick by her as she moves along her suicidal journey. She addresses the girlfriend who slapped her, the boy who listed her in the "Best Ass" list; the boy published her poetry without her consent, the boy who let his friend rape his girlfriend in the same room Hannah was hiding in. In a way, Hannah's character changes from a hopeful teen to a helpless victim of bullying, sexual assault, and slut shaming. The eleventh tape was addressed to Clay, one of the leading character, who Hannah confided in. He ends up as an exception since Hannah outlined that he had nothing to do with her death. However, the twelfth tape was addressed to the ''rapist'', Bryce Walker, who also sexually assaulted Hannah. Lastly, the thirteenth tape goes Hannah's school counselor, Mr. Porter, as he failed to figure out her plan when she visited his office for counseling on the same day she committed suicide.

"13 Reasons Why" from its standpoint comes out as a chick flick version of the horror film, Saw. The film is centered on a jigsaw, where a witty villain places his targets in a complicated situation where they have to undergo physical suffering to stay alive. His objective was to make his goals repent their evil doings and self-centered lives. Even though the jigsaw was killed off in the third film, the series was kept alive through flashback and the progressively convoluted theme of postmortem plans of the jigsaw. The series follows the same criteria. - the character, Hannah Baker, executes a cunning series of mind games intended to impose agonizing pain on those she believes have taunted her.

Most experts have complained about how the show would affect the youthful demography. This is as a result of the graphical display of Hannah Baker's suicide. A scene that has prompted several schools to warn parents of the series approval and encouragement of suicide. One of the teacher in a County school in Maryland, Dr. Christina Conolly, claims that suicide is a tough topic and the fact that children - mostly adolescents are watching the show without any supervision... may raise the possibilities of them harming themselves (Grady 78). She adds that knowing of or watching incidents about suicide can lead to suicide.

Several experts claim that there is need to follow the public health guidelines pertaining suicide, in that beautifying, exploiting or sensationalizing suicide should not be an option. Therefore, it is every artist, journalist or author's moral or ethical duty not to portray this topic in such a way that it can cause harm to others. However, the show outlines some of the problems that face the society of today - sexual assault, bullying, and suicide; this mostly applies to the youthful demography. With suicide becoming one of the significant causes of death among the youths. The number of suicides among adolescent girl has tripled over the past fifteen years (Bichell 103).

"13 Reasons Why" tries to tell us specific critical issues that face the not only the youths but also adults and the society at large (Asher 38). One of the problems is parental obliviousness, where we see the Hannah Baker's parent were more concerned about running their store and making it a success ignoring their daughter's predicaments. They did not know that their daughter was being bullied or that her fellow students were spreading horrible rumors about her. They were completely unaware of her suicidal thoughts and depression.

Hannah's parents remained clueless as they knew nothing even when Tony called to ask of Hannah's whereabouts after receiving the second bunch of tapes from her. Hannah's parents are not the only parents in the show who chose not to get involved in their children's lives or gotten live to by their children. There is a scene where Clay's mother asks him what he is listening to but he promptly answers her with the lie - it's a schoolmate's project. Another instance is of Tyler's parents. Clay observes the broken window in Tayler's room - a window that Alex and Marcus threw stones at, he inquires whether he had told his parents are having stalked Hannah.

Keeping secrets is one of the most known habits among teenagers and every individual today. The series outlines that these sort of secrets have very deadly results. Furthermore, parental negligence of their children's lives has a drastic influence on these children's lives. Hildyard and Wolfe argue that child neglect is one of the leading causes of mental problems in children as there is no emotional, mental and physical support (679-695).

Another critical issue that movie talks about is sexual assault or subjugation of the female body. Subjugation means having complete control of or conquering someone. In the show, multiple boys in Hannah's school make attempts to abuse and assault Hannah and other girls. Hannah outlines that the first attempt boys assaulting her were when Bryce smacked her buttocks at the Blues Spot Liquor Store. This was as a result of the "Best Ass" list drawn by Alex, giving Bryce the impression that he had to have control of her body.

Bryce makes a move on Hannah, but when she rejects him, he forces himself on her. Another instance is when Jessica was raped. Bryce sexually assaults Jessica in the same room where Hannah was hiding. This also goes on when he makes sexual advances on Hannah in the hot tub even though she cried and begged him to stop. This forms a connection between sexual assault and suicide in the current society. Studies indicate that women between the ages of twelve and thirty-four are highly prone to sexual assault and also are at a higher risk for suicide on the traumas of these assaults.

A survey by the Rape, Incest, and Abuse National Network (RAINN) indicates that about thirty-three percent of women who have gone through rape have suicidal thoughts, whereas thirteen percent of these women attempt suicide (Harris 15). Furthermore, USA Today in their essay, "13 reasons why a conversation about rape culture is as important as one about suicide", claims that there is need to address the factors that have led to the increase in suicide among young girls. There is need to address some of the most demeaning aspects of today's culture that include sexual assault, which is one of the contributors to suicide. Ignoring these details may end up causing more harm than good.

"13 Reasons Why" also addresses social isolation and the importance of connecting socially. Most reviews an experts claim that Hannah Baker's decision to commit suicide was rush and it was harsh of her to blame it on others. However, there are multiple indications that students or individuals who undergo any form of bullying are a higher risk of suicide. This also evident in instances of cyberbullying, where other internet users tend to use their anonymity to bully and harass other users. According to a survey by Yale University, people who undergo any form of bullying are at risk of between two to nine times likelihood of having suicidal thoughts (Harris 18).

In the series, the school counselor, Mr. Porter, is not able to connect the dots on Hannah's plans. He takes her visit as any other visit by students. Besides, her friend including Clay whom she regards as a right person did not attempt to connect with her emotionally. The show outlines the importance of social inclusion and friendship - how this factor can play a good role in saving someone's life. The show bases this concept on the theories of neuroscience and public health that claim that human, by default, requires bonding with others. The CDC - Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims the "social inclusion" is a significant factor in preventing causes of suicide and violence. Therefore, policies and measures that uphold social inclusion and empathy should be put in place in not only school but also the society at large.

Furthermore, 13 Reasons Why portrays the issue of inadequate training of the mental health specialists. Some critics argue that the show negates the need to seek help through the portrayal of how Mr. Porter, the school counselor, was unhelpful to her when she needed his advice. During their encounter in his office, Mr. Porter is portrayed to have ignored the apparent hints she gave him on her suicidal thoughts (Harris 20). Mr. Porter does not even bother to ask Hannah of whether she was planning to end her life, a clear public health guideline for suicide prevention. On top of that, he keeps on insisting that she has to mention the rapist else she will have to move on.

Most critics claim that the scene is unrealistic, it is true that there are a lot of competent mental health professionals, but sadly, this interaction between Hannah and Mr. Porter is more realistic that it could ever be (Harris 23). Mental health experts claim that over 50% of the professionals in that field have inadequate training on how to and lack the confidence to respond to the suicidal individuals in their care. For this reasons, they tend to make poor judgments, give shameful responses, and or even refuse to attend to suicidal individuals. There is a need for the measure to be put in place measures on how people should seek help on matters of suicide, sexual assault, and social isolation.

The show also addresses the irrational mentality of equating suicide to mental illness, one of the significant issues that affect the society today. Critics claim that the presentation does not outline any cases of mental illness. This is an irrational judgment made by people that over ninety percent of the people who attempt suicide always have some cases of mental illness. This is a statistic from the flawed survey done by interviewing the friends and family of people who have attempted suicide. Susan Stefan, suicide laws, and policies expert have outlined limitations of this kind of survey.

People tend to cling to blaming suicide on mental health disorders, without making any attempts to find the reasons behind the suicide. When survivors of suicide attempts are interviewed, they always give their reasons, and mental health disorders always miss in the list. 13 Reason Why states another societal problem, maintaining reputation. The show outlines one of the dominant factors that contributed to Hannah Baker's suicidal thoughts is the rumors spread by her schoolmates about him as a way to diminish her reputation. When she and her family arrived Crestmont, Hannah decides on a new beginning away from all the bullying and gossips she experiences in her old school and life.

To her surprise, things took a wrong turn as her first kiss, Justin, spill the beans on their romantic endeavors. This indicated the beginning of the end of her new life. With time, more gossip about here was created hence diminishing not only her relationship but also her interaction with her schoolmates especially boys. With all this drama drastically affected Hannah Baker'...