This is a case study on '13 Reasons Why' exploring the controversial topics of the book and show.
‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ is a young adult book written by Jay Asher and published in 2007, later adapted into a Netflix show which aired in 2017. It’s developed by a group of people, including Brian Yorkey and Selena Gomez.
The show follows the book truthfully with minor differences due to the better flexibility of this type of medium. ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ is about Hannah Baker who commits suicide after getting deeper and deeper into her state of depression after experiencing severe bullying at school and rape. The novel is written in the first person, following the main character Clay who is listening to the tapes Hannah left him. The show, in contrast to the book, shows the suicide of the main character and the two rape scenes very explicitly which could be very triggering. They are just a small part of the reason it got so many mixed reactions.
Suicide and rape are heavy subjects to tackle in a piece of fiction, no matter the platform the author chooses. They are heavy subjects to write about and are considered as taboos to talk about. What’s more, they can be extremely triggering for people who can relate to the experiences of the characters in a said piece of fiction and while their purpose is usually to give awareness, if the subjects aren’t handled carefully and supported with a lot of research from valuable sources, they may end up doing more harm than good. The case of the novel and its Netflix adaptation is highly controversial because of these topics.
With an average rating of 3.97 stars on Goodreads, the book has received mostly positive reviews with an average rating of 36% of 5-star reviews and 31% of 4-star reviews. In them, people say that while they can see why somebody would see issues in it, it is a good representation of a person with suicide ideation. They say that it has a truthful representation of a person with clinical depression. In contrast, the negative reviews, which make up 9% of the overall ratings (6% being 2-star reviews and 3% being 1-star reviews), say that the representation is, in fact, incorrect. They say that it glamorises suicide and that it even encourages it because according to them, the book sends the wrong message about suicide, that once somebody’s life ends, everything will be better.
After the show aired on March 31st in 2017, people started paying more attention to the book and it even got banned from several school libraries in North America. The novel was temporarily banned in a school district in Mesa County but was returned after a protest of the school librarians and it was also banned in several other schools even though no parents said anything about it. Parents were even cautioned against letting their children read the book or watch the show or they were advised to watch or read it first before letting their children watch it. The book and the show were both scrutinised for their underage drinking and substance abuse. In 2012, the book ranked third in the American Library Association’s annual list of challenged books which is a list of books parents, teachers and other people of influence at schools try to get removed from the school libraries.
In an interview with Newshour, Jay Asher said that while other authors find pride in having their books banned, he feels nothing but frustration. He says that since he published the book and after the show aired, he’s received many emails saying that his work made the person feel understood or helped them seek help. The author says that these problems should be talked about and that censoring books like ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ is why teenagers feel reluctant to open up to adults about their struggles.
However, the TV show sparked more outrageous responses than the book itself for numerous reasons. Jaclyn Grimm writes in her ‘How “13 Reasons Why” gets suicide wrong: Voices’ published on the USA Today website article that even though the show discusses suicide, it never once mentions mental illness even though 90% of suicide victims suffer from mental illness. She also writes that because the show doesn’t show mental illness and how to deal with it, when Clay reaches out to Skye to help her, according to Grimm, it implies that saving somebody from suicide can be as good as a friendly gesture and not the needed professional help.
The show and book both have a scene where Hannah actively is looking for help from the school counsellor who in both cases brushes off her attempt. In the book, he believes that her distress is caused by a boy, while in the show he just gives her tissues. This representation is not only wrong but potentially harmful to people who are considering getting help because it shows that professionals aren’t trustworthy and can’t help them. This action is not only illegal but can have a very negative impact on a person with suicide ideation. Alexa Curtis writes in her article ‘Does “13 Reasons Why” Glamorize Teen Suicide?’ for ‘Rolling Stone’ that the show ‘13 Reasons Why’ should have instead shown different ways of outreach and help in order to show its young audience that there is hope and a different outcome rather than self-harm.
Additionally, Curtis wrote that the show successfully shows what it’s like to be a teenager nowadays and the influence of the Internet, giving examples from the show.
It seems like the TV show ‘13 Reasons Why’ wants to spark a conversation about sexual assault and suicide and while it has successfully made teenagers discuss these topics and watch the show, it has shown a lot of other problems like its detailed rape and suicide scenes which are absent from the book. The team behind the show ended up putting trigger warnings and sources for people who might have suicidal inclinations after the responses it got in the beginning.
Carolyn L. Todd has an article published on ‘Self’ about what seven experts have to say about the show. She says in her article that just like viewers, professionals have also expressed mixed opinions and while some of them claim that the show has a good and truthful representations, she has interviewed seven who say otherwise. In her articles, experts like Kelly Posner Gerstenhaber, John Ackerman and Gene Beresin say that the show presents revenge as motivation for the suicide of the main character which isn’t a healthy or truthful representation. They tell Carolyn that it isn’t what they normally see in clinical practice and it promotes suicide as a selfish act.
Their second critique is that the show missed out on the opportunity to educate its audience about the telling signs of a person with suicidal inclination. Dr. Beresin says in that articles that while what Hannah went through could contribute to her decision to take her life, to put them as reasons is just wrong. Another experts says that instead of focusing on Clay’s face in the first episode and giving him a flashback, while the teacher was going through the warning signs of somebody with suicidal thought (which he obviously wasn’t paying attention to), they should have focused on giving the viewers valuable information about those signs.
In Buzzfeed’s article on why ‘13 Reasons’ why is a bad show written by Jenna Guillaume, a Headspace spokesperson, explains that even though the show’s purpose is to show that suicide is never the answer, it can actually lead people to believe that it could actually be an option, especially if they are feeling trapped and bullied with no way out.
It’s also mentioned in this article and multiple others how the graphic suicide scene can also be not just triggering but inspiring for copycat suicide attempts called suicide contagion. In Teen Vogue’s article ‘Survivors Explain What Was Wrong With the “13 Reasons Why” Suicide Scene’ by Lily Herman several suicides survivors explain that the scene is good and bad at the same time. They say that it is in violation with the guidelines for showing such sensitive scenes and one of them explains how it could have been done in a more subtle but still strong way, rather than showing a step-by-step guide of how to take one’s own life.
According to the experts from Self’s article, the graphic portrayal of Hannah’s suicide is dangerous because it can trigger copycat attempts. However, an executive from the show says that they wanted to show that suicide isn’t easy and it’s painful. According to their statistics, people said the detailed scene was necessary in order to truthfully show the act of taking one’s life because in the book Hannah overdoses on pills.
Suicide contagion is the exposure to suicide or suicidal behaviours in one’s surroundings were it a family member, a friend or through other media and it can spark suicidal inclinations or the so called ‘copycat suicides’ if the person has already experienced suicidal inclinations before. It defies the logical thinking of the brain and can be very dangerous to people already predisposed to it.
There are claims that the detailed suicide scene in ‘13 Reasons Why’ is the reason for copycat suicides after it aired. A Goodreads reviewer explained it in her review. She wrote how transfixed she was by the seen and how it made her want to do it. It is also mentioned in several articles, one of them being published on Decider by Jane Budowski. She tells the story of a Peruvian man who jumped off a building and left two notes, addressed to the girl who broke his heart and to a group of people responsible for his decision. He allegedly recorded tapes with his reasons although it was never confirmed that he watched the show.
Tessa Morton, a suicide survivor, writes in her article ‘“13 Reasons Why:” Copycat suicides, trigger warnings and the intersection of personal and societal responsibility.’ for The Courier telling her story and her point of view regarding the show. She talks in length about her take on it and says that the content of the show could be triggering but a lot of outside factors are also in place.
‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ is a popular show that tackles important subjects. Whether it’s well-done or not, it has sparked attention and a lot of different responses. It is not unusual for people to have different opinions on the matter and this show, just like many others, can have different impact on different people regardless of how well it deals with the subject at hand. However, the creators were aware that they were in breach of the guidelines for safely showing certain scenes that could be dangerous and did it anyway with good intentions. In many interviews, they say that their purpose was to educate people. It doesn’t matter whether it succeeded or not because no matter which side a person is on, if they want to know more about the topics discussed in the show, they are more likely to educate themselves after seeing it.
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