Stories are often a fantastic way to quite literally stand in someone else’s shoes, to understand an individual, whether fictional or not, in a unique and thorough way. Although there are beautiful ways this art of storytelling can be utilized, a storyteller has the unique responsibility to share them in a conscientious manner, especially when considering sensitive themes like mental health. The producers of Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” were not successful in this endeavor, sharing the story of their protagonist Hanna Baker in an utterly irresponsible manner that endangered young teenagers around the country.
The creators attempted to encourage conversations around mental health and serious issues like suicide and sexual assault. Executive producer Selena Gomez called the production a “passion project” and explained, “I think that stuff is uncomfortable for people to talk about, but it is happening, and hopefully it opened the door for people to actually accept what’s happening and actually go and change it, talk about it.”
Unfortunately, rather than working to create a conversation around this stigmatized subject, the series harmed its young and impressionable viewers. The originating premise of “13 Reasons Why” is inherently problematic and dangerous. Prior to the pilot episode, the narrator, Hannah Baker, dies by suicide and creates thirteen tapes explaining the events that pushed her to suicide. These are then sent to each person she believes was responsible for her death. The story follows Clay Jensen, her friend and one of the subjects of the tapes, as he listens to Hannah’s reasons for taking her life. Hannah’s story is then told through flashbacks and the present day fallout of the recordings for the people she interacted with while alive, specifically her bullies, who must contend with the consequences of their actions after her death.
The show is, at its most basic, a glamorized revenge fantasy. Unlike a suicide in real life, Hannah Baker continues to find herself present after her death, played out in the imaginations of the show’s other characters, seeing her ploy for revenge transpire. She gets a twisted feeling of justice she couldn’t see come to fruition while alive. Such a portrayal romanticizes suicide rather than educating viewers or fostering conversations about it. Unintentionally, the writers of the show perpetuate the narrative that Hannah’s death solved her problems; it illustrated that suicide was an adequate way of getting the attention and care she didn’t previously receive from her friends and school’s administration.
“13 Reasons Why” inadvertently idealized the idea of suicide by creating an entire show based upon a revenge plot. It also oversimplified the reasons for the suicide taking place by focusing much of its plot on how other people treated Hannah Baker, rather than exploring themes of mental illness, the primary risk factor that predisposes suicide in many young people. Dr. Beresin, the director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, said, “to say that a sexual assault or bullying is a direct line to suicide is just wrong.” The show’s producers portrayed a very simplified version of Hannah Baker’s story, speaking heavily about wanting authenticity in the show, but not doing the work or research to illustrate reality accurately.
The deeper problem with this show was that it was made with entertainment as a priority. It wasn’t exclusively designed to provoke a conversation around mental health at the center of societal discourse. Had the producers been truly invested in promoting mental health, then the showrunners would have done adequate research and work to ensure that suicide would be responsibly portrayed on screen.
The most egregious example of irresponsible portrayal came with showing – in graphic detail – Hannah Baker’s suicide scene. The showrunners defended the inclusion of this scene, arguing it is necessary to show the audience the horrific reality of what suicide entails, before ultimately cutting the scene after receiving loud pushback. Despite their stated explanation for the scene, the show was really attempting to capture the attention of the show’s audience with utterly blatant and horrific shock value. It was not done for the benefit of creating conversations around suicide; many mental health organizations that specialized in such issues came out and spoke out against such an inclusion. Jeff Bridge, a suicide researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, explained to NPR that such a graphic portrayal could lead to suicidal behavior. “13 Reasons Why” wasn’t just bad storytelling; it was dangerous.
Prior to the streaming debut of “13 Reasons Why,” an organization called Reporting on Suicide created guidelines on how to portray suicide responsibly on television, based upon countless research studies conducted on the topic. The show’s first season was very successful in one thing – ignoring all of these guidelines and dangerously portraying such a sensitive subject. Not glamorizing or romanticizing suicide, not oversimplifying the reason for the suicide, and not describing or depicting the method and location of the suicide were among the disregarded reccomendations.
In 2017, when the show debuted, the National Associate of School Psychologists warned viewers, “We do not recommend that vulnerable youth, especially those who have any degree of suicidal ideation, watch this series. Its powerful storytelling may lead impressionable viewers to romanticize the choices made by the characters and/or develop revenge fantasies. Suicide is not a solution to problems.”
Television has the power of bringing previously stigmatized topics like suicide to the forefront of the national consciousness. These matters have to be handled responsibly if there is to be a benefit to the audience. Storytellers can learn from the mistakes of “13 Reasons Why” and the failings of its first season to learn how to more conscientiously share narratives that address such sensitive topics.
