So before I start off, all my critique and analysis is based off watching the first season. I watched it after it being so heavily advertised and multiple people recommending it to me. So I took some time out and watched the first season and well it’s got a lot of issues. Before typing out that angry dm just hear me out.
13 reasons why is a show praised by the mainstream for talking about serious social issues. It has themes of suicide, rape and mental health. A show which is pretty hard to criticize without getting some aggressive responses.
The eye of the storm for the problems with 13 reasons why is that it concentrates its entire show structure to forward a political and social agenda. So much so its sacrifices on the essential elements that make a show likable and good which is having good likable characters that can exist on a real plane, Characters you can relate too. The show wants to talk about real issues like suicide but it does it a world that is so polished, characters act in a way that no real person would actually act. Which for me made the show look insincere.
Ok, that’s the core but let’s not get carried away lemme explain myself a bit, for that let’s dive a little deeper into the story and set up of the story.
The story takes place at Liberty High, High school. This is your typical American high school with the typical movie school structure, you’ve got your jocks and do not kid when I say even the names are typical jock to signify the fact they definitely play sports and aren’t nerds. The main jock is named “Bryce” need I say more. Then you’ve got the edgy art kids with tattoos and goth makeup. And the nerds and as you can guess our male protagonist is a nerd. So your typical American romcom high school with desaturated and dull color correction. Why you ask?, cause this show is DARK. I mean it worked for DC so definitely can work for us.
The main focus of the narrative of the show is Hannah Baker a student that committed suicide shortly before the start of the series. Before she goes through with it she made 13th tapes one for each person she believed led her to her decision to end her life. And of course, its cassette tapes cause this show romanticizes everything and I mean everything.
During the course of the first season, the tapes are with Clay Jensen Hannah’s love. Who never did anything to hurt Hannah but were made to think he did and watch this eat at him for a large part of the season.Just for the narrative hook. We see clay go through his own cycle of misery to carve out some justice. He achieves this by cycling around feeling sad going up to people and vaguely confronting them about what he heard on the tapes and those people saying “Hannah was lying bro”.
The tapes detail Hannah having one of her personal poems published in the school magazine without her permission, being stalked by a student who took illicit pictures of her and then publishing them around the school and witnessing a friend being raped and then subsequently being raped herself by one. The show attempts to deal with these issues but when this is all set in a generic high school background its hard for it to have any seriousness.
Despite the show being so drama and dialog heavy, the characters remain stereotypical and undeveloped all the way through.
Let’s talk about Hannah
Ok, I went into the first season thinking through these tapes id get a good look inside the mind of an individual going through the decision process and thoughts that led to this person ending their life. I thought this character might be layered, deep and thought-provoking. And provide the audience with some insight into depression the thoughts and motivations of a person in that position. Get them up close to that person’s suffering and give them a new outlook on depression and how it’s not a choice to be that way.
Nope, that wasn’t the case, unfortunately, her character goals revolve around which boy likes her and her social status at high school. Like every other teenager at school.
This show wants to be progressive but it fails to even differentiate Hannah from any other high school student overanalyzing and overreacting to every situation.
Also the show wants us to sympathize with a girl with this teenage girl who was driven into depression but still somehow composed and focused enough to come up with an elaborate revenge plot. I mean when you really look at it the show isn’t a mirror trying to show us the real world and make us realize how our words and actions can have far outreaching consequences. Its a revenge story set in a fantasy Disney land where the victim finally gets revenge on people who did her wrong. And I thought this was supposed to be a deep dive into what can drive some of us to suicide. But the show portrays suicide as a revenge story. This might not be what the creators set out to do but its what it ended up as.
That’s why I think 13 reasons why is pretending to be a show with depth and a real-life take on suicide when it’s basically Riverdale with a darker color scheme. There is nothing wrong with being a show or movie with no depth I personally enjoy movies by The Rock. And I enjoyed the show for what it was a shallow teenage drama.
I still might watch the second season in hopes that it might be different ill be going into it with an open mind.