For thirteen reasons it was undoubtedly one of the main series of 2017, it is said not only for its large number of followers, but also for the controversy it has generated, the Netflix production had a very common theme in television series. , but with a very different lens, it is a series that develops in a school, that talks about the problems of adolescence, but that brings us something new, at least, never seen in this way: the bitterest face of bullying. it’s in the first person.
The story begins by showing a space in the school with photos and farewell messages while listening to the voice of Hannah Baker, who will tell the story of her life, we soon discover that Hannah had committed suicide and that what we were going to hear were the reasons why that did it; Meanwhile, school life continues, although it seems that deep down no one has forgotten what happened to Hannah.
“No one knows for sure what impact this has on the lives of others. “13 reasons why?
Before she died, Hannah decided to ignore the latest technologies, recording on 13 tapes the 13 reasons she committed suicide. Each of these tapes is dedicated to a person who has done something that triggered his suicide; Hannah assures that after her death these tapes reach the culprits, who must listen to them and pass them on to the next person, we will see how these tapes fall into the hands of Clay Jensen, a shy young man and friend of Hannah’s. .
Despite talking about a topical issue like bullying and linking it to suicide, the series has not been without controversy, generating huge criticism among mental health professionals. From the beginning, the series warned through messages that the content we will see can be unpleasant and encourages people who have experienced situations similar to Hannah’s to seek help, but all these warnings were not enough to prevent many people from creating that the series promoted suicide.
Hannah Baker is a teenager who has just moved with her family to a new city. She made a friend, Kat, but soon moved somewhere else, allowing Hannah to meet new people and make new friends. Adolescence is not an easy time, it’s the moment when you start to understand how the world works. We’re not kids anymore, but we’re not adults anymore. It’s time to change all plans, from responsibilities to fun.
Self-esteem will be fundamental at this stage when we all struggle to find our place in society, it seems that in adolescence everything revolves around school, the people with which we relate, to be accepted, to the search for a Hannah, like everyone else, will begin to take an interest in children, make friends and feel as if she were fitting into the new school.
Unfortunately, Hannah will gradually be disappointed. Society will take over it and, little by little, the feeling of despair and frustration will see no way out of suicide. Not that Hannah is a different girl from the others, but circumstances and difficulties will cause her life to fall apart as if a castle of cards had fallen.
A warning before proceeding. If you haven’t seen the series and plan to watch it, we recommend that you don’t read anymore because, from now on, the article may contain spoilers.
Are you all guilty of Hannah Baker’s death? As we listen to the tapes, we sometimes wonder if this particular reason really matters. You can’t help but think that making a list of the most beautiful or vagrant girls and raping a person are very different things. But Hannah puts all these people and actions on her list: from misunderstandings and false rumors to rape.
However, what the series presents us is not the seriousness of each of the events, but the consequences of a series of actions (some worse than others) on a certain person, Hannah did not have a good time, trying to find her place. in the world, feeling accepted in her new school, but all the opportunities for happiness that appeared in her life were taken from her.
The series brings us closer to Hannah’s mistreatment, a psychological abuse. She felt lonely and isolated and called herself “easy woman”?For false rumors. All this has made a lot of guys see it as “easy” and some girls see it as a threat. In schools, gossip, teenage cases, fights. . . and in a world surrounded by social media, the consequences can be even worse.
13 Reasons Why, as the name suggests, recounts the reasons that led Hannah Baker to commit suicide; However, we believe that these reasons could be reduced to one: depression, a depression caused by a moment of instability, research and change in which Hannah found herself alone, used and abused, was not an injury, but a large and large number of small shots that gradually erased Hannah’s life.
After a lot of attacks on his self-esteem, humiliation and psychological damage, the last trigger appears: rape. Hannah has long been trying to get out of the well, looking for a multitude of ways to get her life back on track, but she finds hes he or she is in an even worse situation. After the rape, Hannah decides to seek help from the school counselor, who doesn’t give her one?Viable, because of your problem. At this point, Hannah loses what was her last hope and makes the decision to kill herself.
For some people, Hannah Baker’s suicide was a kind of revenge, which is why they call the series controversial. If you think about how twisted the idea of ”guilty” tapes is, this might seem a bit vindictive. I think that the idea that the series wanted to convey was not an idea of revenge, but of the need for adolescents to face the consequences of their actions.
In addition to the reasons, 13 Reasons Why shows how Hannah’s suicide affects different characters, from her parents’ misunderstanding to the ignorance of others. In the first episode, we see girls taking selfies next to Hannah’s memorial to show solidarity on social media, which is totally inhumane.
Clay and Alex will be the most affected: Clay for his affection for Hannah and the inability to know the truth; Alex is the character who most closely resembles Hannah, the most emotionally unstable, and will bear no fault of being responsible for Hannah’s death. Alex is a young teenager trying by all means to feel integrated.
Not all characters featured in the tapes are “bad”; some suffer and fight a different kind of internal struggle. The problem is that, at a difficult stage like adolescence, it is sometimes not easy to accurately anticipate the consequences of our actions.
“Suicide should only be seen as a weakness of man, because it is easier to die than to live a life full of bitterness. Goethe?