*Disclaimer: This is a review of the made-for-Netflix series, not the novel by Jay Asher.*
Ah, Thirteen Reasons Why...the show that took the news by storm. A plot summary may be unnecessary given the massive media coverage of this show and its subject matter, but in case you haven't heard, Thirteen Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker, a high school student who tragically decides to take her own life. However, Hannah's suicide takes place before the show's beginning scene. Hannah's downward spiral into suicidal depression is documented in a series of tapes. Eerily, Hannah records these tapes to explain to all the people that wronged her why and how they contributed to her devastating decision to take her own life. If you think this sounds like an incredibly dramatic plot that has the potential to trivialize and/or sensationalize depression, you are absolutely correct.
Ah, Thirteen Reasons Why...the show that took the news by storm. A plot summary may be unnecessary given the massive media coverage of this show and its subject matter, but in case you haven't heard, Thirteen Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker, a high school student who tragically decides to take her own life. However, Hannah's suicide takes place before the show's beginning scene. Hannah's downward spiral into suicidal depression is documented in a series of tapes. Eerily, Hannah records these tapes to explain to all the people that wronged her why and how they contributed to her devastating decision to take her own life. If you think this sounds like an incredibly dramatic plot that has the potential to trivialize and/or sensationalize depression, you are absolutely correct.
I genuinely think most of the people involved in the making of this show had good intentions. When harsh criticism surfaced after its release, mainly from parents, it was clear to me that this show was not intended to be so problematic and controversial. In fact, many people adore the novel by the same name, written by Jay Asher, and have very different feelings regarding how mental illness is portrayed in the book. Despite good intentions, Thirteen Reasons Why is an inherently problematic portrayal of depression, and here's why.
The show clearly insinuates that Hannah's depression was solely caused by the harmful actions of other students at her school, hence the tapes detailing each individual's contribution to her misery. While external factors absolutely influence a person's mental health, it is inaccurate to portray a severe case of depression as an ailment solely caused by bullying. A person can experience depression even under the best of circumstances, and Hannah's mental health was unfairly diminished to be merely a reaction to the whims of other individuals rather than an internal reality that she could not control.
This raises another problematic element of Hannah Baker's story. Many students defended their own actions or attempted to discredit Hannah's struggle by claiming that her life was no worse than anybody else's, and she just wanted attention. This trope comes up again and again in the show, and while it may be the antagonist perspective, it reinforces the ignorant idea that depression is illegitimate if your life "is no worse than anybody else's." Hannah Baker's character experienced horrible bullying and intense trauma in the form of sexual assault, but even if she hadn't, her depression would have been legitimate. There are no external conditions which definitively determine what a person's mental health can or can not be.
There is a trigger warning at the beginning of the episode in which viewers see Hannah take her own life. This is not enough. The scene itself is incredibly emotional, graphic, and tragic. There should be an additional warning right before the scene itself, because there is no way of knowing when it will occur in the 43 minute episode. Presumably due to the media backlash, Netflix has added a video about potential triggers and resources at the beginning of the series. This is a step in the right direction, but it does not fix the inherently problematic representation of mental illness throughout the series.
Most importantly, I take serious issue with the fact that Hannah's depression is used as the main driving force behind an overly dramatized, sensationalized plot that ultimately ends with her tragic death. It sends a horrible message to viewers, primarily impressionable teenagers who very well may be experiencing mental health struggles of their own. In fact, this show has already inspired several copycats who tragically mimicked the fictional Hannah Baker's recording of tapes and subsequent suicide. Depression is not romantic like the plot of Thirteen Reasons Why. I commend the effort to create a show that encourages kindness and emphasizes the horrible effects of bullying, but this show fails to portray the true weight of Hannah Baker's tragedy because it is primarily used as a dramatic tool.