Student discusses ’13 Reasons Why’

By this point in our social media-driven society, it is likely hard at this point to not have heard about Jay Asher’s novel, “13 Reasons Why,” or the new Netflix series based off of the novel. I have read the book and I have watched the Netflix series in its entirety, and I truly think the message Asher is trying to convey is vital, but its success in communicating that message is questionable.

For those who may not know the storyline, it follows a series of tapes from a high school junior, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide. Hannah set it up so that after her suicide, her tapes explaining her 13 reasons why she did it would be given to the 13 people that directly influenced her decision.

I despised the book. Hannah’s reasons came off as superficial and the only reactions that really came through with any level of strength were Hannah and Clay’s (Clay is a co-worker of Hannah’s whose perspective is that of the novel). Hannah came off as rather whiny and Clay came off as wimpy. Asher had a golden opportunity to make a great point about how the little things that people do and say can impact someone greatly and even fatally, but for me, he kinda blew it.

It was with a grain of salt that I began watching the series. Everyone seemed to have some unique opinions on the show and since I am a fan watching and comparing book-to-movie productions, I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised with the series. I really didn’t hate it. Instead of only seeing things from Clay and Hannah’s perspectives, viewers could actively see the detriment that every single character that knew Hannah was put through as a result of her suicide. The whole situation went from very superficial to almost something accurate.

Many people, however, disagreed with my analysis of the TV series. Many have said that the series glorifies suicide. I could have agreed with that until the very last episode where they literally show the entire horrific process of her slitting her wrists in the bathtub and the equally horrific scene of her mother finding her following it. Putting myself into the mindset of someone considering suicide, I could also see a problem with this series: seeing the aftermath of her death. The show presents a scenario where all of the characters who wronged Hannah are visibly affected. In reality, Hannah did not see all of the impacts she had on her tormentors and did not get the redemption that some might perceive from this show. My last large problem with the series, which was shared by many online, was that there were absolutely no mentions of mental illness, which is a large factor for much of suicide. Instead, we were presented by many external factors that forced her hand.

The Netflix creators have since announced that there will be a second season which could potentially give the show a spotlight to amend some of the potential errors, but time shall tell whether they choose to effectively utilize the second chance that they were given to show that suicide doesn’t leave anyone with a second chance.