‘13 Reasons Why’ creates conflict among viewers

The show “13 Reasons Why” is a obsession for teens and has an intense and dark light to it. The show glorifies suicide and makes the choice of self-harm seem more of an option for people than it should be.  Suicide is a part of reality that should be taken care of and shared to the public gently.

The show informs viewers about real-life situations they should be aware of, but in a way that does not encourage it. Specifically, the TV show includes real high school situations many students face revolving around bullying over social media. The main character, Hannah’s, reaction to the bullies was to commit suicide and leave tapes behind to inform the 13 people as to why it was their fault for her actions.

A problem behind this reason for her suicide is that many high schoolers can relate to her situations. Therefore, the show used common situations that teens are in today, but took the effects of this bullying to another level, since it is all pointed at one girl.

“The show was good, but it seemed to show suicide as a solution rather than a problem,” junior Gianna Gambino said.

Some thought the series should not have used these experiences as a way of leading a person to make a life-ending choice.

The show did not take the topic of suicide seriously enough for some of its viewers, and instead comes across as confusing for  the impressionable watchers.

Life lessons regarding treating others with respect and not taking others for granted take place, but Hannah constantly blames her death directly on people around her. This brings across the wrong message to sensitive teens who are watching the show. It portrays Hannah putting all of this guilt upon the shoulders of fellow teens, which is not the way to handle it.

The series tends to show the complex emotions characters have with Hannah’s death throughout every aspect of the show. The story’s dark tone of blame and revenge sends dangerous messages to viewers and leads them to continuously try to understand what and how the characters are feeling, without any direct answer.

“13 Reasons Why” can easily be interpreted poorly by teens who are not ready to be exposed to the ideas behind a young girl taking her life.

Suicide is a sensitive topic and needs to be emphasized with care, which the show did not because of the insensitivity it portrayed regarding Hannah and her life.  

The Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” teaches an important message on how words and actions are powerful and can impact people. The story lets people know that their actions have consequences and to treat everyone kindly.

Before Hannah killed herself and sent around the tapes, the students did not realize the impact they had on her. Leaving the tapes lets them know how they negatively affected her and helped them to potentially change.

“I liked the show because it taught a good message about how to treat people the way you want to be treated,” sophomore Kayla Bowie said.

Hannah leaves her tapes to show that everything people do and say will affect someone and can push them one step closer to hurting themselves.

Everyone fights their own battles that others are unaware of. No one knew what was happening to her so one little incident was all it took to finally push her over.

Some people believe she committed suicide for attention and that the show glorified suicide, however this was never the writers’ goal. The gruesome content makes suicide unappealing to people who are watching. The graphic scene was meant to show real-life occurances—not to encourage it.

People who watch the show should be aware of suicide and also realize what Hannah was going through.

High school students can benefit from watching the show because it demonstrates that bullying cannot be ignored.

Others say Hannah blamed her suicide on the 13 people on the tapes. She wanted the people on the 13 tapes to know what they did wrong and learn from their mistakes.

They had no idea Hannah was suicidal. They learned to think twice before acting and realized that just because someone seems fine, it does not mean they are.

“Suicide is not often discussed but this show brought attention to it in an educational way,” junior Olivia Ranucci said.

“It was very realistic,” sophomore Ryan Rusignuolo said. “It made me realize how much others can influence someone else.”

“13 Reasons Why” takes this tough topic and presents it maturely for a high school audience. Students should be aware of the negative impacts suicide can leave on others.

Hopefully, people will become more aware of their actions and how easily they can hurt someone.