The first I knew of 13 Reasons Why was posts on Facebook. Some of my teenage friends were asking each other if they had watched the latest episode. They exchanged comments about the show. I had no idea what they were talking about.Then I heard a little about it and Netflix suggested that I watch it, so I watched it.
I will say that as television, the show was riveting. After watching one episode, I watched the next and the next to the end. Before I read any of the blowback from it, I knew that there were serious risks involved with distressed viewers. The biggest criticism and warning from mental health experts was that 13 Reasons Why glamorizes suicide. They also observed that the show creates the illusion that Hannah is still somehow alive, that she's actually talking. But with suicide, as they emphasize, the person is very much dead. And permanently dead. These experts were concerned that some troubled teenagers might not understand that.
This is not the first time that the show's creator, Brian Yorkey, has delved into controversy. around mental health issues. In 2008 he created a Broadway "rock musical" called Next to Normal. Next to Normal had a successful debut off Broadway and then a nearly two year Broadway run. The show was successful in every way possible. It was critically and commercially successful, and even won several awards including a Pulitzer Prize. The show continues to be staged worldwide. Next to Normal is the story of Diana, a bipolar wife and mother, struggling to cope with her illness. It is also about her family struggling to cope with her.
The first time I viewed the musical, I was profoundly impressed that a play about manic-depression made it to Broadway and was so successful. I enjoyed the music. I enjoyed the drama. I enjoyed all of it. Part of what I liked is how the musical balanced the very serious subject of mental illness with some really funny humor. Then I listened to it again and was struck by something else. The story is dangerous. By the end, Diana decides to throw away her medicine and discontinue her treatment. She also packed her bags and left home, leaving her husband and her teen aged daughter. Earlier when her husband asked her where her medicine was, she said, "We now have the happiest septic tank in the neighborhood." Like I said, that's clever. But there's nothing funny about someone who is mentally ill going off the rails.
Will I ever listen to Next to Normal again? I still enjoy some of the music, but will probably never watch the entire play. Will I watch Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why? Some of the parents of teenagers who killed themselves after watching the series are trying to keep Season 2 from the air. They blame the show for being the trigger for their teens' suicides. And the mental health experts are supporting them in their efforts. So if Season 2 does make it to the air, am I going to watch it? I haven't decided. I am not a suicide risk; it's not going to bother me to watch it. Frankly, there were many plot line loose ends that I would like to know how they're going to clean up. And how can there be a Season 2 in the first place without Hannah's tapes? What will drive the drama? But am I somehow supporting a harmful project by watching it? Should I stand in solidarity with those grieving parents who are convinced the show is to blame for their horrible losses?
The way I found out about Next to Normal is when my Spotify Broadway radio station played a song called "I Miss the Mountains." And my experience with the musical continued from there. Diana might miss the mountains, but she must have forgotten about the chasms of darkness and despair. It's one thing to have the courage to throw away your medicine, pack and leave. But that pales in comparison to having the courage to continue treatment and to stay with those who love you and support you. Diana sings "I'll try this on my own, a life I've never known. I'll face the dread alone. But I'll be free." You'll be free? Good luck with that. And when Diana crashes again, and she will, where will she go then? Will her husband take her back in? Will her daughter still want a relationship with her? Will she end up addicted to drugs and alcohol and land in the street as is sometimes the case with the untreated bipolar? "But I'll be free!" Write a musical about that.
Those who created 13 Reasons Why, the producers and advocates of the show believe that the series has inspired a whole new level of conversation between teens, their parents, teachers and administrator about bullying and suicide. No doubt this is true. So who's right? Should Season 2 be aired? Should we watch it? Does the good outweigh the bad?
Television can affect us. When I was a kid, after watching Popeye, my brother and I put a box of frozen spinach on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven. We wanted to be "strong to the finish" like Popeye. . Mother came home just in time to deal with the smoke and prevent a fire. She let us keep watching Popeye, but made us promise to let her cook the spinach.
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