Review 13 Reasons Why (2017)

Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

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Production

Universal Studios purchased film rights to the novel on February 8, 2011, with Selena Gomez cast to play Hannah Baker.[11] On October 29, 2015, it was announced that Netflixwould be making a television adaptation of the book with Gomez instead serving as an executive producer.[12] Tom McCarthy was hired to direct the first two episodes.[13] The series is produced by Anonymous Content and Paramount Television with Gomez, McCarthy, Joy Gorman, Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Mandy Teefey, and Kristel Laiblin serving as executive producers.

Filming for the show took place in the Northern Californian towns of Vallejo, Benicia, San Rafael, Crockett and Sebastopol during the summer of 2016.[14][15] The first season and the special were released on Netflix on March 31, 2017.

Therapy dogs were present on set for the actors because of the intense and emotional content of the series.

On May 7, 2017, it was announced that Netflix had renewed the series for a second season. A short promo was released on various 13 Reasons Why social media accounts.


Filming for the second season began on June 12, 2017,[19] but was briefly halted in October in response to the then-ongoing California wildfires happening around the areas where the series was being filmed.[20]

Critical response

The show has received positive reviews from critics, with much of the praise for the show has been directed at the cast's performances, direction, story, visuals, improvements upon its source material, and mature approach to dark and adult subject matter.
 
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Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

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Social impact

The series has generated controversy over its portrayal of suicide and self-harm, causing Netflix to add strong advisory warnings prior to the first, twelfth, and thirteenth episodes. School psychologists and educators raised alarm about the series. The superintendent of Palm Beach County, Florida schools reportedly told parents that their schools had seen an increase in suicidal and self-harm behavior from students, and that some of those students "have articulated associations of their at-risk behavior to the 13 Reasons Why Netflix series".[34] The Australian youth mental health service for 12–25 year-olds, Headspace, issued a warning in late April 2017 over the graphic content featured in the series due to the increased number of calls to the service following the show's release in the country.[35][36][37] In response to the graphic nature of the show and New Zealand's high youth suicide rate, which was the highest among the 34[a] OECD countries during 2009 to 2012,[39][40] the Office of Film & Literature Classification in the country created a new rating, "RP18", allowing individuals aged 18 and over to watch the series alone and those below having to watch it with supervision from a parent or guardian.

"We stayed very true to the book and that's initially what [author] Jay Asher created was a beautifully tragic, complicated yet suspenseful story and I think that's what we wanted to do ... We wanted to do it justice and, yeah, [the backlash is] gonna come no matter what. It's not an easy subject to talk about, but I'm very fortunate with how it's doing."
—Executive producer Selena Gomez, in defense of the controversy surrounding the series[43]

In April 2017, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in the United States released a statement regarding the series, saying: "Research shows that exposure to another person's suicide, or to graphic or sensationalized accounts of death, can be one of the many risk factors that youth struggling with mental health conditions cite as a reason they contemplate or attempt suicide."[44] NASP sent a letter to school mental health professionals across the country about the series, reportedly a first for NASP in response to a television show.[45] The following month, the United States Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) released a statement also noting how strongly the show may serve as a trigger for self-injury among vulnerable youth and lamented the depiction of mental health professionals as ineffective for youth who have experienced trauma and may have been considering suicide.[46] The statement implored Netflix to add a tag following each episode with mental health resources and a reminder that depression and suicide can be effectively treated by a qualified mental health professional such as a clinical child psychologist using evidence-based practice.

Similarly, clinical psychologists such as Daniel J. Reidenberg and Erika Martinez, as well as mental health advocate MollyKate Cline of Teen Vogue magazine, have expressed concerns regarding the risk of suicide contagion.[47][48][49] However, Eric Beeson, a counselor at The Family Institute at Northwestern University noted that "it's unlikely that one show alone could trigger someone to attempt suicide."[44] Mental health professionals have also criticized the series' depiction of suicide itself, much of which violates widely promulgated recommendations for reporting on actual suicides or not depicting them in fiction in order to not encourage copycat suicides.[50] The season finale, which depicts Hannah's suicide in graphic detail, has been particularly criticized in this regard.[51] Nic Sheff, a writer for the show, has defended it as intended to dispel the myth that suicides "quietly drift off", and recalled how he himself was deterred from a suicide attempt by recalling a survivor's account of how painful and horrifying it was.[52]
 
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The NASP statement also criticized the show's suggestion that bullying alone led Hannah to take her life, noting that while it may be a contributing factor, suicidal ideations far more often result from the bullied person having a treatable mental illness without adequate coping mechanisms. Alex Moen, a school counselor in Minneapolis, took issue with the show's entire plotline as "...essentially a fantasy of what someone who is considering suicide might have—that once you commit suicide, you can still communicate with your loved ones, and people will suddenly realize everything that you were going through and the depth of your pain ... That the cute, sensitive boy will fall in love with you and seek justice for you, and you'll be able to orchestrate it, and in so doing kind of still be able to live."[51] Other counselors criticized the depiction of Hannah's attempt to reach out to Mr. Porter as dangerously misleading, since not only does he miss obvious signs of her suicidal ideations, but says he cannot report her sexual assault to the police without her identifying the assailant. School counselors are often portrayed as ineffective or clueless in popular culture, Moen says, but Porter's behavior in the series goes beyond that to being unethical and possibly illegal. "It's ridiculous! Counselors are not police. We don't have to launch an investigation. We bring whatever information we do have to the police", she told Slate.[51]

In May 2017, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) along with the Centre for Suicide Prevention (CSP) released a statement of similar concerns to the ones raised by NASP. CMHA indicated concern that the series may glamorize suicide, and that some content may lead to distress in viewers, and, particularly, in younger viewers. Furthermore, the portrayal of Hannah's suicide does not follow the media guidelines as set out by the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) and the American Association of Suicidology. While CMHA and CASP praised the show for raising awareness about "...this preventable health concern," adding that, "Raising awareness needs to be done in a safe and responsible manner. A large and growing body of Canadian and international research has found clear links between increases in suicide rates and harmful media portrayals of suicide." Ways in which the portrayals of suicide may cause harm, according to CMHA and CASP, include the following: "They may simplify suicide, such as, by suggesting that bullying alone is the cause; they may make suicide seem romantic, such as, by putting it in the context of a Hollywood plot line; they may portray suicide as a logical or viable option; they may display graphic representations of suicide which may be harmful to viewers, especially young ones; and/or they may advance the false notion that suicides are a way to teach others a lesson."[53][54]

One study found the release of 13 Reasons Why corresponded with between 900,000 and 1,500,000 more suicide related searches in the United States, including a 26% increase in searches for "how to commit suicide," an 18% increase for "commit suicide," and a 9% increase for "how to kill yourself."[55] A review, however, found that it is unclear if searching for information about suicide on the Internet relates to the risk of suicide.



 
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Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

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“13 Reasons Why” To Get A Warning Video


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Following the fallout and conversations about teen suicide as a result of “13 Reasons Why,” Netflix released a study on Wednesday about the show’s impact on young viewers.

Researchers for Northwestern University say that in their study, 71% of teens and young adults found the show relatable, and nearly 75% of teen and young adult viewers said the show made them feel more comfortable processing tough topics.

The show also had a good impact in that more than 50% of teens reached out to someone to apologize for how they had treated them, and nearly 75% of teens said they tried to be more considerate about how they treated others after watching the show.

In the wake of that, the network announced that it will put a warning video featuring the stars of the show before the first episode of each season. In the clip, the show’s stars tell viewers how to get help if they are affected by what they see on the show.

Additionally, the service will start a new after-show titled ‘Beyond the Reasons’ where actors, experts, and educators will break down the series which returns later this year.



 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

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Netflix Explains “13 Reasons Why” Renewal


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Netflix’s renewal of its controversial teen suicide drama series “13 Reasons Why” this week has raised some eyebrows and ire. The first season launched last year to much debate but some solid acclaim and reportedly strong numbers according to outside ratings measuring agencies.

However, talk towards the series soon began to sour and the recent second season was less well regarded critically and in audience polls. Online there were plenty of calls to end the series, and when the renewal announcement came through the advocacy group Parents Television Council released their own statement from its president Tim Winter:

“We condemn Netflix for renewing its teen-targeted suicide drama ‘13 Reasons Why.’ The company already potentially has the blood of children on their hands from keeping this series – with its graphic suicide scene, its sodomization of a teen boy and a potential school shooting, among other adult content – on its platform for children to view.”

Despite the backlash, the series remains one of the more popular series on the streaming service, and the streaming giant has responded in a recent call with CEO Reed Hastings saying: “’13 Reasons Why’ has been enormously popular and successful. It’s engaging content. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it.”

The third season of the series will premiere sometime in 2019.
 
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filmfan95

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Doctor Omega said:
Netflix Edits “13 Reasons Why” Suicide Scene

http://www.darkhorizons.com/netflix-edits-13-reasons-why-suicide-scene/
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Personally, if I had edited the scene, I would have changed it to be closer to the book, where she swallows a bottle of pills. I read that book quite awhile before the show was even filmed, and the "movie" I pictured in my head was a really sad scene with her passing out in a miserable mood, not realizing there was still a chance to find hope in life. The show's version where she cuts herself just seemed to be going too far, though it did perhaps make it look even more discouraging.

Ironically, the entire reason they changed it in the show to her cutting herself was because they wanted to make it look ugly and painful, so as to convey to the audience the idea of: "You don't want to do this. This is painful." But it didn't work because people still thought the scene encouraged suicide anyway, so the change ended up being pointless. And now that they're editing the scene out, it just proves to me all the more that they should have just stuck to the source material.
 
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