By Vicki Li ’18, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Netflix’s new original series, Thirteen Reasons Why, released on March 31, and rapidly rose in popularity amongst teenagers. Based on a book written by Jay Asher, the show picks up after the death of Hannah Baker, who leaves behind thirteen cassette tapes, each indicating a reason of why she took her own life. Though its original intent was to raise awareness about teenage suicide and to make the audience more cognizant of signs of depression, many people have interpreted it as the romanticizing and glamorization of suicide.

Mel Xiao ’18 sees Thirteen Reasons Why as a depiction of the “suicide revenge fantasy,” in which death is a final and successful reprisal to make people feel guilt and suffer under the consequences. It trivializes the permanence of death with the presence of a “surviving self” existing to observe others deal with the effects of his or her retaliation. Jenn Huo ’18 expanded more on this idea, saying that the show romanticized suicide, and it was under the pretense that, “if you kill yourself, people will come to realize their faults.” To both Xiao and Huo, Hannah’s suicide revenge is not only a myth, but an inaccurate representation of an important issue.

The show watchers themselves seem to stray away from the topic; many are more focused on ruthlessly bashing members of Hannah’s “thirteen” such as Courtney Crimsen, who spread extremely derogatory rumors about Hannah, instead of focusing on the spotlighted issue: suicide. Instead of preventing instances of bullying that could contribute to someone ending his or her own life, Thirteen Reasons Why is inadvertently providing more fodder for communal hatred, not communal understanding. People have latched onto the “humorous” moments of the show and spread them to popular culture. For example, in the show, Hannah repeats the phrase, “welcome to your tape,” after she introduces the subject of her tape. Social media has morphed her words into an internet meme, using Hannah’s phrase to respond to anything even slightly negative. It’s not a sin to find some parts of Thirteen Reasons Why entertaining and enjoyable, but it becomes a problem when a person’s pain devolves into someone else’s humor.

Suicide is a sensitive subject and is especially hard to portray in the entertainment industry. Thirteen Reasons Why is one of the first widely watched TV shows that centers on suicide with a teen audience, the age group among which suicide is the second leading cause of death. There will always be dissent on whether it is portrayed correctly, as depression is a highly personal issue that differs from person to person. Even if many audience members devote their attention on the show to their favorite characters rather than the cold reality of Hannah’s death, everyone who watches the show has to process suicide as an existing issue in the world. Though not as effective as it was thought out to be, Thirteen Reasons Why does bring attention, albeit a little misrepresentative, to the gravity of mental health.