Controversy On The TV Show '13 Reasons Why'

As a teenager myself, I’ve watched plenty of different movies and TV shows, however, I don’t remember any of them getting as much attention and controversy as ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ did. This show was a concern for many people about the things it talked about, such as rape, suicide, self-harm, and depression. Not many shows decide to take upon themselves to portray such taboo topics in them, however, I believe it should be discussed more often.

First of all, ‘13 Reasons Why’, is a TV show, based on a book, written by Jay Asher in 2007, that came out in the early 2017, and is about a girl, named Hannah Baker, who committed suicide and decided to leave thirteen tapes behind her with thirteen different reasons on why she decided to kill herself.

In the show, there is a graphic scene that portrays the way Hannah commits suicide.
The altercation that was surrounding the show, was the fear of copycat effects. Due to this, many schools have sent out emails to parents, informing them about the show and to encourage their kids not to watch it. Some schools have even banned this show from being able to be watched and/or talked about on campus even.

At this moment, there have been a few reports about teenagers copying the way that suicide was portrayed in this show, however I believe that this show wasn’t the reason those people decided to commit suicide, however, that it could have just been an idea on how to do something they wanted to do for a while

And generally, if someone tries to break different taboos, there can be a lot of quarrel around it.

‘Thirteen Reasons Why’, tried to break the taboos surrounding these three things, however, the way they portrayed them was a way to also reinforce those taboos and stereotypes that are formed around it. I believe that ‘13 Reasons Why’ was trying to do the right thing by trying to break these taboos.
As a teenager who has struggled with depression, I disagree with the belief of ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ having to be banned and discouraged to be talked about. I believe that this show accurately portrays the feeling and the struggles of a teenager, even if it means reinforcing the stereotypes and taboos. In the show when Hannah tried to reach out after being raped, she was blamed for it and was told to move on.

I, myself have encountered situations like this. I know people who struggle and have struggled with depression, and once they tried to reach out and seek help from others, they would get shut down from others, and they would get told that they’re self-harming for attention and that they’re not actually depressed, but momentarily sad and that they should simply move