Skip to main content

Responce to the blog 'Why a Show “Discouraging” Suicide Caused Suicides"


siddhu

for the final overall grade


While I agree to most the arguments, I do have a differing view to a few mentioned in the article.

The article is correct in mentioning that in the clutter of TV programs, movies, social media, everyone and especially content creators are fighting a battle for views. Hence, there is a huge pressure for any new show to create a ‘shock value’ to gain high viewership. ‘13 reason why’ was no different and it was pretty successful in this aspect as it was one of the most tweeted shows in 2017. Also, the producers are working on the 2nd season of the program indicating the reasonably good viewership for season 1.

The article mentions that the “The overall negative impact of the show overshadows the minimal positive effects, rendering it entirely counterproductive to its goals.” While it true that the online searches for suicide mentions went up significantly during and after the show, but the show created awareness about the causes leading to suicide. It is important to note that the show is not a documentary on various issues which could possibly lead to suicide or suicidal thoughts and hence the need to create a shock value. Had it been a staid documentary, I am sure we would not have been talking about the series.
It is important to mention an key point that in today’s time, despite all the progress in healthcare, we are still not comfortable to talk about mental wellbeing related topics like depression, slut shaming, bullying, etc openly. It might seem obvious that after an accident, you go to a doctor to get treated for the wounds but if you require mental support after an incident, it continues to be a big no-no. Even today, going to a psychotherapist is still seen as a stigma or mental imbalance. Also, it is not that there is ample evidence that shows like ‘13 reason why’ did result in a sharp increase in suicide rates. However, suicide rates have been on the increase in various countries and one of the key reasons is that we don’t have enough conversation to understand the underlying issues. Good or bad, shows like ‘13 reasons why’ force the various parties – parents, educators, friends to take notice of the issues and hopefully start talking. I think that the show gave us a ‘wake-up call’ and forced us to look at the ugly issues which completely destroy a teen. As there is stigma attached to talk about mental wellbeing, only a higher level of conversations can prepare the teens to be ready and handle various issues.

While I am not in favour of showing graphic details of the suicide as it might ‘inspire’ impressionable minds, but accordingly to the writers and I hesitatingly accept the logic, showcasing such graphic details was important to break the impression that suicide is about popping a pill and having a peaceful death but the whole process can be an extremely painful affair. There are now stories on few news portal which mentions about teens turning away from suicide after seeing the pain involved. In fact one of the writers changed his mind about committing suicide once he got to know how painful the whole process could beThe other important aspect that has been overlooked about the show is a Netflix commissioned study done by Northwestern University’s Center on Media and Human Development. The purpose of the survey was to understand how young adults watching the streaming show felt about what is depicted in Hannah's story.
Some of the insight makes for an interesting argument against the article. According to the study, 78% of viewers believed that the series helped them understand that their actions can have an impact on others. 73% decided to be more considerate about how they treated other people following their view of season 1. 51% percent said they reached out to someone they hurt after being inspired by Hannah and Clay's story.
To conclude, I am divided about the impact the show has created but I am glad that any conversations sparked will only help in creating more awareness and help in dealing with the issues and hopefully resulting in saving of more lives in the future.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysing “Anniyan”: Dissociative Identity Disorder meets Personality Disorders

Pranaya Prakash In the movie “Anniyan” (Shankar, 2005), the protagonist Ramanujam Iyengar, also known as Ambi, is the host of his alters: Remo and Anniyan. While the focus of the movie is only on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), the host, Ambi, and the alter, Anniyan, show symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), respectively. In this blog post, I attempt to critically analyse the portrayal of DID and the possibility of the protagonist having comorbid Personality Disorders. While it is highly unlikely for individuals with DID to have comorbidities with Personality Disorders ( Antisocial Personality Disorder ), especially with OCPD and ASPD (Fink, 1991), it is interesting to think of the possibility and analyse the developmental trajectory of these individuals.  The movie starts with the character development of Ambi, a lawyer who is meticulous and very particular ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hardin's trauma

“After”, is a 2019 teen romantic drama directed by jenny gage that revolves around the love of  Tessa, an inexperienced teenage girl, with Hardin, a mysterious ‘bad boy’ . Hardin, the main male character, never had a secure relationship with his father. When Hardin was young, his father used to be an alcoholic with a lot of debt. When he was just eight years old, intruders broke into his home looking for his father for money, however, there was only Hardin and his mother. The intruders forced themselves on Hardin’s mother, and Hardin, who was sleeping then, came downstairs to see what was wrong. To Hardin’s shock, his mother was being raped by three men, one by one. Hardin’s mother told him to leave, however, one man forced him to watch everything.  I would assume that Hardin has PTSD as a result of this incident, and in this paper I will try to prove it. Symptoms of PTSD and scenes that prove Hardin had it: The person subsequently re-experiences the event through both intrusi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Patrick Jane a psychopath?

Under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Psychopathy was never recognized, until the revised DSM-5 categorized it under Anti-Social Personality Disorder. “He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with his presence” (Hare)  Psychopaths can replicate the behavior which the person they are interacting with thinks they want from them, without feeling a thing, which contributes greatly to their ability to manipulate. Psychopaths charm and lie their way seamlessly to the top, and while they lack empathy, they are well-liked because they know what to say and when to say it. Psychopaths occupy most of the positions of power in our society and corporations and thus often end up being glorified. This glorification of psychopaths is most evident in the portrayal of psychopathy in TV shows. Some of the most notable characters which the screen has ever seen, like Marlo Stanfield from ‘The Wire’, James Moriarty from ‘Sherlock’, Hanni...
Post a Comment
Read more