Thirteen Reasons Why is a new show produced by Netflix, and they came out with it just recently. The show is based on a book written by Jay Asher in 2007. After ten years, we can finally see an on-screen adaptations. I was looking forwards to this for so long that I spent most of my time this weekend watching, just like I’m sure many other people did.
Both the book and show follows seventeen-year old Clay Jensen as he listens to seven tapes saying thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker committed suicide. Each reason is based on an individual person as Hannah explains how that person was involved in her taking her life. The show does a great job at following the storyline of the book, except for the addition of a sub-plot in the show. The sub-plot really shows the pursuing consequences of Hannah committing suicide, something that the book did not do. Personally I really like the sub-plot in the show because that’s where we see a story following Hannah’s suicide.
The book in itself demonstrates the causes of suicide, and how you treat a person really does matter. Hannah was mistreated by a lot of people in her life, and she never really had someone to go to as a friend, causing her to feel lonely. The readers learn how sometimes when you probably don’t mean anything by a little action, it may cause a big pain to someone else. You learn that you can truly hurt someone deeply, even if those weren’t your intentions. While the show, as I said earlier, shows how everyone was affected by Hannah’s suicide. There’s a court trial in the show with Hannah’s parents suing the school, how Clay is trying to create justice for Hannah and trying to make everything that went wrong go right. We also see Clay trying to say the truth of why Hannah killed herself. The sub-plot bothered me at first, but now I see the importance of putting the original story line along with the sub-plot together for the show.
Ultimately, you learn that suicide is real. It is something real that cannot be ignored. Suicide can be completely avoided if people are willing to be nice and help other people. You have to be nice to others, you have to show that you can be there for them, and you have to want to help them. There’s a scene in the show were Clay explodes because he’s mad at everyone that their actions is what led to Hannah clearly killing herself. He says that now that she’s gone is when everyone is trying to appear nice to her and show that suicide is not an option. And that’s completely true. Often times, we don’t see how we can truly be hurting someone, and it can all build up if we can help one another instead. By help, I also mean that sometimes mental illnesses can be a cause. Instead of making people feel bad for who they are, we have to be there for them no matter what.
