Recently, Netflix released a new series based off the popular book 13 Reasons Why. For those who aren’t familiar, this story is about a girl who has committed suicide and left a set of tapes behind that explain the 13 reasons she decided her life must end. Clay Jensen, the girl’s crush is the person to find these tapes next, but eventually he realizes he is not the only one whose heard them. Each person mentioned on the tapes must listen to them.
Considering the popularity of the book, it’s no surprise that a film adaptation would be put into production. However, Netflix surprised us all by instead making it a series. Personally, I’m weary of both series and movies based directly on books because in most cases in not, the book will always be the better of the two. And I’m not saying this isn’t the case. However, this series got it right.
With the topic of suicide so touchy and relevant in modern society, I half expected this series to overtly preach on the issues of bullying and depression in high school. Though using this show to send a message is important, preaching it is mostly uninfluential because it has poor persuasion and merely criticizes its viewers. Thankfully, 13 Reasons Why realized this and took another approach.
There are a few things the show did that make it, overall, a necessary experience. First, they had a strong cast selection. Many of the actors in the show are not low grade, unconvincing actors. In fact, they are the opposite. Each character was so believable that they could bring a tear to my eye in under a minute. They dealt with extremely delicate issues with grace and talent, making the overall product fluid.
Next came the music. The show has one of the best soundtracks I’ve experienced in a long time. Music is the ultimate mood setter, so having the soundtrack can make or break a show. 13 Reasons Why’s soundtrack is a mix of indie rock, oldies and touching new songs that blend perfectly together and with each scene they are placed. As a result, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack since I started the show, which really shows its effect.
Possibly the most important thing that made 13 reasons why such a success is the overall way the show is set up. It’s not a suicide prevention commercial, but rather a story about a girl who, after experiences horror after horror, decided life was not worth it. This show sticks to that story and lets the subtext send the real message. It holds nothing back, which makes the show more addicting and painful to watch at the same time. For some scenes, I felt as if I had to cover my eyes and cringed at the screen, but I couldn’t. The show has no mercy and that’s what makes it so good at the end of the day. With this, they don’t need to preach about the issues of suicide and bullying, instead the show will do it for them.
