It seems that I get the unfortunate task of talking about 13 Reasons Why and the suicide that was associated with the show.
Well, if you're looking for something somber, this is it. Here we go.
It seems that I get the unfortunate task of talking about 13 Reasons Why and the suicide that was associated with the show.
Well, if you're looking for something somber, this is it. Here we go.
The heartbreaking story of teenager Hannah Baker, who kills herself and then leaves a bunch of tapes behind for her classmates detailing the reasons for taking her own life.
Since it came out, it feels like it has been in the news since day one.
It's dark, it's gritty and best of all, it's real.
The two started to watch the show when it first aired in 2017.
And this was only after watching the first couple of episodes.
Why? Because her daughter was suffering from mental health issues, including bipolar disease.
That the show, which some have accused of glamorizing suicide, would be harmful to her daughter who already had so many unfortunate afflictions.
Little did Joyce know how right she would be...
She had continued to watch the show, against her mother's wishes, and ended up taking her own life in the same manner as the main character of 13 Reasons Why.
She told Buzzfeed News that she was the one who discovered poor Emily.
She got PTSD from it and that she's certain that it was the show's influence that finally pushed her daughter over the edge.
When they first came out with the series, they argued about taking the scene where Hannah kills herself out of the show.
The producers, specifically producer Joy Gorman, told Buzzfeed News that they wanted to keep the suicide scene in because:
“I feel like kids need to know that a lot of what they go through is universal.”
A noble cause, truly, however, it had disastrous consequences in the end.
In an interview with Vanity Fair:
“It seemed to me the perfect opportunity to show what an actual suicide really looks like — to dispel the myth of the quiet drifting off, and to make viewers face the reality of what happens when you jump from a burning building into something much, much worse,”
In order to prevent something like this from happening.
However, it's been two years since the premiere, so how many more lives have been destroyed by this?
Joyce's.
“It’s destroyed my family and we are still piecing our lives back together,” she said.
“Even knowing that they had doctors that were aware and told them not to show it prior to the show premiering, why would they go forward with that?”
Sure, the show could've influenced Emily's decision, but from what my research has told me she had been struggling for some time.
Mental health professionals have come out and said that anyone with mental health issues should not in any way engage with the show 13 Reasons Why, for now obvious reasons.
A kind of trigger warning for those who might be affected by it.
Joyce certainly thinks that it is the show's fault, because she told sources that:
“I truly believe that that [show] was the final thing that kind of just pushed her over the edge.”
And instead of a graphic thirteen-minute scene, they've replaced it with a shortened version, where it leads up to the moment of truth...
They then proceed to mourn her death for the short remainder of the season.
And that will be the end of Season 1 of 13 Reasons Why from now on.
However, it's very doubtful that the grieving mother will be watching a show of that kind any time soon, considering her loss.
Well, this isn't enough to bring back her daughter. She said:
“I guess it’s them owning that they did the wrong thing,” she said. “I kind of thought, how much should they own other people that have taken their lives?”
She has four chilling words for the producers:
"Too Little, Too Late".
Should the producers have been more conscious? Or can we really blame art for anything?
Whatever you believe, we can all agree on one thing: this is truly a heartbreaking occurrence.