Review by Judah Breitbach
Welcome to your tape, Netflix addict. Whether you were deeply afflicted by the ‘Netflix Original Series,’ ‘13 Reasons Why,’ shrugged it off in apathy, laughed at it in derision born of understanding the plot more than you should, or have yet to watch it, this tape, or article, rather, is for you.
Storytelling is a complex art. If of a high enough quality to be considered art at all. Sometimes that art takes literal meaning; storytelling with a purpose other than to inform. So it goes with the ‘13 Reasons Why,’ a ‘Netflix Original Series.’ The series is loosely based on a book which is beyond the scope of this review.
The premise is a simple one. Hannah Baker is a junior at Liberty High School, where she experiences normal high school life. Or what could be argued as normal. Perhaps normal isn’t all basketball games, winter dances and putting together a yearbook. Maybe that’s exactly what it is.
Whatever Hannah perceived as normal drove her to suicide.
Don’t worry. That isn’t a spoiler. You’ll find this out only a few minutes into episode one; otherwise titled “Tape 1, Side A.” Each side of each cassette is dedicated to people who impacted her enough to slit her wrists while lying shoulder deep in a bathtub quickly filling with a blood and water mixer.
These are acknowledged facts in the series. The story Hannah sought to tell with her tapes wasn’t to surprise anyone with another bout of teen angst. But rather, the story her collection of tapes tells is of the 13 people who, consciously or not, influenced her to choose a self-inflicted death.
The seemingly simple plot is interwoven with subtle, yet not complex, forerunners of the end of the series. In other words the end of her junior year and her life. The writing is worth spending time watching and dissecting. Some fans of the book have noted that the ‘Netflix’ series digresses from the scope of the book. Perhaps even going so far as to glorify ignoble acts.
Hannah Baker may have been broadcasting over an old medium, a cassette tape. I may be writing this for a medium equally as old, a newspaper. The antiquated value of our respective forms of communication is where our similarities end.
I can’t relate to Hannah. But maybe you can. I feel like I have more in common with a few of the 13. Maybe you feel the same. Maybe such a remark is crass, insensitive, or possibly even a brash supposition of empathy that simply exposes ignorance.
Your opinion of the show is your own, however, should you chose to be involved in it, click play with an open mind. Maybe even consider your position at school, work or in your family. Are you a positive catalyst?
Let’s not lose the brevity of the situation, however. After all, Hannah Baker is dead. Or is she?
She may still be recording. We may still be able to help her. Someone else you know may need help. Maybe it’s you. If this is the case, please call the 24- hour National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Peninsula College’s Guidance Counselor, Sandi Macintosh can be reached at (360) 417-6490, or at room D116.