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Entertainment May 20, 2020
if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably watched or at least heard of the Netflix show, “13 Reasons Why.” Today, Netflix dropped the first trailer for the fourth and final season of the show.
If you’ve been following the series, or at least, the media coverage around it, then you know the “13 Reasons Why” suicide scene from season one was retroactively edited and removed from the show in July 2019. At this point, the show had already been on Netflix for more than two years, making fans ask, “why are they cutting it out now?”
If you’re unsure of what the “13 Reasons Why” season one scene looks like, I’ll give you a little summary. Originally, the scene started with the main character, Hannah Baker, staring at herself in the mirror. It then showed her in her family’s bathtub, graphically cutting her wrists, wincing in pain and bleeding. Moments later, her parents come in, mortified as they find their child laying in the bathtub unresponsive.
Now if you watch the show on Netflix, the scene starts with Hannah staring at herself in the mirror and cuts straight to her parents finding her. I totally understand that this scene can be a little too gory for some people. Although, I don’t think completely removing it is the best way to go about this.
I’ll be honest, when the show first came out, I didn’t even want to watch it. I thought the show was glorifying suicide, and I didn’t want to support a series that did that. But I was completely wrong. When I actually watched the show, I realized that it did the exact opposite. The series shows how painful it is for the people who were left behind when someone commits suicide. It also shows how painful it is for teenagers who are having suicidal thoughts.
I liked this show for a number of reasons. Mainly, because it shows the ramifications of what might happen when parents don’t talk to their children. Deleting this scene only encourages parents not to talk to their children about hard topics. This “13 Reasons Why” season one scene being removed does not make it, “out of sight, out of mind.” That’s just not how it works.
While it has been reported that suicide rates in teens have spiked since the show came out, can we really link those two directly? We have no way of knowing if the teenagers actually took their own lives because of the show, and it could have been for any number of reasons. However, what we do know is that the show has sparked many conversations regarding the topics portrayed in the show.
According to CBS News, creator of the show, Brian Yorkey, had stated that their goal while making the show was to portray, “the ugly, painful reality of suicide in such graphic detail in Season 1 was to tell the truth about the horror of such an act, and make sure no one would ever wish to emulate it.”
Too often, shows forget to portray how painful it actually is for both sides when a suicide has occurred. The show’s writer, Nic Sheff, actually explained to Vanity Fair why he felt it was important to keep the suicide graphic. Sheff’s own suicide attempt has played a big factor in the way he has written this show.
This article by Psychology Today, explains how watching this scene does not mean your children are going to copy it:
“It’s a common misconception that asking about suicidal thoughts will somehow plant these thoughts. This leads many parents to avoid this topic. It is important for parents to know that no evidence suggests that appropriately asking about suicidal thoughts will increase the risk of developing suicidal thoughts.”
Well there you have it parents; this show is not planting the idea of suicide in your child’s mind. This scene is doing the opposite. All the pain and grief that is being shown, is real life. This is the only show or movie, that I know of, that actually depicts the truth of taking your own life. Removing this scene almost ruins the show. It has lost everything that it was created for.
With the final season of, “13 Reasons Why” debuting on Netflix on June 5th, suicide and other difficult topics are sure to be getting a lot of attention in the media very soon. It may be worth talking to your children now before the premiere.
To all the parents trying to shield their children from reality, just talk to your kids. That is the best thing you can do for them. Don’t blame a show for opening their eyes to something that you should have.
If you or anyone you know is suffering from thoughts of self-harm, please reach out to a number on this list of International Hotlines.
