13 Reasons Why is a widely talked about TV show executive produced by Selena Gomez.  It is about a girl named Hannah Baker who took her own life. After her death a classmate of hers, Clay Jensen, found a box filled with 13 audio tapes that she had recorded herself. Those tapes explained why she did it and Clay slowly discovers that everyone on the tape, including him, was the reason why.  

Some people argue that this TV show is not appropriate for the target audience since it’s very blunt and straightforward. The show has some graphic scenes that portrays rape and self harm which a lot of people argue are too much and they’re promoting those two very serious topic to something to be played around with.  

However a lot of people also argue that portraying self harm and abuse so directly is the only way to make teenagers realize what’s really happening in the real world. Some teenagers have the mind set of ‘this will never happen to me’ or ‘there’s such a small chance anything like that will happen’ but what they don’t realize is, that it happens more often than they would like to accept.

I decided to ask some people who are fans of this show to state their own opinion and this is what they replied with:

(Poon): I think that 13 Reasons Why is a really powerful show that sheds light on a topic that is still taboo in society today. It forces people to have conversations about this stuff and that could potentially save lives. It is such a well written show and it has such a good message, so I really enjoyed 13 Reasons Why.

(Darin): 13 Reasons Why was for sure a show that was really talked about, even before it came out. Everyone was excited because of the cast, because of the producer (Selena Gomez!) and because the book was really amazing and powerful. The show itself didn’t disappoint either. I think what made it so popular was how honest and raw it was. There were scenes that showed rape and suicide and didn’t hold back on the graphics. At times, it was extremely hard to watch because of that, but it made it seem more real and it made me realize that things like this are happening in real life. The characters in the show are also widely talked about – everyone hates Courtney and Marcus, for example! They are all extremely complex and all have their own backgrounds and stories that are not explored deeply throughout the plot line, but that are shown to us throughout the TV show in bits and pieces, giving us a sense of who they are as people. The show makes you question all of your own actions, and anything that you’ve ever said to anyone. It makes you realize that the things you do and say can have a profound and lasting impact on someone. I think that’s what makes the show so powerful and unique – somehow, it has the ability to reach out to people on a deeper level than other shows do. At the same time, of course there are flaws. Some of the characters that are supposed to be the heroine can be absolutely infuriating, but this is also an element of the show that people live with. Overall, this is one of those shows that is worth watching, and I think people should.

(Taylor): I feel like 13 Reasons Why allowed us to start the conversation on countless issues. Firstly the topic of rape, which isn’t really discussed along people my age it allowed us to actually have discussions about the topic along with share our opinions on the topic. Furthermore, it started the conversation about mental health and made a lot of people my age realize the importance of the negative words we say. overall this show made me realize how important the things I say are and really helped started a conversation among me and my friends.

Personally I think that this TV show did the right thing. By showing such graphic scenes will open the eyes of a lot of viewers what is actually happening to some girls or guys out there. Some may argue it ‘glamorizes teen suicide’ but I think the producers were just trying to show what goes on in one’s head and why they actually take their own life.

In conclusion everyone has their own opinion about this TV show, some may think it’s too blunt and young audiences shouldn’t be seeing this kind of content on television yet but some may think it has to be blunt just because people need to be aware of everything that’s happening to young girls around the world. What’s your opinion?

Angie Winter