Film criticism misses point: teen

Rotorua 15-year-old says youth suicide issues exposed in movie should be discussed more, not hidden away

Kiwi teen Anais Lawson says the media has misunderstood 13 Reasons Why, the unsettling Netflix series that depicts the events leading up to a teenage girl’s suicide.

The Rotorua 15-year-old took issue with Saturday’s Herald feature on how young Kiwis were coping with watching the show.

In a letter to the editor, published yesterday, Lawson said she wanted teen suicide and its causes to be discussed more, not hidden away.

“You focused your article around the fact that this show was not okay for teenagers to be watching when the real issue is what is happening to teenagers in order to get to the point where they feel like there is no way out,” she said. 24/7)

Psychologists and the media have weighed in, with many concerned that 13 Reasons Why lacks a message of hope at the end.

But Lawson says the focus should be on the missed oppor- tunities where people could have intervened to help the protagonist, Hannah Baker, before she got to the point of suicide.

She hopes the series will stop many bullies in their tracks when they realise the damage they can do.

“Around 3.2 million kids are bull- ied around the world every year and that’s just the ones we know about and it’s not okay. “We need people enforcing this fact everywhere and parents talking to their kids about if they are bullies and teaching them how to behave, not asking them how they felt after watching a TV show.” Speaking to the Herald, Lawson said the show’s final episode, where Baker commits suicide, was “an eyeopener” and agreed some young people would find it unsettling. New Zealand’s censor’s office has created an entirely new classification for 13 Reasons Why, labelling it RP18 requiring an adult to be present while viewing. Lawson, who attends Rotorua Lakes High School, told the Herald just about everyone she knows has already watched the Netflix series. “It has brought serious attention to the subject. It was more a joke before; now it’s serious. It is easier for us to open up to each other about stuff.”

Lawson is one of many who are rewatching it with their parents.

“I’ve been talking to my mum a lot about it. She asked me if I thought it made me have the idea but it was almost the opposite, like, oh my God, I could never do that to myself.”

Her mother, Cate Mills, said watching the show together gives parents a platform to have difficult conversations; about social media, bullying, depression and peer pressure. It has given her a useful insight into what today’s teens face.

In one episode, a revealing picture of Hannah is sent around the school via social media.

“That moment made me think, oh my God, if somebody sent round a picture of me that looked like that I’d be devastated. It was really shocking as a parent,” Mills said.

She said each parent would know whether their teen could handle the series’ message, but if kids wanted to watch they would find a way.

“It’s scary as a parent that they may be watching it in isolation.”