13 Reasons Why 8 Reasons It's Groundbreaking And 7 Reasons It's Not

All you've been seeing on social media these days are people discussing the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why. From some saying they love it to others saying that it's the worst, there are no shortage of opinions about this controversial show. It can be hard to sift through the polarizing reasons, but there might be just as many reasons why the show is groundbreaking as there are reasons that it isn't. It focuses on tragic subject matter that at times is hard to watch because of its raw honesty, but chances are you've had time to decide whether you think the show is important or not. It might increase the risk of contagion ending on one's life, but it also might shed light on the serious issue of victim shaming. The show is totally flawed, but what show isn't? Here are eight reasons why it's groundbreaking and seven that it isn't. You can decide how you feel about it, of course.

15 Yes: The Characters Are Complex

These are characters you relate to and feel sympathy for. You understand them because you've gone through what they've gone through. Sure, there are a few stereotypes, like the mean jocks and popular girls, but there are several layers to even characters that seem to be one dimensional at first. Justin is more than just an ignorant jock. He's a bad person in some ways, but we see he comes from a troubled home life that alters who he is. It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it can make us relate to him at the same time. Your compassion for everyone grows immensely as we learn who they are and what has caused them to make their mistakes, and it's rare for a show to have such realistic and understandable characters. This show is groundbreaking because it reveals so many sides to characters that maybe we see ourselves in, and it's why it's hard to tear your eyes away from the screen.

14 No: It Might Glamourize Ending Your Life

The argument that many are holding against 13 Reasons Why is this: does it romanticize taking your life? Maybe. Did the show sensationalize ending your life? For youth that aren't mature enough to handle the content logically, then perhaps. Teenagers are notoriously melodramatic, thriving on heightened emotions and romanticized fantasies, and the series turns a tragedy into a grand gesture. In death, Hannah maybe got everything she wanted: love, guilt, sympathy. Or did she? She's dead, so not really. However, can the younger teenagers fully comprehend that her decision is permanent? She's never coming back. The finality of her decision might be overlooked by the reaction all those she deemed "guilty" gave her, which is why it seems as though the act of taking your life has been glamourized by the show that is taking the world by storm. Maybe it should have been treated more like a public health issue, but that's a little impersonal for a struggle that almost all of us faced in high school.

13 Yes: It Handles Time Artfully

We're introduced to the story a week after Hannah took her own life, so we're experiencing this world after this tragedy has happened. We see Clay listening to the tapes so there are flashbacks of Hannah's life and what happened on the tapes, and there are also scenes in the present day. It can be confusing at times, which embellishes the mystery, but the murkiness of time imbues the story with the power of hindsight. We experience an overpowering sense of regret along with Clay, which might have been part of the intended message. It's one of the reasons the show is groundbreaking, because the story is told in time intervals that allow us to understand why everything happened the way it did. While some of the more graphic scenes in no way can be artful, watching Clay learn what happened to Hannah while he reminisces of moments between them is heart wrenching at times.

12 No: Mental Illness Isn't Addressed Enough

This is the elephant in the room, making us question if this show is groundbreaking or not. Hannah's bullying experience leads the viewer to believe that bullying leads to choosing to take your life. While bullying does lead to trauma that can effect you for the rest of your life, it isn't the single cause that could lead to someone taking their life. It simplifies this act to say that, because in reality, everyone that takes their life has a mental illness that could have been treated with the right help. Mental illness isn't addressed in the show at all, leading to incorrect associations between bullying and taking your life. The show had a chance to tackle a topic that is still taboo, but it lost its opportunity in the drama. It would have been much more powerful if the show addressed mental health directly in one way or another, because it wasn't just Hannah who was struggling with mental illness.

11 Yes: Hannah's Narration Is Human

Her narration wasn't always reliable, and that's what makes it completely human. She isn't portrayed as a heroine that knew everything, she misjudged certain situations just like the rest of us would have done. The way Hannah saw the world wasn't the way the rest of them saw the world, and that's a truth we face every day of our lives when we interact with others. It makes the mystery more interesting, but more importantly, it gives her a humanity that ultimately makes her story more emotional for the audience. When you're in high school, is it possible to see the big picture? Not at all, and that is emphasized throughout the entire show. It's important that teenagers understand that, and the show definitely tried to approach the topic that we see the world differently than others. Hannah's narration was utterly human, and it goes to show that teenagers sometimes do feel like everything will last forever. Not many shows have ever tackled that reality.

10 No: Hannah's Act Might Look Like Revenge

Those that are advocating against the show are pointing out that creating the tapes and making a bit of a game out of it suggests that Hannah choosing to take her own life was an act of revenge. It needs to be emphasized that taking your own life won't get you what you want, and Hannah's reason behind making the tapes might have been cruel. Is it that different than making a note? Maybe, because she left the tapes with a purpose, as if they could achieve something. This implies that this act will do just that, achieve something. Hannah's introductory on each cassette, saying “welcome to your tape,” ultimately trivializes what she did, as the phrase has become a sweeping internet meme. The arguments that say Hannah's decision was an act of revenge are valid, but whether or not it was meant to come across that way might be a mystery. This is certainly a reason why the show would be the opposite of groundbreaking.

9 Yes: It's About More Than Just High School

While the show does centre around the main characters in high school, it also shows the impact of the tragedy on several levels. We see Hannah's grieving friends (and fake friends) but we also see the community around her struggling to recover from the heartbreak. Watching Hannah's parents deal with the grief while they try to drum up business for the family store, only to have people avoid them because of their pain, is powerful commentary on how what happened can effect a community as a whole. The show's focal point was the high school and how it effected the teenage characters, but it was groundbreaking how the writers displayed the raw pain of the rest of the community. It's truly more than just high school when a tragedy strikes a student, and it's rare to see the reality of that domino effect on television. 13 Reasons Why opens doors you didn't realize you needed to see.

8 No: It Might Suggest That Taking Your Own Life Is About Blaming Others

This is problematic for a large number of reasons. This act is a tragedy that alters people's lives forever, but it's nobody's fault. There is no clear linear path to why this happens, which is why 13 Reasons Why could be the opposite of groundbreaking. It can be argued that because Hannah was bullied, she ended her life. This leads to the idea that you have to blame others for your decision to end your life. It is a complicated issue in today's society, but it only makes it more complex to place the blame entirely on one person, or in Hannah's case, twelve people. People advocating against the show say it's harmful to see a person in this state of mind wanting others to feel guilty, instead of focusing on her thoughts and emotions to try and help herself. While bullying can lead to the decline of mental health, it is never the singular reason, which is why some people aren't comfortable with the show.

7 Yes: It's Unique

Netflix original programming has definitely never had anything like this before. A show can be considered to be groundbreaking if it's the first of it's kind, and 13 Reasons Why fits that description. It has the perfect blend of mystery and teenage angst that we can all remember, and it throws us back into the world of high school. There has never been a show that covers quite as many topics such as 13 Reasons Why from ending your life to assault to bullying and even the trying relationship between parents and their children. No matter what your stance on the show, it covers more issues in 13 episodes than most shows will cover in several seasons. It's a drama but you can argue that it's groundbreaking because it's the first of it's kind and it's stirring up such a reaction globally. It's getting people to talk about the issues, and that is always a really positive thing.

6 No: It Might Devalue Bullying

Everyone copes with bullying in their own way, but does it devalue bullying and ending your own life by saying that one leads to the other? Mental health advocate Alicia Raimundo has been quoted as saying, “Your bullying experience is valid even if you were never thinking about taking your own life, and your feelings of taking your life are valid even if you were never bullies.” It might continue the idea that bullying will automatically lead to ending your life, which is a harmful idea to perpetuate. Obviously bullying is a risk factor, but a risk factor is not a cause, and that should have been emphasized more in the show. Maybe it was portraying the fact that the teenage mind can't understand it's only a risk factor or that it won't last forever? It can be argued that the show devalues the experience of bullying, which would make it the opposite of groundbreaking.

5 Yes: It Doesn't Sugarcoat Anything

The show displays the raw cruelty of cyber bullying when Justin shows everyone the picture of Hannah. The horror of shaming and victim shaming for young girls is shoved right in your face, and it might even stir up painful memories. It doesn't try to hide the gruesome nature of an assault, and how it dramatically effects the victim, sometimes beyond repair. It goes without saying that it also portrays the grief of the people you leave behind when you choose to end your life, and the scene itself will shake the audience to their core. To summarize, absolutely nothing is sugarcoated in this show, which is something that rarely occurs on television. In that sense, the show is absolutely groundbreaking. It makes you think and starts a serious conversation, which is a rarity in television.

4 No: No One Helps Hannah

Similar to how the show doesn't address mental health as the main cause of ending your life, it also makes the situation of being mentally ill seem perilous. At no point does Hannah find adequate help, even when she seeks it out, and this implies to the viewer that her situation is hopeless. While it often feels that way, the show would have been more powerful and made more of an impact if she did find help. In reality, it can be extremely difficult to find good help when you're in that situation, and sometimes you won't find it because you don't have enough resources at your disposal. However, since the show does have younger audiences, it's almost inexcusable they implied that it's impossible to find good help. The show would have been more powerful and groundbreaking if there was at least one example of successful help seeking. It might not have changed Hannah's mind, but it would have made an impact.

3 Yes: It Addresses Victim Shaming

In many cases, victim shaming is more painful than the assault itself. When girls enter high school, they're starting to experiment with their desires, but this comes at a cost. Most high school environments involve a harmful degree of shaming, which is incredibly damaging to young girls. Creating this culture of objectivity to a young woman's body is why assault still happens. 13 Reasons Why is groundbreaking because it displays what many young women face when trying to come forward about an assault. Hannah was victim shamed, because many people still blame women for assaults. Questions like what were you wearing or did you really say no still rise in these serious conversations, which is why when it happens, girls like Jessica don't want to come forward. It's groundbreaking to see a television show address that tragedy. It's the grim truth about going through high school as a young woman.

2 No: It Might Have Violated Guidelines

Even works like Romeo and Juliet have been accused of glamourizing death and that doesn't necessarily mean the tale is going to increase the likelihood of someone ending their life. But this is a tricky subject. Research has revealed that when the media focuses on the details of a celebrity death for an extended period of time, it increases the risk of ending one's life and the ideation of the act. Essentially, advocates against the show are highly concerned about the vivid portrayal of Hannah's choice. It is a direct violation of the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, which states that risk of these attempts increases when a story explicitly describes the method. Graphic images will definitely increase the risk, the foundation says, which is why they're very concerned about 13 Reasons Why.

1 Yes: It Shows What Young Women Face Growing Up

When you're a young woman in high school, it's easy to feel like you don't have a voice. It's hard to defend yourself and protect yourself, especially when the patriarchy in schools can be overpowering. Young boys believe they have all the power in high school and in many unfortunate cases, they actually do. It's easy to relate to Hannah's high school experience when she is constantly being undervalued by the majority of her male peers. Even Clay doesn't get the big picture at times, like when he thinks Hannah should be happy that she made the hot list. Young women often grow up in a patriarchal community, no matter what size that community is, and it often makes them feel like they don't have power or a voice. It's rare to see a show highlight that experience, but 13 Reasons Why faces it head on. There are a lot of ways you can argue that the show is problematic, but it certainly tells the truth about what high school is like for young women, and that fact should definitely be celebrated.