Rape Culture on 13 Reasons Why
SPOILERS AHEAD
I’ll be honest, I wanted to hate this show. After 15 minutes of viewing I felt like I was watching a poor man’s Perks of Being a Wallflower with a knock off Charlie and all. My initial conception for this article was a con to Alex’s pro.
However, I got hooked and after two days (hah! Alex) I was finished.
But reading what Matthew and Alex had to say about the show put it all into perspective for me. The interesting thing was, although we all appreciated the brilliance of the show, we all got very different things out of it. For all of us there was the difficult and realistic portrayal of a whole array of mental health issues. I actually disagree with Matthew about the target audience though. As someone who has struggled with my mental health, I felt emotionally exhausted by the show, it didn’t open my eyes to things I didn’t know it ‘triggered’ in me feelings which I wanted to forget and actually left me feeling numb for a while afterwards. I think I’ll be having flashbacks to that suicide scene for years to come.
What really became clear throughout the show was that this wasn’t really about suicide, this was about rape culture. Alex is right to suggest that some people may watch the show and question whether the ‘thirteen reasons’ and serious enough for suicide. Matthew himself couldn’t get his head around why Hannah felt the need to do what she did until very late on in the season.
But that, for me, is the brilliance. Rape culture is not just about rape. To be a part of rape culture you do not need to be a rapist. When Alex (Standall, not Bach…) writes a ‘best of’ list for the school, including Hannah and her ass, viewers will dismiss it – as many of the characters do – as a bit of fun. To me though, it’s more than just her reputation and popularity at risk. That list is used as an excuse to outwardly and aggressively sexualise Hannah and her ‘assets’ from the early stages and we as the viewers often roundly ignore that. The list acts as a catalyst to a whole host of abuses and those that can’t see how it is directly linked to the Hannah’s eventual rape (and I say ‘eventual’ quite deliberately), should maybe rethink their understanding of rape culture.
Sure, Bryce is clearly an awful human being. A realistic rapist in every sense. The kind of guy you would say is probably popular with the ladies – heck, Hannah even had a fleeting crush on him in the first episode, remember that? Often charming, obviously entitled, welcoming and fun loving to his friends, he’s the kind of guy you’d say was ‘a bit of a dick but ultimately harmless’. But they’re often the ones aren’t they? The people whose outright dodgy behaviour we excuse because we know that they just like to get a bit handsy when they’re drunk.
But the thing is, there are thirteen reasons why, not just one and I genuinely believe that it’s important to understand that Hannah killed herself over rape culture not rape.
To me, the target audience is far broader. It will not be a comfortable watch for anyone. You will find yourself in different characters and maybe even question your motives, actions and behaviour. But I think there is a lot to be learnt from 13 Reasons Why and, for me, that makes it one of the most important shows out there.
- Tessa Ani
