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| Photo by Beth Dubber/ Netflix |
In "Science says 13 Reason Why may be the public health scare people thought", Megan Molteni (2017) shows the controversies surrounding the teen suicide mystery series, 13 Reason Way. Recent data by John W. Ayers and his multidisciplinary team of scientists look at all searches related to "suicide" then compared the result to the same time that the series had never been released, so they got the shocking result. There was an increase of 20 percent in suicide queries on Google searches during the 19 days following the show's release, third of them were for specific methods for ending one's life. However, It is very hard to say that this series attribute intention to those suicide queries as Sean D. Young said, but the result might adopt a new approach to further studies and the way researchers monitor and predict health issues in modern societies.
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My response
I came across this article in the Weird magazine online. I decided to write about this web television series because it was very quite popular in my society. I have seen it before, but not continuously. It is about the high school girl named Hannah Baker who committed suicide after suffering a variety of demoralizing circumstances brought on by her high school friends. She had recorded her thirteen reasons why she ended her life and sent these to her friends. I have never noticed how this series successful until I read the article that surprised me about current controversies this series has brought.
According to the article, the series has brought a lot of bad reputations about committing suicide. Parents sent messages to complain the graphic's reputations of suicide and rape. Psychologists wrote a counter argument about suicide portrayal guidelines. and also on the Tweeter. Johe W. Ayers uses what people search for on Google to show how the series influence on people in the suicidal aspect, and the result is quite unexpected. There were more than 11 million times in the three weeks following its premiere, and it was accompanied like "quick suicide,""how to kill yourself." I think nowadays it is very hard to believe media as accurate information. As Ayers said those comments were all based on deeply personal experience.
I agree with Sean D. Young that we cannot rely just on this information because it may not tell us if people search about suicide, they will take that it to the real world consequences. However, It quite sure that this is a good approach to adopt to monitor or predict health issue toward media that people use and also the media that people see such as TV Series. In the future, we could inhibit the bad situation. but not using just mental information but from what we search on the Internet.
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My question for readers
How much TV Show can influence on societies?
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- Molteni, M. (2017,May 17). Science says 13 Reason Why may be the public health scare people thought. Wired magazine. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/science-says-13-reasons-why-may-be-the-public-health-scare-people-thought/
- 13 Reason Why. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_Reasons_Why
13 Reasons Why is not the sort of thing I would normally watch, and when I first the promotions for it on NetFlix, I thought it sounded pretty silly. It was only after I learned of the fuss that it was causing, with some people calling for it it banned even, that I decided to watch it. I thought it was an interesting story, but about as awful as I had anticipated. I much prefer bloodier shows when I want to be entertained, but of course, 13 Reasons Why was also trying to be serious, to make viewers, especially young viewers I guess, think about the issues of bullying and abuse in schools. That's not a bad thing, and if it makes for an upsetting story, maybe that can be useful.
ReplyDeleteAnd stories of teenagers committing suicide are certainly not new: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet comes to mind immediately.
To respond more directly to Stamp's question for his readers, meaning us, I'm not sure how much TV influences society. I think perhaps it's more a reflection of society than an influence. Twenty years ago, I don't think this series could have been made. It was today's society that suggested 13 Reasons Why, not the other way around, although it can further the changes already happening by making them better known. And if making things known to a wider range of people in society can bring change, then perhaps the TV news shows are bigger forces for change in society than movies or series, since it is the news that presents new things that might really be radical in a society, along with documentaries and talk shows that bring controversial ideas to greater public awareness. Stamp's question is certainly an interesting one to think about and respond to.
I quite like the word reflection in your response, yes, of course, Most of the movies are made to reflect particular society. I also think that movies have possibilities to impact on societies more and more.
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