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“13 Reasons Why” and Teen Suicide

By Sophia Beck
For this project, I wanted to write on each side of the issue, because while there was a
surplus of information that advocates against the show, I personally enjoyed the show. In two of
my editorials, I chose to do more personal arguments by establishing the ethos of a rhetor that
would be easy to identify with, such as a daughter’s letter to her mother, and a personal anecdote
from a person who survived a suicide attempt. I had fun using creative fonts of different sizes
and boldness, to suit the mood of my editorials and emphasize the importance of the claims. I
used pictures to further set the mood, like how I specifically chose a dark, somber picture of the
shows main character to preface the first editorial for the intensity of the topics that followed.
The issues presented in this topic are very relevant today, and I wanted to make sure my
editorials mimicked the popular style that many articles adopt right now: achieving a personal
connection.

Editorial 1: “Don’t Be Another Hannah Baker”

Position of Rhetor: Against the show and everything about it.
Venue: The Huffington Post
Intended Publication Date: January 2017
Audience: Teens that have watched the show, or may want to watch it.
Structure: Progressive
Appeals: This editorial flows through the appeal to logic. The argument shows the paradoxical
elements of the show: it poses to be a good advocate for teen suicide, but incorrectly displays all
aspects of it. Parentheses are used to add understanding.
Argument: The show fails to live up to its purpose of raising awareness for teen suicide in a
positive manner.
Call to Action: Don’t watch the show; there are other better ways to raise awareness about teen
suicide.

Editorial 2: “Dear Mom, Suicide is Not My Story”

Position of Rhetor: Against the show.
Venue: The Odyssey
Intended Publication Date: January 2017
Audience: Parents of teens who have watched the show or may want to watch it.
Structure: Progressive; starts out with a memory and then flashes forward to the issues of today
and how they unfold.
Appeals: The main goal of this editorial was to appeal to pathos. There is repetition of “Please
don’t” and “I promise” to emphasize the claims that the rhetor wants to make clear. The simile,
“your heart feels like a drum”, sets the mood and bond between the imagined author and her
mother, and therefore her intended audience. The imagined mother goes on to give her daughter
memorable words of wisdom which is use of sententia.
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Argument: The show does not define what really goes on in our generation.
Call to Action: Don’t watch the show.

Editorial 3 “Limiting Exposure to Topics of Suicide Doesn’t Save Lives”

Position of Rhetor: Advocate for the show in full. I wanted gender to be anonymous in this one
because I want ever reader to be able to easily put themselves in the situation described.
Venue: Huffington Post
Intended Publication Date: January 2017
Audience: Critics of the show
Structure: Classical form; starts out with basic information, goes into a narrative, dissects proofs
and draws a conclusion.
Appeals: Tone plays a big part in this editorial. I tried to make it seem confident, and almost like
he or she is saying, “Duh, of course I’m right”. The first sentence is a rhetorical question that
definitely adds to the sassiness of the rhetor. I added a personal anecdote for the imagined rhetor
to help appeal to pathos and make it easier for the audience to connect.
Argument: Putting limits on a show like “13 Reasons why” create a taboo appealing to teens.
This is bad because a show like this provides an outlet for people with suicidal thought without
having to harm themselves.
Call to Action: Don’t limit the amount of exposure in the media because people will just look
elsewhere to find it.
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Don’t Be Another Hannah Baker

Sophia Beck November 16,
2017

The popular television show of 2017 “13 Reasons Why” set out to raise
awareness about the fatality of teen suicide, but what it actually achieved is
far worse.

Above is a picture of the show’s main character, Hannah Baker, who

tragically kills herself after she is ruthlessly bullied at school. After her death,
she still lives on through thirteen tapes that she left behind to dramatically
unfold the specific reasons as to why she killed herself. The show’s purpose
is to initiate and encourage dialogue about the hard topic of cyberbullying
and teen suicide, but poorly implementing these topics led the show to fail
at any sort of positive affirmation.

It Romanticizes Suicide.
Not only does the show depict the way that Hannah kills herself with little
censorship, but the drama continues even after her death because of the
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tapes she left behind. To make matters worse, most of the shows characters
showed little remorse, if not irritation, towards the “girl who killed herself”. If
the producers really wanted show the reality of suicide’s devastation, they
wouldn’t have portrayed the characters as unforgiving and uncaring because
that just affirms the feelings that Hannah had before her death--that nobody
cared about her.

It Prompts Sympathy for Irrational Behavior.

The most unrealistic thing in this show is the fact that the series of tapes,
crucial evidence to the impending trial, were passed around for as long as
they were without any authority figure intervening. Not only is this illegal,
but the show portrays this as a necessary act for the students if they want to
stay out of trouble when in reality it would cause the exact opposite effect.
The show also sends the message that blaming others for our own mistakes
is okay. It seems that even though the tapes clearly state the person at fault
and why, the perpetrators won’t accept this and continue to avoid
responsibility for their own actions.

It Fails to Portray Any Form of Help.

The show progresses through the situations in which Hannah gets denied the
help she needs. She tries to voice her thoughts to her friends and people she
trusts on multiple occasions, only to be either ignored or laughed at. Her
parents are oblivious to what is happening in their daughter’s life and give
her blind trust to satisfy their own image of a perfect family. Hannah even
tries to go to the school counselor after she experiences being taken
advantage of only to be turned away due to lack of evidence and the
assumption of exaggeration given the circumstances (she was drunk). In a
real life situation, this would never happen. The producers say they wanted
to show the “realness” of what suicide holds, but all they do is instill the
thought that we are all alone and left to fend for ourselves.

There are other ways to open the discussion about suicidal ideation safely.
There are always other options than suicide and in the real world, help is
readily available.

Remember: You are not alone.

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Dear Mom, Suicide is Not My

Story
Sophia Beck
11/26/17

When I was a little girl, you

would always take me into the back yard
around lunchtime when the air was warm and
calm. We would sit on the porch swing together,
I on your lap, and look out at the garden. One time, I decided to rest my head
on your chest. “Mommy, your heart feels like a drum,” I said through a smile; I
thought I was clever.
You smiled and placed my hand on my own heart and told me, “Your
heart is the strongest drum there is. It keeps beating to remind you that you
are here for a reason. It can’t fulfill its purpose without you, and you can’t fulfill
your purpose without it.” I definitely didn’t understand what this meant then,
but it made enough of an impression to stick in my brain after all this time.
Whenever I feel sad, I always find myself coming back to this moment.
You have always been there to help me through all of the struggles that life
has put me through. I realize that I am one of the lucky ones; not everyone has
a support system like mine. In fact, some of the only consolation many teens
my age get is through the media. A new show came out called “13 Reasons
Why”, and at first, it seems like a show that gives people who otherwise don’t
have anyone, an outlet to express and see that their feelings are not
something to be ashamed of. I have watched the show, and as a girl who has
had someone like you to show me how to manifest my feelings the correct
way, it does nothing good for people who are hurting. You might be curious
about this show. Maybe you want to use it to compare strategies, or maybe
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you want to watch it to seem ‘hip’ and have something to talk about with the
other teens in my generation.
Please Don’t.
Please don’t watch this show, mom. There are so many different things
that happen to this girl, from cyber-bullying to rape, that would be too much
for you to see. Watching this show doesn’t add anything to the situation. All it
really does is solidify how helpless you are as a viewer watching this girl (who
isn’t all that different from me) suffer.
That being said, I don’t want you to worry, mom. She is not me. Let me
reassure you that unlike the girl in the video, I have a mom that cares probably
too much. It is because of this that I am able to take some of the dramatic
points in the show and turn them into what they should be.
Suicide should not be a game of revenge. I promise to take what you
have taught me and focus my energy on helping those who may not even
know they need it. I promise that if I ever feel as hopeless as the girl in this
show that I will come to you, and get help. If you do watch this show, please
keep in mind that it isn’t an accurate representation of what my life as a
young teen is.
Suicide is not my story.

Love, Your Daughter.

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Limiting Exposure to Topics

of Suicide Doesn’t Save Lives

Sophia Beck
10/12/17

Did you hear that, critics? When you take away exposure from topics like suicide,
you instantly label them as taboo, which makes them all the more appealing to a
teenager. That’s just a fact. I’m here to argue that: maybe showing details about suicide
isn’t a bad thing. For one, it starts conversations that may have been previously hard to
talk about. It also helps portray the illegitimacy of thoughts that someone considering
suicide is going through, like: no one cares, everyone is out to get me, I can’t find help,
etc. Shows like “13 Reasons Why” may come off as glamorizing suicide but really they
are just depicting the drama that actually goes on inside someone’s head when they have
suicidal thoughts. I should know. I was one of them.
In fact, I had an experience so vivid and gruesome that it actually helped me
realize that living really would be the better answer. I felt like my life was a mess. I
dropped out of college to be able to just go straight into the work industry and make
money but I ended up at a dead-end job that paid next to nothing. My family refused to
talk to me because they had spent big bucks to keep me in college and I bailed. The only
thing that didn’t look at me with
disappointment was my pet dog, Sam. But even
that wasn’t enough sometimes. One night, I got
into a fight with my mom and I decided I just
couldn’t go on. I slammed the door to my small
beat up bathroom and locked it. I decided to
take half a bottle of tylenol pills chased down
with whiskey. As I was sitting there waiting for
the effect to kick in I heard whining on the
other side of the door. It was Sam. It was then
that I thought: If I die, who will take care of
him? I couldn’t just leave him there I had
forgotten to feed him dinner. I quickly made myself throw up the half digested pills and
hugged my dog as I called poison control. He saved my life.
This is exactly the kind of thing the show “13 Reasons Why” tries to make other
people realize, without having to go through a traumatic experience like I did. If
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anything, the gore in the show is protecting the future youth from having to learn the
sad truth about suicide the hard way. It gives suicidal teens the validation they need to
eventually realize that killing themselves is not going to make the world a better place.
People are still going to be assholes, whether you are living or not, and the only way to
make your world a better place is by getting help and changing it yourself.
Whether it is my story or someone else’s, you can’t deny them the right to share
the experience that they have gone through. It gives an alternate point of view to those
people who really have thought about it. If you want to save lives, promote real
experiences, not limitations.
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Works Cited

Erlangsen, A. “Media Reporting on Suicide: Challenges and Opportunities.” Acta

Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 17 Aug. 2013, doi:10.1111/acps.12132.

Feuer, Vera, and Jennifer Havens. “Teen Suicide: Fanning the Flames of a Public Health

Crisis.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 56, no.

9, Sept. 2017, pp. 723–724., doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2017.07.006.

Niederkrotenthaler, T., et al. “Role of Media Reports in Completed and Prevented

Suicide: Werther v. Papageno Effects.” The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 197, no. 3,

31 Aug. 2010, pp. 234–243., doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.074633.

Schrobsdorff, Susanna. "What It Feels Like When All Your Parental Nightmares Are

Rolled into One TV Series." Time, vol. 189, no. 19, 22 May 2017, p. 56. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=122983441&site=ehost-live.

Scott, Alev. “Are Trigger Warnings More Harmful than Taboo Subjects?” FT.com, 31

Mar. 2017, pp. FT.com, Mar 31, 2017.