(silence)
- (Clay) Hannah...
I'm not going. - Oh. This is 13 Reasons Why.
- Oh, God. 13 Reasons.
- Welcome to your tape.
- (Clay) I'm not going. Not now.
Not ever.
- (Hannah) Why didn't you say this to me when I was alive?
- Whoa.
- Yep. I've seen it.
- (Mrs. Baker) My husband and I...
We never got a note. - Aw.
- Okay. This kills me.
- It's getting me to tears.
- (Hannah) Hey, it's Hannah.
Hannah Baker.
- Oh, poor Clay.
- (Hannah) I'm about to tell you the story of my life.
- Very dramatic.
- (Hannah) More specifically, why my life ended.
- Mm.
- (Hannah) And if you're listening to this tape...
- "You're one of the reasons why."
- (Hannah) ...you're one of the reasons why.
- Oh my god.
- (Justin) ...she saw, she lied about it on those tapes,
'cause she's a crazy drama queen.
- Dude. - (Justin) ...herself for attention.
- It's messed up.
- (boy) ...secrets, Mrs. Baker.
- (Mrs. Baker) Hidden secrets are what killed her.
- Yeah, with the suicide. That's pretty controversial.
- (Hannah) Maybe I'll never know why you did what you did.
But I can make you understand how it felt.
- ♪ This is a wild game of survival ♪
- Yeah, 13... I watched it. I watched all of it.
- It kinda relates to real life,
'cause a lot of kids are committing suicide,
being cyber-bullied or being bullied physically.
- (baby voice) Did you get to first base, Justin?
- Get off me. I'm not saying anything.
- (Bryce) Second? - (Justin) [Bleep] off.
- Toxic masculinity right there.
- (Bryce) Third?
- (Justin) Okay, assholes.
Picture's worth a thousand words. - Not cool.
- (Bryce chuckles) That's hot.
- Dude. What a jerk.
- (Bryce) Oh yeah, we're sending that shit around.
- (Justin) No. No, Bryce. - Such a dickhead move.
- (girl) Oh my god. Seriously, Justin?
- (teacher) People, phones.
(phone vibrating) Otherwise they're going away.
- No. No, no, no!
- (teacher) Thank you.
- Oh God, it's so upsetting.
- Seen that in my own school unfortunately.
- I couldn't imagine being at high school with the cell phones.
- This is the worst thing about
growing up in the age of technology. Nothing's private.
- That's real. That really happens with kids.
We've had issues or things we've been concerned about
with students where I work,
trying to make sure that they know what's appropriate.
They don't know.
- There's parts of the show that made me really mad,
that made me feel like it was glamorized and glossed over.
And then there were parts of the show that I really felt like
started conversations that we'd never had before.
- Did you tell him to stop?
- (Hannah) No.
- (counselor) Did you tell him no? - (hums sadly)
- (sighs) This is so heartbreaking.
- (counselor) Maybe you consented and you changed your mind.
- (Hannah) No, it's not like that.
- Oh my gosh!
- (counselor) Should we involve your parents or the police?
- (Hannah) No!
- (counselor) If you don't want to press charges
against this boy,
if you're not even sure you can press charges...
- Let him get away with it.
- (counselor) ...then there really is only one option.
- What's the option?
- (counselor) I'm not trying to be blunt here, Hannah,
but you can move on. - How can you move on?
- (counselor) ...you can move on.
- You can't move on. That's not really an option.
- (Hannah) You mean... - Nice counselor.
- (Hannah) ...do nothing?
- (counselor) If you won't confront him... - I can't hear.
- (counselor) ...then the only other choice is to move on.
- "Be a good little girl and go away."
- (Hannah) I need to move on and get over it.
- (counselor) Hannah, I didn't say get over it.
But sometimes that's the only other option.
- That's not true.
- No, there is another option.
- (Hannah) Okay, I know. (phone ringing)
- (counselor) Hannah, you can sit down.
You don't need to be in a hurry.
- (Hannah) I need to get on with things, Mr. Porter.
If things aren't gonna change,
then I just better get on with it, right?
- (Porter) Hey, Ha-- Hannah.
(door closes)
- The other option is, "Let's sit down and have a dialogue."
This is a peer counselor, I'm assuming.
This is somebody in a respected role
whose job it is to help these people.
- A lot of kids, they don't know that there are
some laws and regulations counselors cannot cross, you know?
Unfortunately, it's a loophole in our system.
- It's painful to watch.
I've had students come to me with some pretty heavy stuff.
I even had a kid yesterday,
just that he got thrown against the lockers, was in tears.
And I'm like, "You need to tell somebody."
- Look at these lockers.
They all look alike, right?
Not this one. - It's Hannah's.
- (Clay) This one is special.
It belonged to a girl who killed herself.
- (Courtney) Clay, come on. - Yeah.
They don't want to talk about it.
- (Clay) You see all these "don't kill yourself" posters
up on the wall. - Yeah, suicide prevention.
- (Clay) They weren't up before.
They put them up because she killed herself.
And why did she do it?
Because the kids here treated her like shit.
- You know what? Mental illness is why she did it actually.
- (Clay) But no one wants to admit it,
so they paint over the bathrooms and put up a memorial,
because that's the kind of school that this is.
Everyone is just so nice until they drive you to kill yourself!
And sooner or later, the truth will come out.
- He's right. He's absolutely right.
- It's a touchy subject obviously.
It's portraying what bullying can do.
On the other side, I can see why people are complaining
that it glorifies suicide.
- It's so important to talk about these things,
because we don't talk about it.
I worked in the news for five years.
We never ever do a story on a suicide
because it spawns more suicide.
Sadly, people think to get this kind of attention,
the fear is that this will spawn more behavior like that.
And that terrifies me.
- The suicide aspect of it kind of worries me.
My daughter who's in eighth grade
has watched the whole series and stuff,
and we've talked a little bit about it too.
It's good for us to talk about it.
I'm glad that it's something that, you know,
it kinda creates conversations.
- I don't know why it makes me tear up.
I don't think that parents realize the pressure
that they're putting on their kids now.
- (chuckling) Sorry.
It just breaks my heart.
We need to really address bullying.
We don't take action until it's too late.
- (FBE) Well, recently we had the teens cast here
react to the show as well. - Yeah.
- (FBE) And we wanted to show you some of their thoughts.
- Okay. Yeah, how do they feel about it?
- (FBE) So for you, are the issues
that the characters from the show go through
something that you can personally relate to?
- I'm interested to find out about this.
- (Reina) Now that social media's major... - Right? Social media.
- (Reina) People can comment about people's photos.
Like, "Oh, they're ugly. They shouldn't post that."
- (Sydney) Being on a web series, there are a lot of comments.
- Yeah. You put yourself out there
when you're on Adults React or Kids React
or Teens React for sure.
- (Seth) Someone in my class--
I think it was a year or two years ago--
actually killed themselves. - Oh jeez.
- We all know someone who's ended their life sadly.
- (Seth) When I first started watching the show,
it was really relatable,
'cause I saw how everyone in the show was--
was not aware of everything that they did until things happened.
And I think that was that was kind of... - Exactly.
- (Seth) ...relevant to what happened at my school.
- Right. - (Seth) Like, everyone
all of a sudden cared.
- That's interesting that he thinks
that the awareness is really important.
- I totally agree with him, because
a lot of suicides happen
because we do not pay attention to the very finest details.
And I think he relates to that,
because he had a similar experience with it.
- Each kid kind of took their own-- what they could from it.
You know, Seth had gone through it before.
And he had gone through it with his school.
So he's gonna take something out of it.
Everybody all of a sudden cares.
And then what happens when that caring goes away,
you still have kids that are struggling with it.
- (FBE) So there have been concerns from many,
including psychologists,
who feel that this show should not be watched by young people.
Some of the many reasons are that they feel
that it romanticizes the concept of suicide
and looks like a revenge fantasy and could make...
- I agree that I can see a lot of girls glorifying her behavior.
"Look at the attention it's gotten me.
Everyone will think about me now."
- (Leyla) I do think it almost glorifies...
- See, that's the other side.
- (Leyla) ...which is terrible to say. - Interesting.
- (Reina) After I watched it,
I was definitely not contemplating anything.
I was not thinking revenge is the best way to go.
I was thinking, "We need to stop this." - Yeah.
- (Reina) And I think it was more
of a public service announcement saying... - Yeah, exactly.
- (Reina) ...bullying can happen anywhere.
- (Will) With the show, it's an awareness. - Yeah.
- (Will) You never know what someone
could be going through at home.
- Right. - (Will) You should really
pay attention to it and the message behind it.
- Yeah. I agree with what he just said.
Pay attention to the message behind it.
- They're blinding themselves to the thing of going,
"Oh, you're glorifying suicide." Wait a minute.
Why isn't someone sending a thing home going,
"Hey, you should watch this, because if your kid's a bully,
this really points out what repercussions can come from that"?
- I'd be a fool if I didn't realize or think
that I haven't had contact with teenagers
that have had feelings, suicidal feelings for sure.
I understand the concern about romanticizing it.
Death is so final, and you will never know the consequences
of what you've done or how you destroyed people
around you for sure.
- It's great that you had the teenagers react,
because then it's teen to teen.
So now you have us as parents reacting.
And hopefully, you know, when we talk about it,
whoever's watching it, whether it be a teen
or maybe a teen with their parents,
they can understand that the parents have to be involved.
- (FBE) So these were all clips
from the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why.
So have you seen the show at all? - I haven't seen it.
I just watched a little clips that my daughter's shown me.
- I have not seen the show, but I know about all the issues
that are going on around the show.
- I've seen the first two episodes.
To be honest, it's just too hard to watch.
- I watched with my 16-year-old daughter and my 17-year-old son.
And watching it with them was, um,
really opened up the door for some interesting conversations
all about, you know, everything from bullying to, you know,
um, rape and what is consent and suicide.
- Yes.
The reason that there's such a... outrage or whatever
from parents is because
it's putting a mirror in front of their faces of saying,
"These are the issues that your kids are dealing with
that you're not."
We got an email from our son's school that said,
"Hey, this is being talked about and watched."
Parents are throwing a stink: "It glorifies suicide."
The funny thing is is I asked my son.
I said, "Are people talking about this show?"
And he's like, "Sometimes. A little bit."
The talk among their age group is not really that significant.
The talk is significant around parents.
- No, I've heard about it.
The junior high I teach at, like,
the kids were all talking about it.
One of my former kids committed suicide this year.
And so we had three suicides at our high school
and one attempted.
And one of them was a kid I've known since he was a toddler.
We've been going through this specific thing
in our district this year.
- (FBE) So the show deals with topics such as bullying,
the objectification of women, sexual assault,
and ultimately suicide. And these are heavy issues
that the show portrays as happening in high school.
Do you feel these are issues teens today have to face?
- Absolutely.
It actually is growing worse and worse with all the social media
exactly like what we've seen.
- For sure, especially in this day and age with phones.
I read somewhere that it's become more...
more prevalent nowadays than just regular bullying.
Because the person that cyberbulls can hide.
- Kids, teens are having all kinds
of conversations with each other.
Now it's all private. It's all personal. And anything can happen.
- Of course.
And thanks to 13 Reasons Why, we've been talking a lot about
suicide, mental illness, which is not really portrayed in this,
which I think is a real misstep, because that factors in.
- It's pretty realistic.
The kids that I know and work with and teach and care about
are-- they're under a lot of pressure.
The adults that are supposed to be there for them and help them.
The scene with the counselor, where he's rushed
and the phone is ringing and there's a lot going on,
but he's still wanting to do what's best for Hannah
as she's walking out of the room, I can relate to that.
- If parents are like, "My kid would never talk like that,"
then they're full of themselves. I mean, you know.
Just with language and behavior.
And my first year in junior high,
kids were sending pictures around of girls and stuff like that
that we were having to, like, nip in the bud.
- (FBE) And from your perspective as a parent,
is 13 Reasons Why okay for young people to watch?
- I think it is okay for young people to watch.
I don't think it glorifies suicide.
- I think there's an age group.
I don't think that someone that is impressionable
should be watching the show.
Parents should watch it with their teen,
regardless of what the teen thinks or the parent thinks.
They should watch it together.
As long as there's communication, I think it's fine.
- My daughter, who's getting ready to start high school, yeah,
it's good for her to watch and to talk about.
My daughter who's getting ready to start middle school,
I definitely wouldn't want her to watch it by herself.
I would like to be there with her.
It gives them feelings and emotions
they can definitely relate to.
- If there is a time where a parent and a kid
would sit down and watch this episode,
then this would create a conversation
between the parent and the kid.
And this is a healthy discussion.
- I love anything that sparks debate and sparks conversation,
because it's just an avenue to learn and grow.
However, I do think there needs to be an age limit
on when certain information is disseminated to our kids.
I agree completely with my son's policy of his middle school
of asking that parents either watch it with their child
or not let them watch it if they can't.
- It's interesting, 'cause I've thought about this one a lot.
If you can get someone to reflect on their actions
based on this show, you know, if they've bullied someone,
if they've treated someone poorly
and make a change or an apology
or just smile at someone and say "good morning"
just to mix it up, I mean, I think then you've made a difference.