Pastors need to see 13 Reasons Why
The Netflix series is troubling and difficult to watch. Watch it anyway.
There are certain books and movies that become such cultural phenomena that as a pastor I feel the need to read or watch right away, so that I can be part of the conversation. A few years ago it was The Shack; before that, Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ. Every Sunday, parishioners asked me my opinion. So this past Saturday I finished watching 13 Reasons Why.
The Netflix series, based on the Jay Asher book of the same title, has young adults as its main characters and its target audience. The series is about a high school student named Hannah Baker who decides to end her life after being bullied and sexually assaulted by classmates. She leaves behind 13 cassette tapes, each telling the story of a friend or acquaintance she says could have done more to help her.
School psychologists and other mental health professionals have criticized 13 Reasons as a sensationalized treatment of teen suicide. School districts have warned parents about the book; school libraries have considered removing it from their shelves. Few of them would have recommended that it be adapted for television. It’s one thing to read about a suicide, even in graphic detail; it is a viscerally different experience to see it, and to have the ability to replay it. These experts worry, rightly, about the potential for copycat behavior.
