Depiction Of Rape In Thirteen Reasons Why
Rape is a very hard concept for some. However, it may be even harder for others who may have experienced it first hand. Regardless of if you have experienced it or not, Thirteen Reasons Why, the season finale, allows you to encounter second hand what it feels like to be in that sort of situation. The director and writer had other takes on this episode, but due to how our society is today, many didn’t catch onto what they were trying to do and instead, went crazy and got outraged.
In the season finale, one of the characters, male, was aggressively raped in the school bathroom. He was attacked by three male students who then forcefully shove his head into a toilet and then taunted him with a broken mop handle before beginning to rape him with it. The character is then left on the floor of the school bathroom bleeding, beaten up, and seriously traumatized. Later on in the episode the character is then seen at the school with plans to undergo a mass shooting. This scene was deemed very controversial and disturbing by many viewers. People were disgusted at the fact that they would let this on t. v. However the scene’s whole purpose wasn’t to disturb it’s audience.
Rape itself is such a controversial topic that many think is horrific or disgusting. However, no matter how intense that small portion of the episode was, the pain it evoked just to watch, isn’t nearly as painful as it is for people to have experienced it first hand or go through these types of things daily. Society is so quick to proclaim that some topics such as rape is sickening to watch, but therefore that would make it sickening to experience it. The writer wanted to bring it straight to our attention that this is real and that this is happening in the world believe it or not. He wanted it to confront us and smack us in the face instead of it just staying out in our consciousness somewhere. He is trying to tell us that rape is not something you just sweep under the rug! Society believing that it is, is the main reason why so many attacks aren’t reported. Society thinking that rape is hideous is the main reason why so many victims of rape don’t seek to get the help they need!
The show Thirteen Reasons Why, has had many graphic episodes in the first season that didn’t evoke the same reaction as the season two finale did. All of the victims in season one were women. Season one consists of two rape scenes and one scene of Hannah killing herself. Hannah committing suicide resulted in many people left outraged at the fact that that would be allowed to air on television. But no one, or very few even mentioned the rape scenes. The fact that to people, Hannah’s suicide was more important than the two other rape attacks shows that society needs to be talking about these situations because they do happen and that they are just as important! In season one, two girls were raped and it wasn’t deemed disgusting, but when one male gets raped in season two, all hell breaks loose. That isn’t just at all.
Overall, the entire show is very controversial and easy to be misinterpreted. If the viewer takes minute to really dig deeper and comprehend what the writer is trying to say, they will find that the writer is really just trying to open our eyes concerning certain topics. Society as a whole should be more aware of what is going on all around us, maybe in front of our own eyes. Don’t just try to sweep things under the rug, talk about them, be open, you never know how that could help someone who might just be going through something similar or maybe even the same thing.
