13 Reasons Why: Tape 1, Side A

13 Reasons Why*: Tape 1, Side A
Netflix
March 31, 2017
Mystery
DVD
C-

I read the book about a month ago and initially enjoyed it as a dark-comedy mystery.  The gimmick of the tapes is effective, at least at first, because you want to know what's on them almost as much as poor Clay does.  However, as things went on, I found Hannah, the Mary-Suicide of the piece-- almost every boy wants to be with her, almost every girl wants to pretend to be friends with her-- more and more annoying, in life and death.  Seeing her in flashbacks in the TV version doesn't help, and I actually called her an asshole twice out loud!

With the book, my issues actually had very little to do with whether or not the story, written by Jay Asher, "glamorizes suicide" and more to do with Hannah's increasingly bizarre life choices.  I also feel that the way her sexuality is handled is exploitative, a case where a male writer doesn't "get" his supposed heroine, even more of a pity as her peers' reaction to what they perceive as her sexuality apparently drives her to kill herself, and as an act of revenge!  I assume if I watched more episodes, even maintaining a C- would be difficult.  But just on its own terms, this premiere doesn't work.  (I watched the full episode, rather than the usual quarter hour a C- would get.)

Tom McCarthy directed.


*The title is given in various forms, but I'm going by what it says on IMDB.