The series that opened the debate on teenage suicide

BarcelonaEvery summer Sunday, the ARA revisits some of the most controversial series in television history. The fourth installment is Fear 13 reasons, the series that started the conversation about mental health and teen suicide.

When Netflix premiered on March 31, 2017 Fear 13 reasons, no one expected the series to cause the earthquake that it ultimately generated. With a dramatic staging and a plot constructed like a thriller emotional —a girl who commits suicide and leaves thirteen tapes where he explains why he did it and who he holds responsible.—, the platform brought to the table some of the thorniest issues for young people and families: suicide, bullying, depression, rape, the silence of adults. And controversy erupted.

The series was based on the book of the same name by Jay Asher, published in 2007, but the television adaptation was much more explicit, visual, and provocative. The first season, which follows the original story in detail, was widely applauded by critics. Its courage in depicting adolescent pain without euphemisms, the performances of Dylan Minnette (Clay) and Katherine Langford (the protagonist of the story, Hannah), and its ability to break social taboos were highlighted. With an addictive narrative charged with emotional tension, it seemed that Fear 13 reasons marked a turning point in the representation of mental health in the media.

But the echo of its success soon met with an avalanche of criticism. The key moment? The explicit recreation of Hannah Baker's suicide at the end of the first season. This extremely crude scene unleashed a wave of negative reactions from mental health professionals, psychologists, educators, and parents who warned that such a graphic depiction of suicide could have a copycat effect, especially among vulnerable adolescents. A study published in JAMA Psychiatry put numbers to what until then were intuitions: in the United States alone, 195 additional suicides were detected among young people between 10 and 17 years old in the year of its premiere, with a 28.9% increase in the following month. Beyond the data, many experts warned of the danger of conveying the idea that suicide is an understandable response to suffering, an emotional revenge, or a way to get others to listen.

The series also received criticism for its portrayal of sexual assault, especially in the second season, which includes an explicit and highly violent rape scene of a male character in a high school bathroom. This sequence was described as gratuitous by several groups and critics and reopened the debate about the extent to which the emotional impact justifies showing scenes of sexual violence of such intensity. Organizations like Rain (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) warned that such representations could reactivate trauma among victims and, above all, trigger anxiety without providing real tools for reflection or reparation.

Fear 13 reasons He was also a target of conservative associations, as had been another teen series, Skins. The rape scene in the second season prompted the Parents Television Council to demand that Netflix cancel and remove the series from its catalog, a request the platform ignored.

Although Netflix did not comply with the conservative group's demands, it did take steps to warn about the sensitive content of the production. First with specific warnings before the most sensitive episodes; then with informative videos and help resources, and finally with a historic step: in 2019, the platform removed the suicide scene after more than two years of airing. The gesture, although belated, was interpreted as an implicit recognition of the real impact that fiction can have on public health. However, the series continued to produce seasons, with plots increasingly focused on the consequences of trauma, structures of impunity, and systemic violence.

In total, Fear 13 reasons It ran for four seasons (2017-2020), but its popularity declined. While the first was a massive hit with the public, subsequent seasons divided audiences. Critics highlighted a drift toward excessive melodrama, the reiteration of traumas, and a certain emotional exploitation of adolescent suffering. The fourth season, released in June 2020, was received coldly, with many considering the series to have lost its narrative direction.

The legacy after the controversy

Seven years later, the footprint of Fear 13 reasons It's as obvious as it is uncomfortable. On the one hand, it opened the door to more natural conversations about topics that were previously avoided; many teenagers said the series had helped them identify their discomfort or seek help. But on the other, it highlighted the lack of clear protocols when it comes to depicting sensitive topics in fiction. Several mental health associations, such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Association of School Psychologists, developed new guidelines for content creators that recommend not depicting the method of suicide, avoiding romanticizing it, making resources visible, and depicting adults and effective support systems. And, above all, not keeping quiet, but speaking responsibly.