In the S.E. Apocalypse Krew's song,
“Kid Eternity”, we sing, “pull Dad's gun from the drawer/and
aim it at my head/they'll sue Ozzy and be happy to have someone to
blame”.
Obviously, it's locked into
the zeitgeist of its times----the 80s, the Satanic Panic and all that
happy horseshit. Even back then, no one was going to mistake us for
politically correct. The protagonist of the song practices suicidal
ideation and self-mutilation, literally cutting his nose (or ears)
off to spite his face....or anyone else that irks him. Yeah, we
know....maybe we're coarse, maybe we're insensitive....but that's how
we roll. And at the end of the day, hopefully you learn it's okay to
laugh at everything. Or at least think long and hard about what
you're laughing at.
We knew right from the outset we
were on a collision course with certain easily-offended types and we
were fine with that. Gimme a knee-jerk, pro-censorship person, I'm
probably going to offend them. It always works out that way.....I'm
there.
ON THE OTHER HAND, it's always
an eye-opener when the pro-censorship knee-jerker goes after artists
who DO handle things sensitively!
Care 2 is a Social Networking
Website that brings together activists and enables them to
create petitions and organize campaigns leaning toward human rights,
animal rights, social justice, environmental issues and a variety of
worthwhile rallying points. So it was a surprise to see some
activists utilize Care2 to advocate censorship.
One phrase that Mike and I have
thrown around together since the 80s was “The Hot New Fear”, or
“this week's hot fear” or other such variations on the
subject.....and the hot new fear is always something that's literally
sold like a bottle of mouthwash, and the media will usually jump on
it and harp on it, exploiting it with little to no rational discourse
or serious examination....it's usually some superficial scapegoat in
the arts or entertainment, used to serve as a cultural “band-aid”
to a larger problem people regard as too big to address (or too big
to fail?).
Obviously, around the time we
wrote “Kid Eternity” the Satanic Panic was in full bloom and the
big fear was that if your kids listen to Ozzy Osbourne or Judas
Priest they're going to commit suicide (and to hell with any deeper
examination of issues like home life, mental health, chemical
dependency or whatever---you're a terrible person if you even ask
such questions!)
There have been lots of other handy
fears, though....does your kid play Dungeons and Dragons? It'll turn
the introverted little lamb into a babbling, Occult-practicing
psychotic! Anybody remember the West Memphis 3? Three kids who were
basically railroaded for a child murder due to the fact that they
wore black and listened to Metallica----shit----one or two turns of
circumstance and I coulda been Damien Echols! Natural Born Killers?
Everyone from Bob Dole to John Grisham said it was gonna spawn a
generation of homicidal maniacs. Marilyn Manson? Caused
Columbine---y'know....if you disregard the fact that those two kids
didn't even listen to him....
Today's fresh new fear is
apparently this 13-episode Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why”.
Since this show will apparently be responsible for all your
childrens' deaths, let's bust it out of its virtual box and get a
look at it.
I sat down and binge-watched “13
Reasons Why” (I keep wanting to call it “13 Ways to Die”) a few
weeks ago pretty much based on the fact that I found the premise
interesting. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, “13
Reasons Why” is the story of this high school kid, Hannah Baker,
who kills herself and leaves a series of cassette tapes detailing the
events that led to her suicide to be distributed among the various
parties she considers “responsible”, and as the tapes (and her
narrative) unravel, the lives of those around her, the “accused”,
unravel. Some (most notably the protagonist) are angry, some are
dismayed and others are trying to fight to keep a lid on the whole
thing for fear that it will “destroy the school” ( tenuous
defense of a construct that makes little sense to anyone standing
outside such an asinine bubble world).
Personally, I fucking LOVED this
show.....no ifs, ands or buts. I don't think I was ready for how
smart it was going to be. On one level, yes, it unflinchingly takes
on a lot of the hard issues teens deal with, from harassment to
bullying to rape to gossip to stalking to slut-shaming—on other
levels, while the show, per se, definitely takes Hannah's “side”,
it turns around and shows you that she doesn't necessarily see the
whole picture---some of the events don't necessarily follow her side
of the story and some of the kids in the story aren't necessarily as
bad as she makes them out to be. When there's a scene where she asks
Clay, the main protagonist of the story, if he thinks she could ever
be as pretty as this one other character, homeboy shits in his
wheaties by being like, huh? She walks away and says, “never
mind----you just answered the question,” and we the viewers see
that it's just one more nail in her coffin....but it's a mistake
anyone could make. I could make that mistake. You could make that
mistake.
So, yeah---incredibly smart
show....not only does it nail everything kids are facing in school
from peer pressure to bullying to suicide, to unresponsive authority
figures to an entire culture that bolsters and reinforces the pecking
order, it shows you the bottom line of suicide---the grief of the
parents and friends—the damage left in its wake. The acting is
uniformly great, especially from the two young leads----they'll rip
your heart out.
Does it have the potential to
resonate with young audiences in ways that might make authority
figures uncomfortable? Yeah----it does. After I got done it took me
several days to get “13 Reasons” and its haunted teens the hell
out of my head. But that also begs the question, if authority figures
are uncomfortable with that, what does it say about them? Seriously,
guys----too scary? Too big an issue to deal with?
Sorry, I know----I'm being a
dick about this. But you know what? Having actually lost friends to
suicide, I can be a dick about this.
One thing I was unaware of was
that “13 Reasons Why” is also a popular, best-selling Young Adult
novel that has been revered among young audiences for a decade, now.
I'm not very conversant in the topic of contemporary YA Lit, which is
strange, I guess, as my first novel qualifies, technically, as
“YA”----(and I'm still looking for a publisher----hint, hint!)
(It covers many of the same topics----hint! HINT!)(You can read
excerpts right here on this blog----HINT!!!! HINT!!!!) (Naw----I'm
not self-serving in the least, am I?)-----but it's something I
genuinely have not followed. Apparently it's a sufficiently beloved
book to where, when the TV adaptation was announced, young fans
confronted the producers and told them, in no uncertain terms, “don't
fuck this up!” So obviously, much to the chagrin of some knee-jerk
types, this material hits very close to home. Between the book and
the show, why does this story resonate with kids?
Well, don't believe for a
second it's because the story and themes were generated in a vacuum.
This shit happens all the time----it was going on when I was a kid
way back in the Mesozoic Era, and precious little seems to change.
“13 Reasons” doesn't come by its attacks in a one-dimensional
manner---the parents in the show are not cutout characters. They
genuinely care for and are worried for their kids and frequently find
themselves closed off from genuine communication----and there's no
dressing that up---that's very often on the kids. But I think that
one part of the story that gets under the skin of all the concerned
adults (SPOILERS!!!!) is the last “Reason Why”----the
well-intentioned-but-ineffectual student counselor whose answer to
rape is basically “try to forget about it”.
Does the “culture” of a
school cover up and engage in apologetics for its favored students?
Betcha I can say “yes” faster than you can choke out the word
“Steubenville”....like I said, no one, not the producers of the
show nor the author of the book, pulled this concept out of a vacuum.
Think these notions of hopeless reaching out to an adult authority
figure never happen? Think the authorities are all-knowing sages who
can solve all the problems of youth? Then you have to answer to this:
So where were the concerned
and able adults when this kid was being knocked unconscious in full
view of the security cameras?
Eight years old. EIGHT.
Yeah----good job, authorities.
And ultimately that's the
problem I have with these reactionary activists....rather than
actually reach out and help end the abuses and negligence that helps
motivate kids toward despair, they'd prefer this easier “band-aid”
route-----because taking on the hallowed pecking order is too
hard...and deep down, we all love the blessed, besotted,
motherfucking pecking order down to its
apple-pie-and-stick-shift-drivin' Jesus core, so let's micromanage
and/or ban a TV show, instead.
To quote comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore, "we're a nation of adult children of alcoholics....we don't get mad at the guy who screwed you over----we get mad at the guy who pointed it out and let you know about the guy screwing you over."
Agreed, Jimmy. Well said.
Go, Hot New Fear, Go! Except
you're never that new, are you? It's the same old shit, over and
over.
Except that maybe, for a
change, things are a little better. Some counselors and
psychiatrists have taken a new approach...they've seen the
“provocative” potential of “13 Reasons” as the opportunity
for a “teaching moment”----parents, watch this with your kids and
take this as an entryway to a dialogue. Listen to your kids. Find out
what's happening in their lives. If what you're seeing on this show
rings true with them, find out why.
SMART. FOR A CHANGE. So, hey,
as grumpy as I get about these things----maybe we can evolve past the
bad old days of the Satanic Panic.
Be nice if someone made sure
the gang at CARE 2 (or at least some of their petitioners) got the
memo.
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