The new Netflix hit, Adolescence, has spurred attention from viewers and even governments as it discusses sensitive topics — such as male misogyny — which younger children are often exposed to online.
The story follows 13-year-old Jamie who was arrested for the murder of a fellow classmate. After being taken into custody, investigators work to discover Jamie’s motive behind the murder, and dive into his potential exposure into anti-feminist and male-superior ideas online. The series also discusses the 80-20 rule, which states that 80 percent of women will be attracted to only 20 percent of men, and why those ideas negatively affect teens like Jamie today.
Lead actors include Stephen Graham, who played Eddie Miller, Jamie’s father, Owen Cooper, who debuted his acting career as Jamie Miller, Erin Doherty who acted as Briony Ariston (Jamie’s psychologist), and many others.
This show was fascinating in how it’s filmed with no cuts or edits. Each hour-long episode was filmed without any interruptions, with weeks of prior rehearsal. This created a realistic effect– like you as a viewer are watching it live. For example, during the third episode, Jamie meets with his psychologist and throughout the hour long-scene, he continues to throw fits of rage and denial, directing his emotions toward his psychologist as she questions him. Jamie explains his false views on women, while attempting to impress his psychologist at the same time. This episode drew-in the audience and made viewers feel the intensity of the scene.
The screenwriter of this drama, Jack Thorne, had attempted to create multiple political-stirring pieces in the past, but Adolescence was the first to take off. Actor Stephen Graham had decided to assist Thorne throughout the writing process, after hearing multiple cases on male violence towards women in the UK.
To Rolling Stone magazine, Graham shared some of the events which sparked his interest in the idea for the series. As he watched the news and discovered another woman had been stabbed not far from where he lived, “It had happened on the other side of the country! Mind you, this was before the incident at Southport” — where three young women had been stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class –“These aren’t men committing these crimes,” Graham continued.”They’re boys. That had been lurking somewhere in my subconscious for a while.”
On March 13th, the limited-series was released, where it reached the top show watched in multiple countries, including the U.S. After its release, discussion has risen, especially in Britain, about the threat of exposure to social media to younger viewers, and if restrictions to social media could prevent similar issues to arise.
This show has received proper recognition for not only the incredible acting, but also its purpose and production of bringing awareness to issues that have been spurring across our world, especially as a result of social media exposure.
Lead actor Owen Cooper describes the lesson and truth of Adolescence in an interview with Teen Vogue, “The Manosphere and the emojis and the meaning behind all of them — that was a real eye-opener to me, and it’s an eye-opener to everyone watching as well because they don’t know what’s going on inside a kid’s phone or a kid’s mind,” Cooper said.
“What Adolescence does is it shows what’s actually going on in the world, and people will say, ‘Oh, that’s not real.’ But this is what’s going on in the society of today — and it’s not a lie.”
