Dear Steemit,
I thought I would start this off with Hannah Baker since she's who the story is about. Which is funny because at the same time, she seems really overlooked. All her scenes are flashbacks, obviously, and usually have Clay in real time overlapping the scene because he was playing it out in his mind. It makes him become part of the memory. He's the observer, but the story becomes about him. The movie also seems to focus more on how people are reacting to Hannah's tapes rather than why she made them. Which isn't necessarily bad.
One thing I noticed about Hannah's character is that she's obviously depressed. The story follows the bad things in her life and you can see her mood becoming worse. But not once does the series mention the word depression. I wonder why they left it out. I have two views on this and yes, they contradict each other.
The first one is that up until the two sexual assaults, I'd say that while what Hannah endured was terrible, it wasn't enough to end her life over. There had to have been a numbness, hopelessness, that she was feeling to have even considered that route. Slut shaming, bullying, people teasing you over a poem, losing a friend, okay yeah that really sucks. Why didn't she talk to her parents about it, or Clay even. Why didn't she ask to switch schools or attempt to make new friends, understanding ones like Tony. I think everyone in high school feels trapped and has bad experiences. But there had to have been a, 'what's the point?' or a, 'I can't handle this' feeling to an extent only caused by mental illness. If she weren't mentally ill, or if she had gotten help for it, I'm sure she could have handled what life was throwing her way.
The second opinion is that maybe she wasn't depressed, or at least not in the messed up brain chemical sense. Maybe she became depressed after everyone was continuously tearing her down. Maybe depression is an outcome of our thoughts and circumstances. Who knows what was going on with her brain chemicals. Bullying could have been the sole cause of her killing herself. That sort of thing could ruin the best of us.
Either way, I think depression should have been mentioned. It didn't have to be a diagnosis, it could have been used as an emotion. Maybe by her parents, or the teacher that kept giving little lectures about suicide. Which seemed like a pretty cool class by the way, they were always having discussions.
Another thing about Hannah I want to touch base on is why did she feel the need to leave those tapes. Was she seeking revenge, angry at the world for wronging her and wanting to hurt it back. Was she trying to tell people what she could never tell them in person. Did she feel the need to leave behind something, some sort of explanation to justify her decision. Or maybe she didn't feel quite done with her time in the world, because suicide isn't really what she wanted.
It could have even been a combination of all of the above.
But at the end of the day, I do believe Hannah was depressed, and I don't think anyone should have to deal with what she did. Especially alone. It's hard to not feel for her.
