“Have you seen Thirteen Reason Why?” “It was so good!” “I’m only on episode three.”
Suddenly Thirteen Reasons Why is everywhere. Literately everywhere. Which is really weird for a book that was released a decade ago, and in a blink of an eye everyone is talking about it now.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher today is celebrating its 10 years anniversary. Even though it was released in 2007, it took it 4 years to get on to #1 on New York Time’s Bestseller list in 2011.
Netflix also finally released this book onto the small screen on March 31, 2017. And ever since them this has been a hit. Critics especially praise the show’s subject matter and casting.
So what make this show and book so special? Notice how I said the show and the book, since remember – it’s because of the book’s extraordinary and deep message that makes it so good in the first place. But still, what made this show so special?
1. The Book was Exceptional
Netflix had a great material to work with. Of course, movies and TV shows can never be as good as the books, but at least they tried. The casting and acting were on point, and they followed the story-line. Which leads me to my next point:
2. Neflix Did the Book Justice
With the great material, Netflix (thank god) took good use of it, which definitely played a part in the show’s success. Let’s face it people (and I’m talking to the people who had read the books), Netflix did a pretty good job. Although Hannah was a little bit too pretty than I imagined, Clay was pretty on point. And most importantly – they followed the story. They didn’t makeup crap to make drama, but actually followed the story. That is what I really appreciated. And it definitely didn’t disappoint the fans.
3. Excellent Pitch
The pitch of the show was very strong. It had excellent core concepts, it resonated with the audience well because of the message it’s telling and its genre (I’ll elaborate on it later on), overall, the show from the begging was already hinting of success.
4. Selena Gomez
She definable is not the most impact cause and the ultimate reason for this film’s success, but it did play a least a little bit in part. If you say that when you heard she was involved with this series and it didn’t perk your ears up, you’re lying. Now, I’m not saying that you have to be a fan of her or even like her, but of course when you hear Selena Gomez you get a little bit curious. And don’t even mention her fans. Many of her fans came to watch to show thinking she was in it.
5. Casting Out Selena Gomez
Although she did contribute to the show, the fact that she was not starred as Hannah is a relive. Even though Selena is one of the few singers who can actually kind of act, I never really think the idea of cross singer-actress is a great idea.
6. Small Screen Instead of Big Screen is a Close Call
Although the book is no doubt short enough to be fit into a movie with no problem,
7. Less is More
Quality not Quantity. Less is more. Both sayings empathize the message: more does not make it better. And that’s exactly what Netflix Did. Whoever convinced Netflix to make this novel just thirteen episodes is a genius. This is also important because it prevents Netflix from adding new content so they can drag the show on in hopes and ambition of earning more money. This is rare for TV shows to do this, which brings me to:
8. The Genre
I don’t trust my opinion that much. One person’s opinion can never be accurate enough to be deemed as a reliable source. So I asked a few of my other classmates in my school (Jesse Whiteford and Charlize Lin), and one of the things that got them to intrigued into this show is its mystery factor. Mystery has always been a genre that was too underrated, but it really is addicting once you get into it (trust me, I know).
9. The Message
Although 13 Reason’s Why’s message was being misread, the message is very deadly and serious. It represents the bigger issue that is taking teenager’s lives. It’s very serious, and the internet should know better then to make funny jokes out of it. Hopefully through the media, better attention can be brought about how to help these issues and these people. There’s nothing wrong with them, they just need comfort and reassurance. Suicide is a serious subject, not to be taken lightly.
10. It Teaches People a Lesson Through the Most Effective Way
It’s similar to my last point, but this is more towards the parents and adults. Through this show and the story, we can see the adults played a major role in forcing Hannah to suicide. Especially when Hannah finally came to the counselor, and how he wasn’t able to save her.
11. The Casting Choices
When people first watched the show, no one recognizes the cast. The beauty in using actors know one recognize is that by doing so, the audience would see them purely as the character they portray, not who the actors are.
12. The Acting
After I finished watching the show, one thing that stood out to me the most was the acting. Hannah’s performance alone nothing short of perfection, and the cast didn’t so so bad either. In fact, the acting was one of the most praised factor on this show.
13. It’s Just Different
Different things always grabs attention – for better or for the worse. People just like new things. This book was already good, so when it received attention, it’s no surprise how popular it became in the public. And this point basically summarized the entire list.