Netflix removes controversial suicide scene from 13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why is a Netflix series based on the popular book by Jay Asher. The book deals with the aftermath of the suicide of Hannah Baker, who then sends tapes to people involved in her life, detailing the reasons behind her suicide.

The show was then turned into a hit Netflix series, which generated a ton of controversy for a variety of reasons, chief among them being the graphic depiction of Baker’s suicide, which features Baker, in the bathtub, slitting her wrists, crying in pain and ultimately bleeding to death.

I’d written about the show before, and mainly in terrible terms: It’s premier had been tied to a rise in suicide among 10-17 year olds, and the graphic depictions of Baker’s suicide seemed to violate every best practice of reporting on suicide.

Netflix – in response to the controversy – has changed the season finale of Season One, which featured this scene: It has now been been completely removed. In a statement, Netflix said:

“We’ve heard from many young people that 13 Reasons Why encouraged them to start conversations about difficult issues like depression and suicide and get help — often for the first time. As we prepare to launch season three later this summer, we’ve been mindful about the ongoing debate around the show. So on the advice of medical experts, including Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, we’ve decided with creator Brian Yorkey and the producers to edit the scene in which Hannah takes her own life from season one.”

As the Hollywood Reporter noted, a variety of anti-suicide groups praised the removal in a joint statement.

The damn shot should never have aired. In prior statements, show creator Brian Yorkey had said that they didn’t want to make suicide look peaceful and thus glamorize it. I get that. And – if you assume that they were operating with the best of intentions – I get that they were trying to make it seem realistic and less abstract.

But, as Vox notes, that’s exactly the problem:

The theory is that for people who struggle with suicidal ideation, anything that can make suicide feel more familiar to them and cause them to keep thinking about it can be dangerous. That’s part of what leads to suicide contagion, the phenomenon in which media coverage of a death by suicide can lead more people to die by suicide.

As I argued in my entry earlier in the week, we have to be very, very careful with how we discuss suicide, lest we inadvertently plant the idea in someone’s head that suicide is somehow acceptable or “freeing.” While the type of discussion which occurred here is different than the blog entry I was writing about, the concept is the same: Be careful in how you discuss suicide, particularly given the way it could impact the most vulnerable of people.

I’m glad Netflix did this. But the show has generated controversy because their is evidence to suggest that it is correlated with more people dying by suicide. That’s a major problem, and they need to do better.