Adolescence Series Review (Netflix does it again)

Review:

Adolescence is a crucial stage in one’s life since it’s the time when a person starts to come out of their cocoon and embarks the journey of self-discovery — the process of determining your needs, of understanding human relationships and your sexuality, and forming opinions about the world around you. This roughly starts from the age of 13 and goes until the age of 19. This is also the time when people are most confused, and suffer from disoriented thought processes, lacking any clarity. They struggle to build their worlds because of the stories that already exist around them.

A young boy might be a great sketcher/artist, but he might be compelled to take part in a sport, something which isn’t his niche; the pre-existing story here is that ‘boys are ruffians, therefore they must be part of sports’. A young boy might have a diverse group of friends, which includes people of different sex, but his relationship might be sabotaged by the belief, ‘boys must only team up with male counterparts, since it is the epitome of manliness’. These stories only complicate things for poor adolescents by trying to fit them into a box that actually doesn’t exist. The impact of such stories on a kid’s life is elaborately discussed in the mini Netflix series Adolescence (written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne; directed by Philip Barantini).

While Netflix also has some useless content, we can’t deny the fact that it also has a lot of useful, thought-provoking, and entertaining content. Just like the revolutionary series Sex Education, which opened us to various concepts and the life of late adolescents, this mini web series also explores the same but with a serious tone. What we see in this series (Adolescence) is terrifying as well as frightening, since it tries to see things from the lens of a ‘young perpetrator’ — a boy in his early adolescence. The fact that it was filmed on one go, makes it more powerful; we don’t see sudden jumps when we move from one episode to the other. So, having glanced at the idea of Adolescence superficially, let us move on to an in-depth review.

Episode 1 – The event

So, the series takes off by directly jumping into its subject. It looks like a covert operation when a bunch of cops, with their fully-loaded arms, break into Jamie’s house (Owen Cooper), a 13 year old boy. Just like Jamie’s family, we also have no clue about what’s happening; the investigational procedure takes place in the blink of an eye. We understand the mental state of Jamie’s family, especially his dad’s (Eddie Miller – Stephen Graham), who comes as an appropriate adult for Jamie. We also see the officials interrogate Jamie, but we remain unknown about the actual incident until the long confrontation happens — a heart-stopping nightmare.
Meanwhile, Ashley Walters, who plays as Luke Bascombe, sparks in his role as he leads the curious case of Jamie.

Episode 2 – Decoding the Digital Misogyny — Manopshere

As Luke proceeds with the investigation, shocking truths about the manosphere (digital misogyny) unfold. It’s basically an online community where a group of men (Andrew Tate and his followers for instance) gather to openly propagate the traditional idea of masculinity, which asserts that men are superior beings to women, claiming women are incapable of making decisions on their own; they backup this cooked-up theory with a biological narrative that men are naturally dominant; they also believe that 80 percent of women are attracted to 20 percent of men who are attractive and have masculine traits — in other words ‘alpha’.

(The Myth Busting)

As soon as we connect the 80:20 belief with the idea that men are ‘naturally’ dominant, we’ll see the both contradicting each other. Since such groups believe so much in evolution, let us also consider the same to debunk the hypocrisy. According to natural selection, there’s a greater possibility of female species going for the high-profile males to produce better off springs. Now, keeping this in mind, what’s wrong if a woman does the same by picking a high-profile male. Isn’t that also part of evolution ? So, if this is the case, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of 80:20 ratio and men must accept this with no objection, as it is completely ‘natural’.

Keeping the argument aside, if we think rationally, we’ll soon realize that neither of them is true. Since evolution is a non-linear process, there isn’t a single narrative or rule which confirms that this is how things function. The fact that evolution is an accidental event and not a conscious event, and that there are also other traits in determining one’s nature, destroys the idea of masculinity; it becomes invalid in the world of humans, as we prioritize intellectual traits over anything.

Episode 3 – A deep dive into Jamie’s Psyche

While the investigation takes place to find what motivated the perpetrator to indulge in such a gruesome act of violence, it is also equally important to understand the overall psyche of Jamie, since he is a minor. It’ll give us a broader picture of this issue, and we might address it more effectively. This is what Briony (Erin Doherty), a psychologist, believes — which is fair.

As she confronts Jamie, we get to see different shades of him, which is frightening. The way he tries to exert dominance in certain scenarios looks like the behaviour of an adult male.

His degrading views about women are horrific, proving the influence of a radicalized form of casual misogyny — manosphere — on his life. We also learn that the stories which he often hears have only caused damage to his psychological well being — the phrase ‘Man up bro’ has led to alienation, loneliness and disoriented thinking. This episode, in particular, will go down as one of the greatest in the history of web series, as it addresses both an alarming and complex issue; the performance is also top notch.

Episode 4 – Sailing through rough waters

It is really hard for a parent to accept that their kid has chosen a wrong path, committing a crime; it is also very difficult to break free from the guilt of not being able to guide them properly.

We exactly see this in the final episode along with various shots, showcasing the behaviour of Jamie’s father (Eddie). As soon as Eddie outbursts during his short journey to the paint shop, we get reminded of Jamie’s conversation with the psychologist. There are several other instances as well from which we can draw parallels between them. Like, they both don’t have female interaction apart from their family; there are certain words which they both use, and they don’t think twice before throwing tantrums — someway or the other, all of these have shaped Jamie’s personality.

While we don’t empathize with Jamie, we cannot deny the fact that the fabricated social stories and the darker side of the society have somehow erased the innocence and loving nature of a budding adolescent. The last cry of Eddie in his son’s room speaks volumes. So, let us not forget to watch this series and initiate discussions not just about digital misogyny but also casual misogyny we encounter in our daily lives; let us not harm children by making them believe in dehumanising stories.

If you want to know more about the impact of digital misogyny in real world – https://humanrights.ca/story/online-misogyny-manosphere