Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably watched or at least heard of the Netflix limited series Adolescence, a crime drama created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. I decided to hit play on the gripping tale told across four captivating episodes because of crippling FOMO. Every social media platform was claiming that it was ‘the most important show of the year’ and that ‘everyone needs to watch this’. Seeing as so much of the conversation was around themes that were relevant to my life, as a 17-year-old girl, I needed to know what the discussions were about.
So, I binged the show on a cosy afternoon, going into it without any prior knowledge about the plot. With episodes that are shot in single long takes, Adolescence explores the aftermath of a gruesome crime that is committed in a small town in England.
The audience is introduced to the story with 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by the immensely talented Owen Cooper in his debut role) being aggressively arrested from his house at the crack of dawn on suspicion of the murder of his classmate, Katie Leonard.
This fast-paced beginning immediately hooked me, raising a million questions in my head as to why the police think such a young boy committed the crime. He is then taken to the police station and questioned. The officers ask him about his relationship with Katie and their interactions on Instagram.
All of this unfolds in the first episode with Eddie (Stephen Graham), Jamie’s unaware father, seated beside him and trying to grapple with the situation. This first hour left me at the edge of my seat. A little confused but hooked. Wanting to know what really happened that night.
As the first episode came to an end, I realised that Adolescence is not a ‘whodunit’. The main focus of the narrative is on why the murder happened. This is explored in the second episode by the Detective Inspector (Ashley Walters) in charge of the case, who is looking for a motive. He visits Jamie’s school, where he sees the suffocating environment that these children spend most of their time in.
Towards the end of the episode, the detective’s son, who studies at the same school, enlightens him about the nature of Instagram interactions, which are central to the police investigation into Katie’s murder. The cryptic emojis that seem innocuous to adults and the theories that the children seem to believe are true prove to become horrifying acts of bullying.
This was the moment that revealed the truth. Where I put the pieces together.
Social media as instigator of crime
This is not just a thriller about a crime. It is about how crime can be birthed in modern society. Especially among youth. And how social media as a platform can be a cause for the crime. I thought back to the reels and videos I come across every day on Instagram where people preach their own agendas, reiterating traditional gender roles, some even condoning violence.
I used to be incredulous at some of the ridiculous statements being made, but it didn’t affect me a lot. I was able to ignore it, and thought it did not concern me. As I grew older, however, conversations in my circles would often start with, ‘Did you read the news today?’ A little girl was murdered, or molested, or raped and found in a ditch. The criminals were often young perpetrators. This would be followed by a heated discussion about the cause behind the crime. Most people said ‘it’s the patriarchy’, offending some boys.
But there was something more to this new form of misogyny. One day, a friend pointed out that the cause could be the reels where men validate such violence. Reels that appear on our timelines, getting positive responses from so many. The informative discussion we had changed me.
It dawned on me that the statements I dismissed as ridiculous could not be ignored anymore. Because there are hundreds of young minds out there finding these statements extremely reasonable, even ready to act on them. I realised that the people on my screen were able to convince others to commit heinous acts.
“What do you think of when you hear the word masculine?”
As a Sociology student, I’ve studied the idea of the ‘New Man’. This is a type of masculine identity that was created by the media as a behavioural archetype. The term gained popularity in the UK in the 1980s and 90s. The New Man advocates for feminism, participates actively in housework and childcare, and believes in equality. He is not afraid to reject hypermasculine traits like aggression and violence.
Newer generations have tried to adopt this role of the ‘New Man’. Young people are now more aware; they have a better sense of self and don't hesitate to switch on a camera and speak their truth. More and more women are vocalising their opinions and experiences online, and many more men are taking on the role of a ‘New Man’. But this increasing presence appears to have led to the formation of a subculture. The manosphere.
The manosphere includes various online forums that promote toxic masculinity, traditional gender roles as the only correct approach in relationships, opposition to feminism, and sometimes even violence against women. This violence is a means to exert power. Power these men wish to possess to overcome their own insecurities. Young boys get sucked into this world without physical boundaries, unknowingly inculcating their ideologies. And the brunt of it is faced by young girls who become victims to violent crimes.
Episode three, set seven months after Jamie’s arrest, introduces us to clinical psychologist Briony Ariston (a brilliant Erin Doherty). She meets with Jamie at a youth detention facility to write a pre-trial report on his mental state. After some polite conversation, she asks him, “What do you think of when you hear the word masculine?”
Erin Doherty and Owen Cooper in Episode 3Netflix
This is the beginning of the conversation that eventually shows us, the audience, the workings of Jamie’s brain. His mannerisms, vocabulary, demeanour, are all suggestive of a boy who has been fed a narrative about himself that he believes to be true. His constant lashing out with “I didn’t do anything wrong” and the way he switches between charming and aggressive is chilling. He constantly tries to one-up Briony, verbally by shouting and swearing at her, and physically by throwing things around and standing up to tower over her.
In the end, he asks her, “Do you like me?” His need for validation, especially from women, is urgent and compelling and when he doesn’t receive it, the change in his behaviour is more and more visibly violent.
Jamie was fed these ideas online just sitting in his bedroom. Are children not safe even in their own homes? Are parents at fault? I watched the show with my mother. She, like most parents going into the series, was unaware. Unaware of the excessive online hate, the existence of the manosphere, of the word incel. At one point she said to me, “I had no idea all this even exists.”
This made me think. About how there were barely any conversations happening between generations. The show created space in my family to talk about it. To have an honest conversation.
The answer in my opinion is not to take your child’s device away. It is not even carrying out surveillance on their internet activities. It is to create a safe space where your child is free to express themselves and free to confide if they are going through something. This creates a safe environment where they don’t have to suppress their feelings and let emotions build up.
It takes a village to raise a child
In the fourth episode of Adolescence, we follow Jamie’s family 13 months after the arrest. They are trying to live a normal life. When a small incident triggers bad memories and they receive a phone call from Jamie, we see the family dealing with the guilt and remorse of what happened. Stephen Graham’s performance as Eddie Miller is outstanding as a man who wanted to be a better parent than his own father, but realises that he was not successful after all. He beautifully captures the profound sadness he feels, leaving the audience transfixed and weeping alongside him.
Christine Tremarco & Stephen Graham as Jamie’s parentsNetflix
“Look at that fella that popped up on my phone, going on about how to treat women, how men should be men, and all that shit. I was only looking for something for the gym, weren’t I?” a horrified Eddie says to his wife in the middle of their conversation, showing us how an unrelated search can lead you to such videos.
This has become a scarily normal experience. While mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, I too have come across clips of people with a fancy microphone preaching the exact same things. During a conversation with a friend, we realised that they come out of nowhere – one minute you could be watching a funny cat video and the other there is a muscled man on your screen who says that a woman’s true purpose is childbirth. I mostly just scroll past, not wanting to engage with such content, but then I see the number of people whom I know ‘liking’ these reels (because of the unfortunate Instagram feature that lets all your followers see the reels you like).
Whether the double taps are done in seriousness because they agree with the statements being made or just ironically because they found it funny is again a mystery I haven’t been able to solve. Either way the videos receive more engagement and further the push of that content to a wider audience. A young boy already having a bad day may come across such a video and find that he has an enemy: women.
Adolescence does not provide any answers, it merely holds up a mirror. It is a haunting reflection of reality, which forces you to think.
The question of who is at fault for Jamie committing the crime is not answered. But the facts are plain as day: the internet has a bigger impact on youth than anyone could ever have imagined. Impressionable individuals have access to unauthorised internet content. Boys are exposed to ideas of misogyny and toxic masculinity that are indoctrinated into them and they are encouraged to act on these ideas. And girls, they become headlines. Conversations for a week. Then forgotten forever. Only their grieving families try to bring them justice. Families whose deep loss and grief is insurmountable and unimaginable.
This is visible even in the narrative, which lacks Katie’s perspective and story (which is mentioned by one of the characters). The importance rests on Jamie and his life. Not much attention is paid to the victim’s story and life, like in reality. It is always the perpetrator’s life and how it will be affected if he’s sentenced (that is, if he even is sentenced). However, Katie’s presence always lingers in the background, a reminder of the life that was lost. The tragedy that is the centre of the story. The tragedy that is the centre of reality.
Like all forms of art, this series is a reflection of contemporary society.
We are finally learning that it does in fact take a village to raise a child. And the onus of violence is not specific to some people, but a combination of things that children these days experience. Loneliness and the inability to overcome propaganda on the internet led Jamie to pick up a weapon. This is just an example of how violence is birthed in modern society. The ways in which the internet is influencing young children needs to be regulated; only then can there be a safer world.
Adolescence depicts a wounded reality that is begging to be fixed.
Sharanya Rao is a 17-year-old high school student in Pune. She is interested in pop culture and its intricacies. She likes analysing media through different lenses to gain a broader perspective on the world.
Views expressed are the author’s own.
