#i ended up leaving that school quickly bc the bullying was rly bad

[so-long-soldier28]

one of my ex best friends and I stopped talking because we both switched schools...

... but we switched to the same school

[neonstatic]

Everything wrong with 13RW

Firstly, the premise of the source book is distasteful and it should've never become a full show with 13 episodes of 1 hour each season.

The creators contacting health professionals to get advice on how to handle the themes in the show and ignoring ALL of the advice shows the little care given for “spreading a message” or “starting a conversation” (more like starting a controversy).

Now onto the points in which the show failed to convey a positive message in both season 1 & season 2.

I recommend watching this video for short indications on why the show does more bad than good.

And before anyone says anything, I am mentally ill and I study psychology so jot that down.

SEASON 1

Sensationalism of suicide

As a vehicle for vengeance (thru tapes)

As a tool to gain attention

The tapes are treated as words of truth and justice

If the tapes are ever criticized, it is done by characters featured on the tapes, which serves to delegitimize such opinions since they're the "bad guys" of the story

Act of committing suicide blamed on others (esp bad when the 11 persons’ wrongdoings cannot be equated in most cases)

Most people didn't deserve a tape:

Jessica cut ties with her over a misunderstanding

Zach emptied her encouragement mailbox (and quickly stopped after being called out) and she thought he threw away a personal letter she wrote him (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Courtney claimed Hannah came onto her because she was afraid to be outed as lesbian but in the end, the photos and rumours affected them both anyway

Ryan published a poem of hers without her consent; disrespectful but not ill-intended

Clay walked away after she insisted for him to leave her alone (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Sheri knocked down a sign and left Hannah out on the street because she didn’t want to call 911, which “caused” the death of a student (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Those who deserved a tape (debatable in some cases):

Justin, for making up lies about her and spreading a revealing picture of her

Alex, for cutting ties, objectifying/publicly humiliating and submitting her to harassment in school

Bryce, for spreading a revealing picture of her and raping her

Marcus, for misleading, harassing and humiliating her in public

Tyler, for stalking and spreading pictures of [Courtney and] her

Mr Porter, for his very poor handling of her obvious distress

Hannah's story is no fair representation of real life

Technically, she’s a victim of social bullying (damaging someone's social reputation & lying and spreading rumours) but...

She's esp a victim of circumstances made by the creator - she's a fictional character whose purpose is to be a martyr in her story; in the real world, things would have played out much differently

Hannah tries to reach out once then gives up and justifies this bc the school counsellor didn't come running after her when she stormed out (again assuming ppl are mind readers)

Graphic rape scenes with the potential to trigger viewers - even those who aren’t survivors (replayed numerous times throughout the show as flashbacks)

Graphic and extended suicide scene (goes directly against professionals’ guidelines but screw vulnerable viewers I guess?)

Finality of suicide forgotten by the structure of narration = Hannah’s omnipresent even though she's literally dead, which grossly undermines the consequences of suicide

Adults portrayed as clueless and unable to help (not a good idea to put in teenagers’ head)

SEASON 2

Vague mention of mental illness

Implying anxiety runs in Hannah's maternal side but not diving into it

Sky being diagnosed with bipolar although there was no extensive portrayal of her symptoms (since she wasn’t onscreen for long) and immediately disappearing from the show while she’s the only character going through professional therapy and recovery (smth they would have rly benefited from showing)

Trivializing mental illness for plot use

Clay hallucinating Hannah - acknowledged but not addressed for being a serious psychotic symptom

Minors in sexual situations (too many times!)

Graphic scene of a brutal sexual battery (entirely for shock value, it didn’t have to be shown this way and you can't tell me otherwise)

Conflicting message regarding drug use

Severity of addiction (Justin getting clean then relapsing)

Recreational use (minors doing molly for fun... instead of marijuana which is less risky in comparison)

Trivializing school shooting

Advertisement tool (last episode of S1 heavily hinting at it)

Teased several times throughout the season

Blatant reference to Columbine

Not going through with it - worse move ever…

Irresponsible guide on how to approach an impulsive armed person

From a storytelling POV

Hannah the martyr

Hard to sympathize with when the tapes serve to exact vengeance more than it serves to explain how she felt and why she did what she did, making her manipulative at best

The fact that she was a bully herself in the past

(Plus being “shown” how Hannah was would've been better than being “told” how she was by other characters)

Overall terrible attempt at creating a suicide victim / mentally ill person ppl should sympathize with, the last thing the mentally ill needs is to be related to a character that is so easy to dislike

Clay as a main character

Lost his value since the story's progress doesn't rly depend on him (even tho we're forced to follow him)

Character development: he gets real snappy and no one calls him out? Increasingly unlikable

(Not that he was that likeable by the end of S1… spreading a naked picture of Tyler? #WelcomeToYourTape)

Tyler and his arc

Attempt at explaining the possible cause of school shooting? Failed.

Most school shooters aren’t victims of bullying, in fact many (if not all) are associated with hate groups like white supremacist, misogynists, etc.

Had plenty of reasons to commit suicide over mass shooting (and I don’t mean it in a ‘suicide can be justified’ sense but tbh besides his interest in guns, he’s never depicted as aggressively angry or remotely prone to violence)

Could've brought attention to male depression and male suicide far better than Alex’s story

Technical POV

Very lacking warnings. There should be hotlines at the end of every episode not at the beginning. Self-righteousness and superficial philosophy in both dialogue and narration show the shallowness and pretentiousness of the directors.

The show is presented as an objective representation instead of a media to consume and dissect and judge for oneself = in other words, the morale is laid out for you. Putting up content so shocking most of your target audience cannot watch for fear of being triggered is irresponsible. Trigger warnings don't solve that. Shooting implicit scenes and not explicit scenes is what protects viewers and still conveys the message.

Message

The show is depressing; there's barely any positive outcome. Every character is helpless to their situation. It would benefit greatly of some comic relief.

“We should be careful what we say to people.” Only when it comes to Hannah, everyone else we can be harsh to, apparently. “We should care more for people.” (True, but you can’t love depression away.) “We have power over nothing.” "We can't change anything.” “Adults don't understand us.” “We can't confide to anyone.” “We can't trust anyone.”

Seriously it's a fkg downer. This show highlights all the problems but gives no solution. You expect your audience of teenagers to figure it out for themselves? You expect your audience of teenagers to go out of their way to "start a conversation" with their parents over some sensationalist teen drama show? You must be kidding me. (Do you know how a conversation about 13RW goes? “I loved the show!” “I didn’t.” The end.)

Final note

The directors should have inserted a segment after each episode (or every couple) with the actors themselves discussing what happened to/between the characters and how it could have been handled better. If you want to act like your show is a PSA, treat it as such.

[fanficimagery]

Anonymous said: Do u do monty imagines bc i rly need more of him + Anonymous said: Please give me more monty i cant get enough

Author's Note: Because some of you asked so nicely.. enjoy my attempt at Montgomery. Also, much thanks to @jayadoreee for creating 'Dating Montgromery Includes' headcanons that sparked the idea for this ;) One headcanon in particular had me laughing, but as I was listening to a couple of songs.. inspiration struck! So go listen to 'Gangsta' and 'Crazy in Love' to get a feel of the mood I was in when writing this XD

MONTY X READER

Montgomery de la Cruz. There was a lot to be said about this bad boy, a lot to dislike about him as well, but given that he's been your boyfriend for the last eight months.. well you mustn't find him all that terrible.

But that wasn't the case once upon a time. Once upon a time you sneered at his attempts to intimidate fellow students, told him to fuck off one too many times to count, and even shoved him off Alex once when they got into one of their monthly fist fights.

His cruelty lessened when he turned his sights on you and every time you went to tell him off, you found that your amusement would spike. He noticed it, too, if his attempts to get a rise out of you almost everyday were anything to go by. Every curse you spewed at him was then followed by a smile and roll of your eyes instead of a sneer, and you found that Monty had wormed his way beneath your skin without even realizing it until it was too late.

The first time he asked you out, you had laughed in his face and walked away. The second time, you thought it over and rejected him with a joke, but the third.. the third time was the charm.

There was something genuine about his request the third time he sought you out, about the way he willingly took the jabs from his jock friends without lashing out at them that made you decide to give him a chance. You then ended up giving him several chances after that since his anger used to get the best of him and you were constantly bickering about his bullying tendencies, but he soon cooled off and mellowed out much to your pleasure.

Because if it wasn't for Monty, you wouldn't have flourished and opened up in ways that you never expected you were capable of doing. That and you never would have realized just what kinks you had.

"Hey, babe, ready to go?" Monty leans tiredly against the bleachers after baseball practice- hat worn backwards, shirt soaked with sweat and duffel bag hanging off one shoulder. "It's hot."

"Yeah. Let me just pack up." 

You quickly shove your textbooks and spirals back into your book bag, standing up and hopping down the stairs. Monty waits for you at the bottom, automatically taking your hand into his as he walks you to his vehicle. He's not one for public affection unless it's in a joking, teasing manner in front of his friends, but you don't really care to be all over him in front of anyone anyway.

Once situated in his jeep though, you both lean over the space separating you and meet each other halfway. The kiss is slow and languid, his tongue slipping into your mouth to caress yours. His teeth catch your bottom lip then and he bites down with just enough pressure to make you groan as he pulls back. His darkened gaze holds nothing but promises for a fun time later, and you momentarily wonder how the hell this boy is ready to go after a grueling day under the sun.

"You're showering before anything happens," you say, voice already thick with want.

He smirks. "God bless mothers who nag their husbands enough until he gets off his ass and takes her to Vegas. You're spending the night with me tonight."

Your gut warms in anticipation and you clench your thighs to ease the sudden throbbing when his hand lands just above your knee and slowly inches towards your inner thigh. "Yes, sir," you airily breathe and then chuckle darkly when he groans in return.

The drive to your house is as fast as possible without tempting law enforcement to pull you guys over. You leave your bag in Monty's vehicle, knowing you'll need it tomorrow, and make quick work of rushing inside to pack an overnight bag and clothes for the following day. And then the last thing you do before leaving is change your current underthings for something more fresh and eye appealing.

You barely have time to shut the door to the jeep before Monty's peeling out, you laughing as he clenches his jaw and wraps his hands tight around the steering wheel to make sure you get to his house in one piece.

Since you're already familiar with the layout of Monty's house, you casually stroll about as he takes the stairs two at time to reach his personal bathroom. You laugh at his retreat, grabbing yourself a bottle of water from the fridge before making you're way up. Setting aside your belongings takes no time at all, so you make yourself comfortable by kicking off your shoes and putting on some music.

Monty soon returns, the only article of clothing he's wearing being a pair of jeans slung low on his hips. 'Gangsta' starts playing over the dock speakers, the beat of the song setting the mood right away and you gulp at the sight of water droplets traveling down his chest. 

He smirks as he saunters towards you and you hesitantly stand to meet him halfway. "I have plans for you tonight, sweetheart."

Your eyes widen as your heart starts to thump faster and Monty rests his hands on your shoulders. His hands slowly travel down your arms until he reaches your hips, his hands then wandering towards your back and down to your ass, still travelling lower until he grips the back of your thighs in hand and lifts you up. Immediately your hands clasp together at the back of his neck and he chuckles deeply as he walks you around to the side of his bed before kneeling on the mattress and dropping you in the middle.

"Am I going to like these plans?" You ask, voice nearly a murmur.

"Y/N, you're going to love 'em."

His lips crash hungrily against yours, one hand diving into the hair at the nape of your neck. As he grips and pulls as hard as he dares, you moan aloud and allow him the chance to lick inside your mouth. It's hungry, yet passionate at the same time and your toes curl in anticipation.

Maneuvering you around so your back is towards the headboard, he pushes you down until you’re flat on your back and continues his nipping kisses down the side of your neck. "I know how much you enjoy my formal ties coming into play," he says, "but I got something a little different this time around.”

And it's true. You didn't think you'd be into the whole being tied up during sex, but something about Monty doing the tying up really got you going. Even more when Monty let you tie him up.

You don't realize what he's talking about until you find your wrists pinned together above your head, your eyes widening in surprise when you hear the jingle of chains. "Shh. Relax," he murmurs, nipping your chin. "It's not handcuffs."

No, it's not handcuffs, but it is leather cuffs that are linked to thin chains that are hidden between the headboard and mattress. "Fuck me," you mutter, feeling even more turned on than you were just seconds ago.

"That's the plan."

Your wrists are soon bound and you hiss when pull on them, the cuffs biting into the delicate skin. Monty chuckles as he slowly starts to slide your shirt up, groaning when he reveals black lace and then leaving your shirt as a blindfold over your eyes. You start to squirm as he trails kisses over the tops of your breasts, then trails his tongue down the center of your abdomen before sucking a bruise just above the button of your jeans.

"Monty," you whine. "Stop teasing."

"As you wish."

The button of your jeans is popped open, the material roughly yanked down your legs before your knees are spread and the warmth of his mouth covers your throbbing center.

♪♫My freakness is on the loose and running all over you. Please take me to places that nobody, nobody knows. You got me hooked up on the feeling. You got me hanging from the ceiling. Got me up so high I'm barely breathing. So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me, don’t let me go♪♫

With only a few hours of sleep, you find yourself waking up later than you normally wake up and rush to get ready for school. Monty merely rolls over and continues sleeping as you shower, you then finding him dressed and as smug as can be when you re-enter his room to finish dressing.

"Stop staring at me," you whine. "And hurry up. You know I hate being late for school."

"You look well fucked," he muses. "No matter how much you brush your hair or apply concealer, you look like you had a long night."

"Mhm. Thank you for that. Now Jessica isn't going to shut up today and she's going to want all the details."

Monty laughs as you pull him out of the room, kicking his back pack towards him as you grab up yours. You're in such a rush to get to the school that you don't realize until it's too late that you forgot to do something important. While you remembered to cover the hickies surrounding your neck, you completely forgot about the other two obvious marks.

"Hey, Y/N," Jessica muses, tucked happily into Justin's side as they stop by your locker, "why are yours wrists so red?"

You freeze, mentally berating yourself for forgetting to cover those. You slam your locker shut only to find Jessica and Justin grinning knowingly, but merely roll your eyes in return. "Don't ask."