By: Aisha Zaidi
“Netflix and chill” the most common response for what you’re doing this evening or this weekend. I’m sure we have all have heard and said this at least once. Of course, we all love the wide variety of entertainment we get with just a low monthly fee of 15 bucks or less! But are we getting the quality that we deserve? Definitely not, we are just getting what we pay for.
Granted, there are many television shows, documentaries and movies that are anticipated, brilliant and award-winning on Netflix but what about the all the shows and/or movies that are highly inappropriate for the general Netflix audience which includes children? There is a difference between adult entertainment which every entertainment company must provide for adults and there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about the shows or movies they have catered for children but are no where near what children or even youth should be watching? The problem is not the shows or movies Netflix chooses to have on its platform because many of those are reputable and broadcasted on many streams of media. The problem is Netflix Originals, which are created by Netflix themselves.
In 2017 a Netflix original was released called “13 Reasons Why” it’s a teenage drama series about a high school student committing suicide due to bullying and betrayal by her high school peers. The show was called “13 Reasons Why” because the main actor who killed herself blamed 13 of her classmates for her death “why the blame game?”. The controversy this drama created was because the portrayal of suicide being as an OK or an understandable option for teens without any force of prevention instead. The scenes shown in this intense drama are not something that teenagers should be viewing as cool or proper actions. This being one of the many Netflix originals giving the wrong messages to youth. April 2017, a few months after the first season of “13 Reasons Why” came out, ABC News reported 2 California families claiming that the show was the reason for their daughter’s suicide. Both girls were bright and admired by their peers but were struggling with depression as the main character of the show was and decided to take the easy way out by ending their lives as Hannah Baker on the show did. On the day of the funeral of one of the girls is when her parents found out that their daughter hung herself when she finished watching the show “13 Reasons Why”. Suicide exists and is common and rising by the day so we know that there has to be underlying issues leading to suicidal thoughts and the attention to the root issue and solving that is the actual road to prevention totally opposite of the message Netflix gave with this show which is that there is no other way out of your problems and there is no alternative route. After an incident report like this why would you even broadcast a second season? Isn’t taking 2 lives and endangering many others enough for a show cancellation? Which has now finally been cancelled after broadcasting 4 seasons.
Another appalling Netflix original that just released in August, is a French movie called “Mignonnes” meaning cuties in English. It’s a story about an 11-year-old girl who is bored with her family values and religion so she decides to go against her family and rebel in the most utterly disgusting way that no 11 year old should be even thinking about. The whole movie revolves around a group of 11-year old’s joining a twerking dance group, incorporating sickening sexualizing moves, sending nude selfies to their classmates, being only 11 years old! The boycott and backlash created for this movie only made Netflix change the content on the poster but it didn’t stop them from releasing it on their platform, which again proves that they don’t care about the content they are providing for their viewers even if it involves pedophilia. The rating for this movie thus far is 1.3 out of 5 stars and according to google only 6% of viewers liked this movie which were probably only the creators. You pull up any reviews of this repulsive movie and you will see the proof in the pudding with an overflow of nasty and negative reviews which are all well deserved. There have been thousands of demands for removing this movie from Netflix but this company doesn’t seem to budge, so let’s think about if we want to be a part of giving business to a company who doesn’t care for its customers or promoting pedophilia and brainwashing our children!
Author Bio
Aisha Zaidi is a Journalism and Mass Communication student. Passionate about global issues and human rights, aspiring to use her writing to make a positive impact in the world.