Yahoo News 13RW producer defends controversial season 1 scene
Warning: The following article contains discussion of suicide that some readers may find upsetting.
An executive producer for 13 Reasons Why has defended the controversial manner in which the show has touched on the subject of suicide.
Back in the first season, many people who watched the Netflix drama took issue with the graphic scene showing Hannah Baker's (Katherine Langford) death. But Mandy Teefey told NBC News' Think that she has no regrets on how it was handled.
"My whole thing is, you are more affected visually than if you read something," she said. "If you see or experience something, you have a different perspective of, 'Oh, I shouldn't do that'. With the suicide, we did not want her taking pills and going to sleep to look like a peaceful means to an end.
"We did a lot of research on cinematic suicide – 27 different suicides from commercial to art films to everything – and we're like, 'How do we not make this gratuitous but feel the pain?'
"I think the way we succeeded in that was [having Hannah's mother entered the bathroom immediately]... Suicide is not a beautiful thing."
Teefey stated that she feels she has nothing to apologise for, claiming that the show has encouraged everybody to have conversations about a "taboo" subject.
"I'm not speaking for the studio or anybody else," she said. "I refuse to apologise for creating a tool that is there to help your parents and children have a conversation about what their kids [see when they] go to school every day.
"Suicide has always been something that has loomed over our society and something that people want to talk about, but they don't talk about it. It was taboo. We took it full-fledged and decided something needed to be done.
"I predicted it before the show came out on our very first panel, the adults are going to be the ones with the problems with the show, because the kids go to school every day and this is what they see."
The show, which returned for a second season earlier this year, has been renewed for a third run of 13 episodes, scheduled for 2019.
13 Reasons Why is available on Netflix.
Readers who are affected by the issues raised in 13 Reasons Why are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
A dedicated website with resources, information and support lines has been also set up at 13reasonswhy.info.
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