In a recurring installment of Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’, the character of Sergeant Detective Misha Frank delivers a profound dialogue. This monologue, albeit brief, punctures the core issue with the show: it fails to shed significant light on or bring vitality to the concerns of the female victim. Whilst investigating a case at a school where a student, Jamie, a 13-year-old, has killed his classmate Katie, she expresses her frustration to her colleague. She leverages the scenario to criticize the fact that the wrongdoer always commands the spotlight, while the victim fades into oblivion.
Frank laments that our focus is primarily on the offender and the trigger that led to his actions, while the victim often fades into insignificance. Jamie is the center of attention, and Katie, the unfortunate victim, is glossed over. This emphasis on the perpetrator, she feels, disrupts the essential balance in understanding such critical occurrences. ‘Adolescence’, though a remarkable production, persists in echoing the widespread, but necessary, concerns regarding the radicalization of young men through the digital manosphere, especially incel culture.
However, the angle from which ‘Adolescence’ approaches this issue seems all too familiar: it merely prolongs an argument that feminists have propagated for over a decade. It emphasizes the male aspect while under-representing the female counterpart. The primary cause for alarm around incel culture and its radical influence on young men stems from its destructive impact on women. Yet, another notable reason to critique it is its detrimental influence on the young males who succumb to it.
Regrettably, ‘Adolescence’ gravitates mostly around the plight of these young men, leaving the female victims somewhat sidelined. The structure of the narrative even hints at victim blaming. The catalyst for Jamie’s criminal act becomes apparent in the second episode when the detectives visit the school. Katie had belittled Jamie online, a fact that is subsequently attributed as the motivation for his violent outcome.
In this tragic storyline, Katie taunts Jamie on his social media, indirectly leading him to become aware of incel culture when she labels him as such online. Jamie, oblivious to the world of incel culture, stumbles upon it after his failed attempt to woo Katie. According to the show’s narration, this event marks Jamie’s initial confrontation with incel jargon and culture, capable of bruising his self-esteem significantly.
Jamie researches what being an ‘incel’ entails, partially aligning with its concept of the ’80/20′ rule while embracing his self-declared unattractiveness. Furthermore, the show effectively portrays that numerous self-proclaimed incels are ordinarily-looking young men that are often wrestling with an pre-existing inferiority complex rather than facing any actual discrimination due to their looks.
It draws attention to the fact that these young men are not necessarily radicalized by their female victims or by women in general but are driven into the manosphere due to a toxic sense of masculine rivalry. They believe their stature as men relies heavily on surpassing their male comrades in their interactions with women. The narrative thus seems askew in attributing the incel influence primarily to female peers like Katie.
Adding discomfort to this representation is the fact that Katie, though improbable as the initiator of Jamie’s encounter with incel ideology, turns out to be his victim. In recognizing that those who perpetrate such acts of hatred against women often have experienced personal suffering, it’s striking how the series alludes that the women are responsible for this suffering, a claim often far removed from reality.
Typically, these victims haven’t committed any mistakes – they are merely caught in a deluded worldview of male entitlement and female obligation. It’s not that they truly owe him affection, admiration, or sexual favors; he just falsely feels entitled to them. It’s not that they’re a disappointment to him, but rather his misplaced perception that he is entitled to their love. The narrative too easily shoots the messenger, focusing on the surface tension instead of tackling the root cause.
In the third installment, Jamie’s interaction with a psychologist named Briony reveals some of his pent-up feelings — the pain and embarrassment he faced when Katie rejected him. However, his character doesn’t reflect the usual rhetoric espoused by incels to legitimize their behavior. Often, the narrative spun by most incels is that they’re deceived by women or the world, and that they are deserving of women’s romantic and sexual interest.
Incels feel women owe them social and intimate favors, and the idea of teaching a lesson comes up when they perceive a woman to have failed them somehow. Unfortunately, the ‘Adolescence’ narrative, though unique, falls short in representing these moral realities that incels often invoke and ends up giving an incomplete and misleading depiction of incel culture.
The series starts with an intense scene of police invading Jamie’s home to arrest him, highlighting his innocence and vulnerability. It inspires empathy not just for Jamie but also for his parents, forging a connection with the viewers who cannot fathom their own child committing such a crime. Nonetheless, the grievance here isn’t excessive sympathy for masculine perpetrators; it’s the disproportionate empathy distributed between the offender and the victim.
The show portrays Jamie — a young boy influenced by pernicious social conditioning — as a sympathetic figure who can’t fully comprehend his actions. It successfully brings out the fact that Jamie is too young to bear complete responsibility for his actions. However, the narrative disappointingly misses out on fleshing out Katie’s character, apart from her role as a bully, resulting in a slight towards the female victims of such culture.
The series appears somewhat aware of its narrative shortcomings and attempts to address these through auxiliary monologues. Yet, they don’t adequately compensate for the underlying issues. In the third episode, Briony calls out Jamie for his distorted perception of Katie, attempting to drive in the reality and permanence of her death and that her life and personality cannot be reduced to his biased notions of her.
Ultimately, Katie’s character never gets a meaningful presence in ‘Adolescence’. Her murder is merely a plot device deployed to navigate the moral dilemmas and anxieties surrounding our young males. Despite this, the show’s intention to spotlight the radicalization of young men seems to get lost in its skewed narrative, leaving the viewer with an unsettling, incomplete engagement with an otherwise crucial social issue.
The post The Misplaced Spotlight: An Analysis of Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ appeared first on Real News Now.
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