“The Expanse” Will Make You Feel Lost In Space

BY KEATON J. EVANS

Netflix’s new show, The Expanse, is extraordinary, visually stunning, and has a gritty, realistic look which makes the show quite unique and creative when compared to other sci-fi shows.

There’s a lot going on right off the bat, with colonies across the solar system, a futuristic Earth, a militant Mars, and plenty of water shortage on some smaller worlds. I would say there’s a lot going for the show.

This being said, there are also a few things which the show isn’t so great at doing. Below are some thing it does well and some things where it misses the mark. All points considered, you’ll feel lost in space watching this show.

Now whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you.

The Worlds Are Incredible

The production quality is the shows number one quality, hands down. The worlds and ships they show glisten with details and have almost a Blade Runner vibe especially on the Asteroid colonies.

The show also hits well on the realities of space and what could go wrong. One example, is the water shortage on the asteroid belt. There’s moments where shipments of ice are delayed and the people on the belt suffer because of it. It goes even farther to point out that if a second shipment is delayed then people will die.

It was refreshing to see so much thought put into the mechanics of world outside of earth, and see the messy reality, and complications which could arise. The visual aspects of the worlds and the realism they present are both excellent.

Seeing all these real intricate worlds allows you to get lost in them, a feeling which was a pleasant surprise.

Wait, Who Are These People?

After watching The Expanse, I noticed the one thing I didn’t quite like: the character development. Probably the weakest aspect of the film. While the production design is quite superb, the characters fall short, especially in the beginning.

I thought about why this was. The characters are interesting enough, they live in incredible worlds, and the plot is good, so what gives. Well, here’s the deal. While the characters may be interesting, it’s hard to know because they rush the character development.

It feels like we are supposed to know who these people are as soon as we see the first shot. It almost seems like the beginning of the show is the middle of a show. Now, there is development of the characters, a little.

But for the most part, all the introductions are rushed and end up leaving you feeling  little connection with the people you are watching. I think to myself, “A spaceship explodes and people might die! Oh no! Wait, who are these people?”

If they want the events to hold any weight, they need to let us get to know the characters, and then put them into dangerous life-threatening situations, or we won’t care.

If you feel stranded and not quite sure how to feel then don’t worry, it’s an effect of rushed character intros.

Feeling Lost Could Be Either Good or Bad

Both the best qualities of the show and the worst qualities of the show will make you feel lost. But which feeling sticks with you? Does the production design and visuals carry you through the hard-to-know characters, or do you feel not knowing the characters takes you out of the show?

Either way, it’s an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a science-fiction show.

Gavin Hood – Practical Advice and Inspiration from Eye In The Sky Director

Gavin Hood is climbing the ranks in the film industry, having directed some popular movies with tenacious morale.

I first noticed him after watching Eye in the Sky, which is about the disputes of modern warfare. I was thoroughly impressed. I don’t remember the last time I was on the edge of my seat for the duration of an entire movie. When I realized he’s a fellow South-African, I was intrigued even more – I have to admit I’m a bit biased…

The more I found out about him, the more reasons I found to acknowledge him and his work.

Gavin Hood is the kind of filmmaker who is in the business for the right reasons.

He is driven to create current and applicable content which is entertaining at the same time. When asked why he chose to direct Eye in the Sky, he commented: “It’s completely current and it’s about what’s really happening in modern warfare and it has elements of black comedy and farce that are grounded in real life.”

His choice to cast Helen Mirren (the role was intended for a male lead) as Colonel Katherine Powell was very strategic. He didn’t want to box the movie in as a war movie for guys.

He recounts saying, “I want it to be a movie about war but that it’s a conversation starter for men and women about a subject matter that I think is very topical.”

He’s also a filmmaker who works extremely hard to get where he is right now. When asked to give advice to aspiring filmmakers, he shared, “Unfortunately, […] there’s this notion that you can become famous and rich very quickly. It’s a curse I think. […]

The way you make it is by getting good at making films.

There’s no shortcut; just study the craft and practise and hopefully you’ll eventually connect with an audience. And if you don’t connect with an audience, you won’t have a career in this business.”

It took a while for him to gain international recognition. Even though he wanted to be an actor, he followed his father’s advice and “took his big mouth and studied law” though he only practiced it for 4 months. He was already 30 when he actually started studying screenwriting, cinematography and directing.

Although he knew he was always going to go into film, he doesn’t regret having studied law, instead he recalls, “it trained me in terms of thinking and story and conflict and moral and ethical questions.”

He continually emphasizes the importance of making films in order to connect with your audience. He himself is drawn to stories compelling him to think. “I personally, with my background of being a lawyer and growing up in the turbulent times of the 80’s in South-Africa, I tend to be drawn to […] stories that somehow challenge me in a moral or ethical way.

“Don’t tell me what to think, but present me with something morally or ethically challenging.”

He started small by making short films; The Storekeeper was one I remember seeing in Middle School. It left a big impression on me, not only because of the dilemma it presents, but because it was so close to home. It was a South-African story which could be understood universally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoAONuFrjtU

This is another thing I appreciate about him; he bloomed where he was planted. He started where he was and then expanded, instead of limiting himself to the small South-African film industry.

Tsotsi was his breakthrough film which garnered him an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 – a film I highly recommend by the way…

It was again, an authentic story, but one exploring universal humanity.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-cQHJm25qI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wikqd0aUVkM

“I really believe that we focus so much on differences and not enough on similarities. Most people, on a very basic level, have surprisingly similar needs. The need for companionship, dignity, love. And when these basic needs are not met, you find individuals developing a very distorted sense of the world.”

By now, he has other popular movies under his belt like Ender’s Game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Rendition.

I celebrate people like Gavin Hood and believe there are many more like him out there who we simply need to discover.

Fellow filmmakers and actors, let us strive and work hard to tell stories worth telling. Stories that challenge people in their thinking to fight passivity.

Gavin Hood, I thank you for being an inspiration and persisting with a tenacious and creative spirit – all the best to you for your future projects!

Written by Annette Lange.

How to Decide if a Movie is Good or Bad

Written by Brenden Bell.

There are so many creative and wonderful films out there; some we love and some we hate. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. What makes a movie good? What makes it bad?

If you’re confused, this article is for you. I’m going to give you some practical tools to assess a film based on both subjective and objective factors, and then take you through a film so you’ll be comfortable doing this yourself in private.

Download the worksheet here as a PDF: An Objective Journey into Subjectivity.

Then, follow along as we learn how to decide if we think a movie is good or not. The analysis of the film is based on a point system. Each positive answer is given one point, while negative answers are given zero points. The final section asks you to rate your answer on a scale of 1-5; the point value is equal to this scale.

If a movie got more than 16 points it’s probably a movie you’re ok with watching, more than 21 then it’s probably a good film. More than 30?? Probably an all time favorite for you.

Let’s test it shall we?

I’m going to take you through it with one of my least favorite films: The Phantom Menace.

Our first step is to fill in the information in the text box in the left corner of the worksheet. You’ll reference back to these as needed.

If you’re confused about how to tell who your main character is, it’s usually the character who is the most changed at the end of the film.

The theme/thematic material is the big idea behind the film; the idea the filmmaker wants you to take away from the film. If you’re still confused, check out this blog to explain it a bit more.

Once this is done you can move on to the next several sections of questions; you want to answer as honestly and fairly as you can. They revolve around story, character and theme.

• the first question refers to your ability to write the story in a sentence from the previous section. If you’re unable to do so simply (as I was for this movie, then the answer is no). The rest are fairly self-explanatory.
• The next two sections play fairly similarly, both with one question taken from the information you gave in the first written portion.

The next section of questions is a bit more objective, focusing in on the artistry/craftsmanship involved in the various departments involved in the filmmaking process. Movies you love can be made poorly, and films you hate can have good aspects to them. This section helps add a bit of objectivity to your subjective opinion of a film.

Rather than YES/NO the positive distinction is HELP while the negative distinction is DISTRACT. Ask yourself, did the following aspects of filmmaking HELP tell the story, or did they DISTRACT from the story and feel out of place? If you didn’t notice either way, then you can assume they were natural and helped tell the story.

For this section, when I had mixed feelings (such as production design), I decided to go positive. Your levels of grace and compassion are totally up to you.

The last section, and perhaps the most important. There is always a part of a movie for me which is indescribable and separate from the story, and other elements of filmmaking. I call this… THE X-FACTOR.

Ultimately, this section is a way to measure how much this film resonates with you on a personal level. A movie can be poorly made but resonate with you, causing you to generally enjoy it as a result. A movie can be executed brilliantly from a technical standpoint, but if it doesn’t resonate with you, then it’s not going to become one of your favorites.

• Each section should be filled out on a scale of 0 – 5: 0 meaning not in the slightest, and 5 meaning absolutely.
• For the final question in this section, the emotion I am referring to should stem from the story and the contents therein, and should be divorced from poor quality in filmmaking or storytelling. If you’re angry at poor quality, then the answer would be no. If you’re angry because of the subject matter or the character’s choices or how the story turned out, then this film had an impact on you and the answer is yes… and is something you should unpack.

Final score for The Phantom Menace? …5/32.

According to my scale this means I “absolutely hate this movie to the point of offense.” This test is pretty accurate.

Now you try; think of a movie you’re unsure how you feel about and run it through this test.

Perhaps you’ll learn it’s a good film but you just didn’t connect with it emotionally. Try out a few different popular movies or some not so popular ones and let us know what points you gave them in the comments below.

Is “Guardians of the Galaxy” Marvel’s Second Best Film?

BY KEATON J. EVANS

*Warning: Huuuuge Spoilers!*

Guardians of the Galaxy is considered to be one of the greatest creative achievements by Marvel and also the favourite of many fans. But is it the best Marvel film? Or has the new Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 surpassed it?

I thoroughly enjoyed the film when I watched it a few days ago, and I wondered how it stacks up to the first one. I made three rounds for both movies to compete in and we shall see who the winner is at the end of the article.

These three points are the ones I considered to be the most important differences between the two.

ROUND 1: THE PLOT

Guardians Vol. 1: Peter Quill embarks on an adventure to escape Ronan and everyone else out to get him and the infinity stone he carries. Along the way he’s forced to work with other convicts. They all learn to work as a family and end up saving Xandar, a planet that Ronan was bent on destroying. Only by uniting as a team do they stop Ronan and take-back the infinity stone. Overall, the plot establishes the theme that family is what is most important. To read more about this, read Brenden’s piece here.

Guardians Vol. 2: In the second installment we see the team working together to protect a superior race of people and then fleeing said people when Rocket steals one of the batteries they were hired to protect. Their ship crashes on an alien planet where they meet Peter’s father, Ego. We then follow father and son and the plot between Gamora’s sister Nebula, who’s out to take her revenge of Gamora. It’s a bit slow in some areas, which is understandable because the movie is character-focused. Both films are. But overall, the plot drags in some areas, being sacrificed to the jokes and humor, which are good, but take away from making the plot stronger.

The first film brought the charm of family and bringing together a ragtag team to win this round over vol. 2.

WINNER: Vol. 1

ROUND 2: THE VILLAIN

Guardians Vol. 1: In the first volume of the Guardians of the Galaxy our heroes face Ronan, a leader of the Cree people who’s out for the infinity stone and couldn’t care less about Thanos. He’s about as flat as a villain could be, but still intimidating and powerful. He’s defeated by the Guardians rather easily, though that hammer of his sure was crazy good with an infinity stone strapped inside of it. Overall, he’s about as typical as Marvel villains come.

Guardians Vol. 2: In the second volume of the Guardians’ adventure, we face a whole new kind of villain: a father gone bad. His reveal is dynamic, a twist to many fans and a highlight of the film, to be sure. I know I was shocked and I feared for Star-lord, a reaction I haven’t felt for many characters. But when Star-lord literally went starry-eyed, I was concerned. And the horror of all the children Ego killed and buried was also uncomfortable to realize. And, being a planet is something we haven’t seen yet, which adds to the originality of the character. Admittedly it feels like they’re fighting the Death Star at the end, but that’s for another round. The thing about Ego is his motives sound grand, but they too appear a bit murky.

With Ego being the more original and surprising twist of the two, the winner of this round belongs to Star-lord’s dad.

WINNER: Vol. 2

So far the two are tied, which is good. It’s what makes fights interesting. Good thing there’s a third and final round to settle which one’s better!

ROUND 3: THE CLIMAX

Guardians Vol. 1: The climax of the first film included an epic space battle above Xandar, the planet the heroes are desperate to save. After trying to stop a giant ship from crashing into the city, the ship is able to break the blockade and crash into the city. But before Ronan can slap his infinity stone-infused hammer into the ground and wipe out the world, he is challenged to a dance-off by Peter. After distracting Ronan he takes ahold of the infinity stone and defeats Ronan with the help of the other Guardians. The dance-off is completely unexpected and hilarious and the moment they unite is a powerful one.

Guardians Vol. 2: At times the climax reminded me of people trying to blow up the Death Star, and I’m still trying to figure out if this is a good thing or not. It was unique that they had to fight a being which was a planet, and it added a strange dynamic to the fight. I think Ego being essentially invincible (until you destroyed the core) made the fighting seem superfluous, but what was thrilling was seeing each member of the team having to fight Ego in their own way. There was a good deal at stake too, with the earth being in danger of Ego’s take-over.

With both movies having excellent final clashes, this one is probably the closest of the three rounds. But….

WINNER: Vol. 1

With two out of three wins, the original Guardians of the Galaxy remains one of the best films in the Marvel cinematic universe. I enjoyed both quite a bit, and think the second one is good, but the first one remains the better of the two. Do you agree with the results, or do you think I’m crazy?

Whatever you may think, James Gunn knows how to make popular movies, no doubt about it!

What A Stunt Person Needs In A Director

BY CHARIS JOY JACKSON

When it comes to knowing how to make movies, there’s one area independent filmmakers can not ignore. Stunts.

Pretty much everything else, you can “fake it, ‘til you make it”, but when it comes to stunts, you need to know what you’re doing. They’re dangerous and if you don’t have professional training, you’re creating an incredibly unsafe set.

A happy set is a safe set.

I love stunts. Watching Tom Cruise perform death-defying stunts in the Mission Impossible franchise are always a highlight. I mean, come on guys! The man hung off the side of one of the tallest buildings in the world. And, he held on to the side of a plane as it took off!

It’s inspiring to see stunt performers in action. They’re one of the most tight-knit community in film. Which, honestly, is no surprise because they have to trust each other with their lives.

As an aspiring director, I wanted to know what stunt professionals look for in a director. I reached out to a few and here’s what they had to say…

Kyal Scott, SAP

The Tempus Elixer (2015) & Out of the Woods (2017)

Kyal is an incredible actor and stunt professional. He’s performed death-defying stunts as several iconic characters at Warner Brother’s Movie World in Australia.

“What I look for is trust. A stunt person doesn’t want to risk injury or death for the sake of a slightly better camera angle or perform a stunt that is deliberately difficult because an alternative action doesn’t adhere to the storyboard. 

“If a stunt person knows that their safety is the main concern then they will push their fear to the limit and risk their lives to create something incredible for the director to capture.

“Trust also helps both director and stunt person be far more efficient. Time is money after all.”

I think he’s hit the nail on the head. The biggest thing a stunt performer needs from their director is trust. They are putting their very lives on the line to serve the vision of the story. If they can trust they’re working with a director who will think outside the box to ensure their stunt performer is safe, the performer will work harder for them too.

It’s a mutual road.

Daniel Nelson, SAP

Deadline Gallipoli (2015) & Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

Daniel currently works at Warner Brother’s Movie World in Australia and already has an impressive list of films under his belt as a qualified stunt performer.

“Sometimes directors don’t always have the same eye for action that stuntmen do. So having access to playback footage of each take and seeing what it looks like on camera is very handy. Particularly in a fight sequence.

“Directors can also spend too much time on the actors’ dialog that there is no time in the day for the stunt sequence. So a director who is aware of his time is definitely beneficial.”

This is great advice for the aspiring director. Keep an eye on the time. Stunts require a lot of work and time. The crazier the stunt, the longer it’ll take to make sure everything is set up and safe for the performer. The more a director honours this, the more a stunt person wants to make things work to serve the story.

Daniel Weaver, SAP/ Stunt Rigger

Bleeding Steel (2017) & The Shallows (2016)

As well as working for Movie World, Weaver is also a Stunt Rigger and most recently worked on Thor Ragnarok as a SPX Rigger.

“One of the things I look for in a director is being easy to communicate with. [There’s] nothing worse than trying to understand what someone wants to see if they are not clear. Some directors climb all over the ground and grab performers to show what they mean prior to shooting, so a director who is clear and not afraid to get their hands dirty is great!”

“Another is a director that understands action filmmaking. It’s awesome when you get a director that knows the value in seeing the stunts rather than a director that will just cheat the stunts to speed things up. A good director knows the time it takes to provide quality performance and maintain safety.”

I think Daniel makes an excellent point about being clear with what you want from a stunt person. The more concise and articulate you can be as a director the better. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say, learn their lingo. Find out what different stunts are called, it will save you time on set and I think it’ll make your stunt professional’s day.

Jason O’Halloran, SAP

Goldstone (2015) & The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Jason also works for Movie World and has had an impressive career, working on shows like Sea Patrol and Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner.

“I like to see a director that’s excited about action. If you get on set and the director is pumped about the scene then everything just naturally goes up a notch.”

Jason gives some great advice here. At the heart of what I hear in this is, have passion for the action you’re creating. The more passion you have, the more your entire crew will want to get behind what you’re doing. Passion is a huge support to creativity. It gets the juices flowing, so to speak, and you may find your stunt professional coming up with even better takes for what you want to create.

“All of the stunt men – these are the unsung heroes. They really are. Nobody is giving them any credibility. They’re risking their necks.” – Jason Statham

The next time you work on a set with stunt professionals, I hope you keep this advice in mind. What Jason Statham says above is so true. They really are the unsung heroes on set.

While it takes extreme effort for every crew member to serve a project, keep in mind these guys and gals are going the extra effort. Support and honor this community and listen well to this incredible filmmaking advice.

Barkhad Abdi – How to get awards without training

BY ANNETTE LANGE

In order to win the Bafta Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and get a part in popular movies, one must simply do the following:

 

• Come from a difficult background in Somalia and flee to Yemen to escape sudden civil unrest and war
• Win a Green Card Lottery and move to Minnesota at the age of 14
• Learn English from TV shows and rap music
• Become a limo driver, DJ and sell phones to make ends meet
• Respond to a casting call for Captain Phillips and give the best performance out of 700 fellow auditioners to get the role of a Somali pirate
• Co-star alongside Tom Hanks and give an excellent performance
• Improvise iconic lines to add to the believability of the scene

 

This, in a nutshell, is the story of Barkhad Abdi who made his major debut in Captain Phillips, without any acting training or experience prior to his role as ‘Abduwali Muse’. And, besides winning the Bafta Award, he got nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award as well.

 

I love stories like his. People like Abdi are very refreshing. They haven’t been sheltered from the world, they had other things to worry about than staying in the loop with the latest trends. And when success comes to them as a surprise, it is an even more joyous achievement.

 

When asked about his response to co-starring with Tom Hanks, he recalled thinking, “I can’t believe I’m in a scene with the Forrest Gump guy.”

I first noticed Abdi in Eye in the Sky and I was extremely fascinated by his performance. When I realized he hadn’t been trained professionally, I was even more impressed.

 

The little training he had in preparation for Captain Phillips happened in the month prior to filming. Abdi had to learn to swim, handle guns and operate a ship. He only met Tom Hanks on the first day of shooting, so I bet his nerves helped him to create such a convincing character.

There was a lot of doubt whether he would actually be able to make a career out of it, or if it was just a one-time golden opportunity.

 

His salary for his first performance was only increased very little from the mandated Screen Actors Guild (SAG) minimum of $60,000 for a feature film. Even after his success, he was struggling financially.

 

He couldn’t even go back to work in his brother’s phone shop because everyone wanted to see him instead of buying phones. He seemed as if he was back to square one after reaching fame.

Perhaps his experience of reaching fame but finding it harder than expected could be compared to his experience of coming to the States:

 

“When I was leaving Yemen to come to America, things were tough. My dad had just been laid off, and it was a challenge. When I lived in Yemen, I thought America was a perfect place. Everything was bigger and better. I dreamed big. The American dream, you know? You have to work hard for your dream to come true.”
And he is working hard. I’m sure many directors have an eye on him after his performance in Eye in the Sky. And fortunately, his future looks promising as well. He has more acting projects lined up such as Hawaii 50, The Place that hits the Sun and the Sequel to Blade Runner. May the list go on and on!

I am excited to see more of his acting. May he never loose that tenacious and creative spirit and continue to inspire fellow actors as he continues in his journey!

Should “13 Reasons Why” Never Have Been Told?

Written by Charis Jackson.

Creatives, how do we know when we’ve stepped over the line creatively?

13 Reasons Why, is one of the most popular shows on Netflix right now, but should we be watching it? Should it have been filmed? Or even created? These are the questions tossing around in my head at the moment.

The story follows Hannah Baker, a young girl who experiences severe bullying and trauma to the point where she commits suicide. She leaves behind several cassette tapes for a selection of classmates explaining why they and the choices they made are the reason why she ended her life.

13 Reasons Why, which was inspired by the book of the same name, written by Jay Asher, has come under an unexpected attack by several mental health organisations around Australia and the US. They’ve urged teens and young adults to avoid the show because of the extreme graphic content.

I have to say, I’m torn. On one hand, I completely understand their concern. However, as a writer, filmmaker and creative, I was impressed with the story and their willingness to show the raw situations and even the actual suicide.

In the featurette, 13 Reasons Why: Beyond the Reasons, producer Selena Gomez said, “We wanted to do it in a way where it was honest, and we wanted to make something that could hopefully help people because suicide should never ever be an option.”

But now with organisations like Headspace, issuing warnings to younger viewers, I have to take another look at the role of the creative in all this.

In an interview with Channel 9’s Today Extra, Child Psychologist Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg stated, “It’s essentially an audio-visual manual for suicide.”

Can it be true? Can a story impact the world in such a negative way, when their aim was to bring awareness and give less power to these horrible situations?

When talking about the choice to film the actual suicide, Brian Yorkey, Executive Producer said, “We worked very hard not be too gratuitous, but we did want it to be painful to watch, because we wanted it to be very clear that there is nothing in any way worthwhile about suicide.”

The job of a creative is to speak where others can’t. Creatives have a way of putting words to how people feel. Growing up, I was always impressed with how songs and shows could put words to feelings I couldn’t explain and because they were able to express them, it helped me grow in maturity, but I have to wonder if we can go too far in revealing truth.

More than anything, what 13 Reasons Why reminds me of, is the importance of our words and choices. This is a central theme in the show, but also is being revealed in the backlash it’s now experiencing. Where they aimed to tell the truth and give people a hope there were other solutions than suicide, it now appears they’ve only brought further damage.

In one news source, Headspace said they’re receiving more calls and emails which are in direct correlation with the show. Obviously, they’re concerned, but I can’t help wondering if the show has actually done more good than harm.

There were many times during the show, where I kept hoping Hannah would tell the truth, that she would take her communication teacher’s advice and tell people when they’d hurt her.

Recently, I had a small argument with a friend. As a teen and young adult, my usual response to these kinds of situations was to internally shut down. When my friend asked if I was ok, instead of shutting down, I told her, with no aggression what she’d said, made me feel like I didn’t have a right to voice what I was saying. I was surprised by how easily the situation was resolved once we’d both calmly spoken the truth.

And this came as a direct response to my experience and the lessons I’d learned from watching 13 Reasons Why.

In a Vanity Fair article, Nic Sheff, one of the writers of the show talked about his own experience with depression and his attempt to take his life. He recounts while he was trying to take his life, a memory of another woman’s story of how she’d tried to commit suicide, came back to him and stopped him from going further. “The whole story came back to me in heightened detail.” He said, “It was an instant reminder that suicide is never peaceful and painless, but instead an excruciating, violent end to all hopes and dreams and possibilities for the future.”

Ultimately, creatives have the responsibility and duty to impart wisdom and truth to their audience. It’s their gift and their curse. Sometimes this will be received well, other times there will be backlash. I have to trust as long as I’m owning this responsibility and doing everything I can to be sensitive and ethical in what I create, then I need to let the rest take care of itself.

I think we need to give the creators and storytellers of 13 Reasons Why a break. Maybe organisations like Headspace are receiving more calls, but what if it’s because the show has given young teens hope they can turn to someone? What if the show has impacted people to seek help because they’ve seen how many people were horribly affected by Hannah’s decision.

Suicide is never ever an option. I’m no psychologist, but don’t you think the more we bring things into the open, the less power they have to control us? This is exactly what the creators of 13 Reasons Why were hoping to accomplish. I think instead of seeing the growing number of calls and emails as a warning, we should see it as a hope and the fruit of their labor, because the fact of the matter is, people are reaching out for help.

Regardless, this discussion is good for us creatives and independent filmmakers to consider, are you being responsible with your art?

If you or anyone you know is in need of help, please reach out to organisations like Headspace 1800 650 890, or Lifeline 13 11 14

This article was originally published on Christian Today.