Our takeaways from Adolescence 

The Netflix limited series is opening an important dialogue around incel culture. These are our key takeaways from the show

Adolescence is a brave, ambitious and needed project. The show deals with extremely emotive subject matter and we commend Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham for writing it. Last year Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office served as a reminder arts capacity to inspire real change. The show’s protagonist is 13 year old Jamie, who is arrested for murdering a classmate. The show is fictional and does not directly reference any real world event. But its release feels poignant given the recent sentencing of Hassan Sentamu who murdered 15 year old Elianne Andam in a similar fashion to how the show plays out. It also evokes memories of Brianne Ghey who was murdered by classmates, one of whom was found to have complex unresolved feelings about her. Last year in Southport three young girls Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot were killed at a dance class. This week a man in his late teens from Luton was sentenced for murdering his mother, siblings and plotting to commit mass murder at his former primary school. These are extreme occurrences and whilst internet content was a factor in all of them, there are wider societal cultural norms including misogyny and transphobia that should be explored.

Adolescence explores the way money and jobs shape the relationships between fathers and sons. When speaking to police, Jamie’s Dad Eddie mentions he only returned to the house 10 minutes before Jamie was arrested in the early hours of the morning. When speaking to a psychiatrist Jamie mentions that his Dad works late hours because that’s where the best money is. Jamie’s admiration for his father is clear throughout the show and his awareness of his father prioritising money does not dampen that. In the show’s final episode Eddie maligns the fact he couldn’t keep up with Jamie’s extracurricular activities because of his business taking off. Both parents discuss how long Jamie would spend on his computer and their obliviousness to what he was viewing. When DI Bascombe enters the school to gather information on pupils his son Adam is hesitant to share vital information with him because he feels dismissed by his father, alleging that he is always either at work or the gym. At the end of the episode DI Bascombe (perhaps reflecting on the importance of father and son time) coaxes his son into going to get some chips with him. Its easy to surmise the lesson here is that parents should be engaged with their children’s lives, because they should. It is also true that many parents have to work longer hours to survive an unforgiving economy. Not withstanding the erosion of youth services that once ensured their children were safe in community with trusted adults whilst they worked. A happy irony of the show is that the actor who plays Jamie, Owen Cooper, was plucked from a council estate and is already amassing critical acclaim for what is an otherworldly performance. A testament to the positive outcomes of young people having access to artistic opportunities.

One of the most challenging but necessary elements of the show is its refusal to paint Jamie and his friends as malevolently evil. The act the show centres around is evil and unjustifiable. But Jamie’s insecurities and self-perceived ugliness, Ryan asking DI Bascombe about his track record with girls before stating the importance of having good teeth and popularity, his son Adam being the victim of bullying and social isolation (even catching a stray from classmate Jade who tells DI Bascombe he is better looking than his son) paints a bleak picture of teenage boyhood. Jamie should be punished for killing Katie, but it wouldn’t bring her back. Its equally important to understand what led up to her killing to mitigate it happening again. The UK ’s punitive approach to justice tells us society is fine so anyone who breaks its rules should be removed to keep us safe. One of the worst consequences of this is that it removes the possibility of empathy once someone does something wrong. We only have to look at the the public en masse’s refusal to acknowledge that Shemima Begum was groomed as a child, because it led to her doing something wrong. Despite grooming specifically being characterised by exploiting children’s inability to fully understand right from wrong. It is impossible to learn lessons from evil actions without empathising with what led to them. This doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive with accountability and punishment.

Grooming and incel influencers are loosely alluded to but not centred as the sole cause of Jamie’s crime. It would have been easy to make a show where an otherwise likeable and normal Jamie becomes a rabid murderous incel after watching some TikToks. We don’t understate the role of influencers and social media platforms, but it’s disingenuous to pretend that our society wasn’t underpinned by patriarchal values before they existed. The internet is awash with people asserting opinions and the ones that go viral are the ones that enough people actively engage with. If solely putting any opinion on the internet enough times was enough to influence wider society, people would take flat-earthers seriously. There needs to be a subconscious receptiveness. Conversations that only consider social media ignore that which is why its so important that adolescence paints a more holistic picture of Jamie’s life.

When visiting the secondary school DS Misha Frank expresses disgust at Jamie (perpetuator) being the centre of attention rather than Katie (victim). It is a valid point, although it makes the show’s decision to not feature her family in any capacity questionable. The last episode focuses on the impact on Jamie’s family. Maybe this was an deliberate choice to mirror real world media coverage rather than an oversight, especially given Frank’s direct mention of Katie being anonymised. But insofar as the show aptly illustrates incel’s reduction of women and girls to sexual or romantic conquests, neglecting to properly construct a character around Katie represents another dehumanisation in reducing her to a narrative device. Though the second episode does explore Jade’s anger at the loss of her friend, the most we really learn about Katie is that she was arguably cyber bullying Jamie, the victim of a cyber sex crime prior to being murdered. This may have been done to challenge the viewer to ask themselves if they view her killing differently because she is an “imperfect” victim. But the absence of any character traits (even a hobby or interest) feels like an oversight. 

The casting of Ashley Walters as the prominent police figure is also noteworthy. His character frequently speaks to minors without making it clear whether they are being legally detained, on what powers he is able to speak to them without guardians present and at one stage he chases Ryan eventually physically accosting him, verbally abusing and threatening him to garner information. It turns out Ryan does have useful information but this sequence represents a media term called ‘Copaganda’ where TV shows and films venerate law enforcement ignoring regulations to get results. Implying to the viewer that their behaviour is justified by the pursuit of a greater good. The “maverick officer” archetype is literally just someone breaking the law to enforce it on someone without institutional power. After a string of high profile incidents ranging from Sarah Everard’s murder, the widespread use of strip search by Met Police Officers on minors, the BLM movement and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 we will inevitably see more Black actors portray police officers. Their Blackness blinds people to the power dynamics at play. Ashley Walters now cancelled police show Bulletproof with Noel Clarke or Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s Bad Boys forever are further examples. Post BLM it is hard to imagine images of gun-toting white police officers roughing up perps being well received in progressive circles. This doesn’t ruin or undermine the show by any means but it is something to look out for when consuming media. 

Its hard to imagine more visceral subject matter than children killing each other, so a show centred around that will inevitably divide opinion. With that considered the ambition, responsibility and execution of Adolescence make it some of the most important viewing in recent history. It is also impossible to deal with all the facets of any societal issue within the confines of a limited series. The one-shot cinematography builds a tension that always represents the interconnectedness of society. The show doesn’t proclaim to have simple solutions to the problems it addresses and as a platform we don’t either. But communally we stand a much better chance.

Article by Martyn Ewoma