A Netflix Anatomy - 13 reasons why

"Ogni adolescenza coincide con la guerra

che sia falsa che sia vera

ogni adolescenza coincide con la guerra

che sia vinta che sia persa

e non ti vantare se la tua è stata mondiale

la mia sembra solo un fatto personale

e non ti vantare se ci hai perso un fratello

la guerra è guerra

e succederà anche a me

e non ti vantare se la tua si chiama Vietnam

la mia è poco più di un argomento da giornale

e non ti vantare se ci hai perso un fratello

un amico mio ci ha perso il cervello"

Humming this song of Tre allegri ragazzi morti is equivalent to getting the best and most comprehensive review without spoiler of 13 Reasons Why. Because, basically, it's all in the text. Every adolescence is a war, real or imaginary, against the world, against society or family, against those we trust friends or, more often, against ourselves. Sometimes we survive, others go out of the way, others horribly misbehaved.

And then there are those like Hannah Baker, the high school girl interpreted by Katherine Langford in the new Netflix TV series, the adaptation of Jay Asher's best-seller. She decides to commit suicide and record seven audio cassettes in which she explains the 13 reasons for this extreme gesture and accuses the one who has been the cause.

To guide us through the story of the girl is Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette), the first recipient of this heavy inheritance engraved on tape that, once listened to, must then pass the cassettes to those who appear after him in the narration. As Clay listens to Hannah's voice, through his eyes, his emotions, his memories the girl materializes, and so all the episodes that, ringed one after the other, will decry the end.

It is a stupid photo that, shared with the rest of the school, stains the reputation of the protagonist, giving rise to a chain reaction that cannot be interrupted and a catastrophe without return. Among the misunderstandings, verbal, physical, psychological violence, bullying, slut-shaming, rape and loneliness, the scenes proceed in a progressive path that, following the styles of the psychological thriller set in American high schools (a long tradition ranging from Twin Peaks to Pretty Little Liars), reveal the truth about Hannah.

13 Reasons Why, episode after episode, has become a cult show and the center of a series of fierce controversy. There are those who love it, who is anxiously waiting for a second season,  the ones who prefers the book, and who thinks it incites somehow suicide.

Watch it and decide what you think about.

Produces Selena Gomez and directed by Oscar's winner for Spotlight Tom McCarthy, and indie director Greg Araki.

Feel like: Aykut Aydogdu

Aykut Aydogdu manipulates the body and the face of boys and girls.

In his digital images (made with Adobe Photoshop perfectly imitating oil paintings), the Turkish artist mutilates, deters, but without ferocity, with flowers, fruits, and animals. They are unexpressed emotions that surface on the surface, sometimes delicate, sometimes disruptive, as in 13 Reasons Why. Aydogdu cares about the details with great skill in technique so that his works look like broken pictures, contaminated portraits wrapped in a dreamlike aura.

Dress like: Maison Kitsunè

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For the New York Times, Maison Kitsunè "is more than a clothing company, a full-time lifestyle improvement company".

Mirror of a lifestyles or, better, of social belonging are the clothes wearing by the protagonists of Selena Gomez series. No glamor like O.C. or Gossip Girl, in the Netflix show the guys dress up as any high school student: parka, college jacket, bomber (Jessica Davis-Alisha Boe wears different), denim, sweatshirts, tees.

The only exceptions are the pseudo-dark Skye Miller (played by Sosie Bacon, in reality, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon's daughter) with her merch t-shirts, necklaces and manga styled hair; but also Courtney Crimsen (Michele Selene Ang) with Alice + Olivia's cardigans, bows, Kate Spade's satchel.

Think like: Thirteen reasons why by Jay Asher 

The TV series 13 Reasons Why is the adaptation of Jay Asher's novel, published in 2007. Same story, small differences. Here are the 5 most interesting ones:

#1 Watching the show the first thing you're wondering is: but why Clay does not listen to all the cassettes at once? In the book, thanks to god, he does.

#2 The series shows us the story through Hannah and Clay's eyes, broken by insights into psychology and the events of the other protagonists; in the book the points of view are only two.

#3 Hannah's rape in the book is not explicit but understands. On the contrary in the TV version, the scene of violence in the whirlpool is clear.

#4 In Asher's novel Hannah swallows pills to commit suicide, while in the series she cuts her veins into the bathtub.

#5 In the work of Asher, the negative events affecting Hannah are influenced by the rumors that run in the corridors of the school. In the series, the girl becomes a victim of cyberbullying, between SMS and photos with smartphones.

Sound like: Joy Division's Love will tear us apart 

"Can I play you a tape?", Tony asks Clay in the first episode of 13 Reasons Why and shortly after starts Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart.

While Ian Curtis the band'­s frontman sings, the worry intensifies, the anxiety ripples into a mixture of feelings waiting for the right moment to explode. This iconic hit written in 1979 is just one of the many and varied tracks that make up the Netflix series soundtrack.

The season music supervisor Season Kent builds a great mix of indie hits, such as Lord Huron'­s The Night We Met, which plays during the prom or Woodkid's Run Boy Run, pop cover like Only You sang by Selena Gomez, classic bands like Cure. Many have highlighted the choice of 1980's songs, such as the beautiful The Killing Moon by Echo And The Bunnymen (here revised electronically by Roman Remains), a supposed tribute to films directed by John Hughes, a series of teenage films ranging from The Breakfast Club to Pretty In Pink.

A curiosity: 13 Reasons Why it is about suicide and some have noted in the soundtrack the presence of artists who have died that way. There are Joy Division'­s Ian Curtis, Elliot Smith, and Neil Young's Hey Hey, My My that becomes Into The Black by Chromatics; besides the lines "It's Better to Burn Out Than to Fade Away" quote that's actually a parte of Kurt Cobain's suicide letter.

Interesting? We hope so, but maybe the real soundtrack is Hannah's voice that beats the time of every episode.

Taste like: Hot Chocolate 

Love like: Hate like: unnecessary controversies

There are many things to say about why 13 Reasons Why is a success: the original development of the plot, the ability to explain such an extreme gesture, the beautiful face of Hannah Baker/Katherine Langford, but there is something we hate: unnecessary controversies.

In particular, people who accuse and condemn something without knowing it and it does not matter whether they be your schoolmates or a group of bigots believing that a TV series may instigate suicide - when they maybe should concentrate their attention on children/friends/people and on their loneliness, and perhaps understand, love, listen without ever judging and offer a safe harbor to take refuge while waiting for darkness to disappear.