RLS: 13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why, released in early 2017 as a Netflix original series tells the story of young hanna bakers successful suicide and all of her reasoning as to why. This is a very sensitive topic that has sparked a lot of controversy all ver the world. The TV series was able to raise the number of google search queries relating to suicide by 20%, the way that it dove into a topic that most avoid prompted many to investigate on their own. This is a big worry for many parents as many adolescents that watched the show do not have fully developed minds and do not have a fully developed understanding of the world that they live in or what their actions can do to others. These children might not understand the full meaning of suicide and might think of it as a natural way out if the world seems to hard. Many stated that the addition of a suicide hotline at the end of the series would minimize the effect of the trauma enticing scenes, showing many that suicide should be considered in hard times, that there are better ways to get out of the pain. Also, the lack of a response from the creators is also something to be noted as from their point of view, their series does not cause any harm to the audience, and I it does then they shouldn't watch it. They do not believe that its viewing will or can cause a raise in suicide rates even though the evidence is clear that at the very minimum, the interest in suicide related activities has risen substantially. This raises the question of whether there should be any ethical considerations that would limit an artists scope of inquiry. In my opinion,  an artist should have to take into consideration the ethical impacts that his art has on his audience, especially in the case of 13 reasons why since the majority of the audience are young. one should make sure that their audience is able to fully comprehend what he/she is trying to express and to not misinterpret it. While the message might not be a positive one, there is a reason behind it and thats what makes it Art. So no, I do not think there should be any ethical limitations of Art as long as a percentage of the target audience (if there even is one) has a full understanding of the meaning of the artwork while the rest strives to find it, but when it is related to a very sensitive topic, an artist should try to keep the message positive, as s small percentage of the audience will take it seriously and act upon it. Warnings should be provided to give the audience a heads up as to what they will be exposed to.