Stephen Graham’s latest gritty drama, Adolescence, has had everyone talking about the dangers of growing up in the age of toxic masculinity, pornography, and incel culture. The series follows an adolescent boy, Jamie Miller, who is accused of murdering his classmate Katie Leonard. This series is not preoccupied with the question of if Jamie did it, but why.
By divulging into today’s world, where teenagers can be driven to obscenely brutal acts by being exposed to explicit and violent videos and by feeling the weight of intensified social media pressures. In the show’s first episode, armed police raid the Miller family’s home in search of Jamie. The family are understandably terrified and protesting Jamie’s innocence.
In the show’s first episode, armed police raid the Miller family’s home in search of Jamie. The family are understandably terrified and protesting Jamie’s innocence. The spaced-themed bedroom and single bed place Jamie as a petrified teenage boy who wets the bed in fear. Jamie is taken to the police station and his parents, specifically his father Eddie (played by Graham), are convinced of his innocence. In the police station, the viewer and Eddie are exposed to a video of Jamie stabbing Katie to death, angered by her pushing him away.
This shift from believing in the innocence of a seemingly normal young boy to feeling unnerved by what could have driven him to this act happens early on in the series. The first episode is harrowing and beautifully acted by Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie. The naturalism in this series is what makes it such a touching and effective piece of television that reflects the terrors of today and calls viewers to act and understand their children before the unthinkable happens.
One thing that has caused a massive stir on social media about Adolescence is that each of the four episodes are one continuous shot. This requires a meticulous filming sequence following one scene directly into the next, impeccably rehearsed line learning by the actors, and several episode shots a day. This way of filming, as well as being incredibly interesting from a viewing perspective, added to the naturalistic performances of the actors as we follow everything they are doing in the episode like walking from one place to the next and experiencing a full spectrum of emotions within a one-hour episode.
The second episode in the series takes place in Jamie’s secondary school, as DI Bascombe, played by Ashley Walters, inquires about missing information on the case. In this episode, the viewer is hit with some hard truths about the language of social media. The ability to secretly communicate, bully and embarrass under the guise of seemingly mindless messages and Emojis.
The show particularly focuses on incel culture which paves the way for toxic masculinity and violence against women. This information has transcended the series and become a revelation in popular culture and even politics leading to conversations in Parliament about policing and understanding the secret language of teenagers. This language is something that has bypassed me and our generation.
It is the mark of good television that gets people talking and acting. While this series isn’t based on one singular event, it represents an amalgamation of recent stories of young girls being killed as a result of the exacerbated importance of male dominance in our culture. It is a very real threat in our day and age and this series tenderly, effectively and harrowingly portrays this.
The third episode is exclusively Jamie talking to a counsellor about his experience while in a juvenile prison centre. Owen Cooper’s ability to remember the dialogue for an hour long episode while maintaining energy and seamless acting make me think that he is undoubtedly a rising star. Cooper’s performance was nothing short of perfection, his ability to capture every shade of humanity and have an alarming range from encompassing the vulnerability of a 14-year-old to his terrifying capacity for violence.
His multifaceted depiction becomes a searing comment in performance about the true dangers of the children of the modern day. While Jamie is locked up in his bedroom he is vulnerable to the plethora of violent pornography and unchecked ideals of superior manhood. Ultimately, I think the greatest thing about this show is its subtlety.
The fact it requires rewatching to understand the layered nuisance and detail that piece together the motive for murder. While the show did little to give immediate answers to the cause of Jamie’s downfall, it does offer clues and components. Jamie’s home life on the surface appears loving and unproblematic, but the show allows the reader into the cracks of Jamie’s life that could have led a teenager to become so angry at a girl’s rejection that he takes her life.
This series has faced criticism for its unconvincing motive for murder, which I think ironically becomes undeniable evidence for its pertinence, as it draws out the systemic issues within our culture. The series is a naturalistic piece of drama that holds a mirror to current society and it is a must watch for everyone.