Content warning: references to sexism, misogyny and violence

Adolescence, a mini-series on Netflix co-created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, calls attention to the rise of misogyny fuelled violence contributed by the influence of extremist internet spaces on young people in the UK. The show has received critical acclaim for its execution, cinematography and acting, bringing the troubling relevance of sexism amongst young men to the forefront of public discourse. The series chronicles the arrest of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) for the murder of his classmate Katie Leonard and the reaction from his family, school and the larger community that follows. Over the four episodes, Adolescence poses the hard-hitting questions to its audience: are we raising boys to be misogynistic men? How are we, as a society, failing to protecting women from such targeted violence?

As the show investigates Jamie’s motives for killing Katie, the audience comes to understand that he was influenced by online spaces known as the ‘manosphere’ that promote dangerous misogynistic beliefs to their followers. Influencers in the manosphere like Andrew Tate assert explicit anti-women ideology that foster ideas about men’s power over women. Of relevance to the show is the ‘incel movement’, where men who are ‘involuntarily celibate’ blame women for their frustration over failed relationships and rejection because they are ‘ugly’ and ‘genetically inferior.’ Jamie held these beliefs as his resentment over being rejected by Katie led to him stabbing her to death. Incel culture is a product of unrealistic ideals of hegemonic masculinity, and Jamie fell prey to this as his insecurities are magnified by his upbringing and bullying from other kids. However, like other incels, he chose to blame women instead of those societal standards. Yes, Jamie is a victim of the manosphere, but it was Katie who had to pay the heaviest price.

Watching Adolescence is an especially uncomfortable experience as a woman. It was unsettling when Jamie repeatedly claimed that he did nothing wrong. It was unnerving when the boys at the school seemed more concerned with whether Jamie did the crime than with the fact that Katie had been stabbed to death. And I was extremely disgusted when Jamie says that he is ‘better’ because at least he did not touch Katie when he could’ve. While some men might react to Jamie’s misogynistic attitudes in shock, I have heard too many stories of women being belittled, harassed, abused and killed to know that the show’s mirroring of men in our society is no exaggeration. Women do indeed get violently stabbed seven times for rejecting a man in real life, and that is a scary thought.

Although the show touched how incel culture contributed to Jamie’s resentment of women and Katie’s murder, I think that a more in-depth exploration of the dangers of the online manosphere on young men’s attitudes towards women in our society could drive their point home more powerfully. The generational gap between parents and their children is made apparent in the show when Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) needed his teenage son’s help to decipher the language of emojis on social media to learn that Jamie was accused of being an incel by Katie. Parents nowadays are often clueless to their children’s activity online, allowing kids to freely browse the vastness of the internet and access extremist spaces without monitoring and guidance from adults. Like Bascombe, many viewers from older generations may be confused by terms like ‘incel’ as they are completely foreign to them. In order to prevent boys from being influenced by these toxic online spaces, parents need to be properly informed of what incel ideology entails, and I think that the show has done an inadequate job at that.

The casts’ phenomenal acting and dedication to their characters brings the show and its powerful message to fruition. Owen Cooper’s performance as Jamie was realistic, explosive and flawless; and Stephen Graham’s portrayal of his father was raw and incredibly moving, particularly the final scene when he weeps in Jamie’s empty bed, admitting that he “could have done better” as a father. It is clear that this is a show with a lot of love and effort poured into it, and it is its earnestness that captured many’s attention and made it so successful today.

In addition to the brilliant cast, the one-shot style film technique used in Adolescence also deserves high praise for elevating the quality of the show. Directed by Philip Baranati, who has previously worked with Graham on Boiling Point, each hour-long episode follows the characters in one take, seamless and uninterrupted. The impressive choreography and skilful manoeuvring of the camera involved is truly remarkable as it fully immerses the viewers in the show. It all seems so real that it feels almost suffocating at times, as we are confronted with the fact that while this is a fictional story, those scenes are grounded in real life examples that happen to people in real time. This makes Adolescence difficult but also important to watch as the audience are constantly reminded of its relevance right now.

Unlike other crime dramas, Adolescence focuses on why Jamie killed Katie rather than being a whodunnit so that the audience are not distracted from the key messages of the show. While a more thorough discussion about incel culture could make their point about the dangers of the manosphere come across more effectively, it is no doubt that the series has done a tremendous job in opening up conversation in public discourse about how we are raising boys to be good men. Positive action initiated to educate boys can already be seen as Netflix announces that Adolescence will be made available to all secondary schools across the UK, and parents are becoming more aware of how easy it is for children to fall into extreme misogynistic ideologies online since watching the series. Adolescence holds all of us accountable for these cases of anti-women violence, and urges us to create a healthier, more positive model of masculinity so that women are protected from violent and misogynistic attacks.