It’s not often a TV show leads me to writing a column, but after seeing the No. 1 show on Netflix last weekend — “Adolescence” — I felt compelled to do so now.
The show focuses on a young boy in England, Jamie Miller, who is 13 and who stands accused of murdering a female schoolmate of the same age.
Miller is played by a young British actor, Owen Cooper, who heretofore has not acted.
You’d never know it.
One of the main themes of the show — which consists of just four riveting episodes of about an hour each — is bullying. But it’s not the traditional kind of bullying. In fact, until recently, I have to embarrassingly admit, I’d never heard of.
It’s called “Incel” bullying. The term comes from the combination of the words “involuntarily” and “celibate.” Or, perhaps more simply, it deals with the bullying and abuse kids deal with far too often from their peers — where one of more kids drill it into a friend’s mind they’re not good enough to ever be liked or loved by anyone.
This becomes a major theme of the show, though at first, it’s not evident.
Now perhaps I am just very late to the game here having only learned this term recently. But the concern this show caused me was utterly palpable.
Though I can say I’ve fortunately never met a kid who is the victim of incel bullying, I cannot even begin to fathom what it must be like.
For as much as one might like to believe bullying doesn’t exist in today’s world, not only does it exist, it seems more and more forms of it are arising at an absolutely alarming rate.
So why write this?
When the fourth and final episode of “Adolescence” was over, it took me about 20 minutes of complete silence and thinking before I could move on to something else.
Afterward, in fact, I called my mother to thank her for being the great mum she is — and for being fully aware of the things happening in my life when I was a teenager.
In this show, it’s possible to conclude the parents of Jamie Miller weren’t aware of their son’s experiences.
With all of that said, parents of school-aged kids should carve out some time to watch these four episodes. I’m not sure it would be wise for kids to watch this alone, but parents will get an alarming alert to what happens with this kind of bullying.
And if there’s a way to stop one instance of it, then it will be fully worth it to spend the time watching this incredible show.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.