"13 Reasons Why" details the post-mortem musings of Hannah, a teen who takes her own life. The real protagonist of the show is Clay, the ultra-introspective teen who takes the blame for all the world's problems. Both Hannah and Clay are classical narcissists who think that everything and everyone around them relate to their own world, which is actually the world of the teenager. Teens have not reached a mature enough point of view on the world to notice that their actions really mean very little to anything and their lives are virtually meaningless in the grand scheme of history. Not focusing on being something for the future, they take the easy road of thinking about what they are now, which is nothing. Since they have not created any meaningful identity, they find their own morals, worth, and value in the people around them who perform the same actions - other teens. Without perspective, they focus with such an intense reflection on their group that their ultimate moral failings come down to self- absorption.

The show creates an artificial world from the post-suicide tapes which are the narrative of one teen, Hannah, who sees herself as the central player in a grand scheme of victim due to the actions of everyone around her, even herself. In fact, the point of view of the victim is the role which every actor plays in this drama as we see that the today's political views are really that of the teen, of the parochial immature child who cannot see that their own lives are better than any other human being who has ever lived on this planet. With the free time to reflect, the food to nourish, the education to think, the parents who loved, they fall into the modern trap - selfishness.

Each actor portrays well the point of view of teens and sees that their point of view is only as large as the city they live and their reflection can only reach as far as their own feelings. Each person is out for their own desires and Clay and Hannah are the most extreme examples of this. I believe that most who see the show will think Clay really cares about everyone around him as other people always occupy his thoughts, but this isn't true. Clay cares ultimately about himself and can only think that if others are unhappy (other friends, he cares less about his parents or society), then he is a failure. This selfishness of viewing yourself at the center of the world is only eclipsed by Hannah's own psychological disorder of creating tapes which after her death would enclose everyone around her in her trap, to make them bend their knee to her own narrative. Each player in the drama does this same move, but Hannah does it best as her death makes them have to taker her narrative as ultimate as no one can question a dead girl. Ultimately everyone comes to take the view of the girl who killed herself, even bringing the law in at the end to make sure the audience knows that her point of view is ultimate and cannot be questioned.

The show is overall irresponsible and narcissistic. I would watch it for the general point of view of all teens who believe that their own world is ultimate, and you can see that everyone in the show does this, with Hannah and Clay being the most extreme examples. If the show's purpose was to show what not to be, how not to think, how not to act, then it was a success. There is nothing redeeming about the show, but people will be drawn to it due to its music, ambiance, and lighting. The show is technically well done, but promotes ethical poison. No character ever mentions the word "responsibility," as the concept is foreign to the irrational nature of the modern teen.