Adolescence, Netflix’s new miniseries, has reignited old fears

Adolescence, the new Netflix miniseries set in England, strongly resonated with me and took me back to when I was a young girl raised in the English school system.

The latest Netflix miniseries created by English actor Stephen Graham and British playwright Jack Thorne, has people talking about the dangers of the internet and its influence on teenagers – especially young boys.

While I never had to navigate growing up as a boy in a world where Andrew Tate tells you that you must rescind every human feeling to become an alpha male, the series took me back to when I was at school.

More poignantly, the complete lack of competence when dealing with extremely harrowing issues like cyberbullying and, more so, murder – wasn’t lost on me.

While Adolescence hones in on the main storyline of a 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who has been accused of murdering his female classmate, Katie Leonard (Emilia Holliday), the viewer begins to notice themes prevalent in society today.

The opening scene shows police raiding the family's home in search of Jamie. The police ram down the front door and force all the members of the Miller household onto the floor.

They eventually reach Jamie and arrest him on suspicion of murder. From there, we’re shown just how Jamie got into this situation and the dangers that surround teenage boys.

As Jamie professes his innocence, we are slowly and artfully shown just how unhinged and damaged Jamie is.

The character isn’t a victim of child abuse or neglect, as many would think. Instead, Jamie has fallen victim to what could be called online abuse, such as cyberbullying, incel culture, and the cult of toxic masculinity.

The 80/20 rule

The themes of misogyny and toxic masculinity were dealt with in a way that wasn’t too heavy-handed, and what I was most interested in was what the detectives couldn’t see.

Mainly the language of social media and how Instagram was used as a tool to decipher clues surrounding the murder.

Emojis, the language of the internet, are used to symbolize incels, and the teens within the series throw this around without care.

This ultimately leads young people, specifically boys, to see figures like Andrew Tate as Godlike, all while these men are shaping boys' minds into becoming aggressors.

Like in the manosphere, where misogyny runs rampant, we are presented with the 80/20 rule.

This rule states that 80 percent of women are only attracted to 20 percent of men. Therefore, men have to trick women into having a relationship with them because they wouldn’t otherwise.

Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe’s son, Adam, reveals that these teachings could point to Jamie’s relationship with the deceased.

This sends detectives down a different path, which eventually leads them to see what others have been seeing all along.

Real-life impact

“The internet is a huge influence on our children,” says Graham in an interview with CNN.

Graham, who plays Eddie Miller and co-created the hit mini-series, discusses the inspiration behind the Netflix original drama.

The show looks into incel culture and other related themes, which Graham told CNN he “had no idea about all that stuff.” The “manosphere,” characterized as a collection of sites and online spaces promoting misogyny, toxic masculinity, and incel culture, are all themes in Adolescence.

This miniseries is getting people talking about the likes of Andrew Tate, as the exploration of incel culture leading to extreme violence has sparked a debate surrounding the expectations placed upon young boys.

The BBC recently reported that the parents of the Southport attack survivor warned about the dangers of Andrew Tate.

The attack was incited by a teenager who stabbed multiple people and killed three children in the English city of Southport.

The survivor, who was stabbed roughly 30 times, and their parents state that Tate’s misogynistic rhetoric should be countered by educating children on the consequences of this type of thinking.

While it's not clear as to whether the perpetrator of the Southport attack watched Tate’s material, police were aware of his nefarious and dark search history.

The attacker used the internet to search for gruesome videos and was seemingly fixated on violent events like mass shootings.

Parents of the Southport attacks have actually praised Adolescence for raising awareness of such events and for exploring themes of misogyny and online radicalization.