Do you remember the first moment when you were no longer a kid? When you replaced the short chapter books with 15-second videos, the garish clothing with black hoodies and all of a sudden you had a dating life to worry about?
Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), the central character of Netflix’s new four-part series Adolescence, remembers his first taste of adulthood. At a mere 13 years old, Jamie is forcibly removed from his bed- room by law enforcement with soiled pajama pants and arrested for the brutal murder of his schoolmate, Katie. From then on, everything changes.
While the Miller family scrambles to understand the charges of his case, detectives try to decipher Jamie’s twisted mind, clearly molded by social media’s incel culture and cyberbullying. Incel is an online term used to define a male who desires a partner, but cannot get one, so they resort to disparaging women for their twisted personal security. Adolescence forces viewers to address the question: Do we truly know what goes on within the screens of our youth?
Written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, Adolescence generated massive success right out of the gate. In just 17 days, the 4-part limited series earned the No. 9 spot on Netflix’s all time viewer-ship list, with 96.7 million views –notably beating out Stranger Things Season 3 and Bridgerton Season 2, according to Variety. While the show is set in northern England and performed by mostly British actors, it has reached an impressive audience across the pond.
Viewers were entranced by the artistry in each hour-long episode that was filmed in a single, continuous shot without any cuts or edits. After disguising the camera crew as extras, improvising to cover up small slip-ups and maneuvering a huge camera drone, Director Philip Barantini selected the best take of each episode.
To be clear, this is not an average Hollywood production. Rather than following the classic actionpacked twists and turns, Adolescence presents gut-wrenching, raw emotion delivered through masterful dialogue.
At the forefront of this emotional journey is Cooper. The rookie actor, at only 14 years of age, debuted his raw talent on the Netflix stage without any missteps. He masterfully forged Jamie’s character arc, going from a scared teenager who wets the bed to a violent, manipulative Incel.
Though Jamie’s parents blame themselves for their son’s missteps, Adolescence’s exposé on the male power structure in our society holds all of us accountable for this misguided generation. The show purposely creates confusion for viewers in order to incite personal reflection.
“I think one of the reasons why it’s been so powerful is that it’s starting conversations, but it doesn’t give any answers,” said Graham in an interview with Netflix. “It also encourages everyone to grapple with what’s happening to our society and with future generations of young people who are served information in an entirely different way than prior ones.”