«Adolescence»: On the Other Side of Well-Meaning Idealism

License Creative Commons

Eva Serra

Last Thursday, 13 March, Netflix premiered the four-episode British miniseries Adolescence. Beyond its striking cinematographic approach—a single continuous shot without camera cuts from beginning to end—or the outstanding performances of Owen Cooper (Jamie, the adolescent criminal), Stephen Graham (Eddie, the father), and Faye Marsay (the mother), this production, directed by Philip Barantini, exposes the stark reality of a phenomenon that, regrettably, is becoming all too familiar. Who today would consider it implausible that a teenager, driven by criminal instincts, could fatally harm another human being? That is precisely the subject of Adolescence.

From the opening minutes, Barantini immerses us in a gripping police operation: several armed officers burst into the minor’s home in the dead of night, a scene reminiscent of American anti-narcotics raids. Yet, despite the suspect being a mere 13-year-old boy, the intervention is entirely justified—this is a case of murder. The parents, however, attempt to shield him as if he were a helpless child, while the boy wets himself in fear and weeps before the police. There is no softening of the edges in the arrest of the suspected murderer, nor in the subsequent interrogations. His actions were those of an adult, and his detention follows with correspondingly precise and unambiguous clarity.

Up to this point, and without delving into spoilers, viewers accustomed, or not, to conventional narrative structures might wonder whether this is a case of wrongful police action (we quickly realise it is not) or whether the teenager’s abhorrent act stems from an underlying trauma that might explain his lack of empathy towards women—his victim is a girl of his own age—or an undiagnosed psychopathy. Yet no such explanations are forthcoming. As in real life, impulsive, savage, or criminal instincts often exist without deeper justification—a reality that our Western societies seem inexplicably unwilling to acknowledge. Any act, no matter how violent, is increasingly viewed through the hypocritical fragility of the perpetrator rather than the unacceptable vulnerability of the victim. This is the conditioning to which we are slowly being subjected.

School bullying festers in classrooms while school authorities remain passive; teachers endure blatant disrespect amid administrative inaction; students display growing irresponsibility, emboldened by educational policies that relentlessly erode discipline and rigour. Immaturity, arrogance, conceit—and at times, outright aggression or criminal behaviour of promising future thugs —are all too often excused under a thick veneer of outdated and misguided progressive psychological theories. Philip Barantini’s series stands out precisely because it strips reality of the Rousseauian embellishments that not only define contemporary political correctness but have also ascended to the status of an unquestionable moral authority in our time.

Across its four episodes, Adolescence does not overlook the key elements that shape the ego architecture of today’s teenagers: early exposure to degrading pornography (nude images of girls online serving as formative sexual references), the symbols and signifiers that fuel dangerous narcissism through social media (emoji responses from the victim that fail to gratify the perpetrator), and the mechanisms of justification, denial, and deceit (his repeated assurances, under oath, that he is not responsible). Added to this is the flippant and audacious manner in which teenagers manipulate adults, including their own parents and the social worker assigned to the case. The result is not merely an exercise, but an immersion, in stark realism.

The tired rhetoric of so-called experts who dictate where to draw red lines in protecting victims and blue lines in understanding aggressors or criminals ultimately grants free rein to the savage instincts of some individuals. Education means containment, setting boundaries, prohibiting, and sanctioning such destructive impulses. Yet we now face a new creed of modern sophists who glorify self-discovery, for better or for worse. Until we acknowledge that juvenile criminal acts deserve unequivocal consequences, tragedies such as the recent murder of a 35-year-old social worker in a care facility will continue to weigh upon our society—on the other side of well-meaning idealism.

Source: educational EVIDENCE

Rights: Creative Commons