How toxic masculinity, Andrew Tate and the online 'manosphere' inspired 'Adolescence'
Netflix's “Adolescence" follows the fallout after a teenage boy is arrested for murdering his female classmate.
Warning: This article contains spoilers about the show “Adolescence.”
Netflix’s newest hit show, “Adolescence,” wastes no time revealing to viewers that the 13-year-old boy arrested in its dramatic opening did in fact stab his classmate to death.
What proves to be far more complicated are the efforts by the adults in his life to understand why he did it, a mystery that forces them to confront the origins of a teenage boy’s tangled feelings about women.
Within a week of its debut, “Adolescence” became Netflix’s top-charting TV show, with critics and viewers lauding it as a critique on social media-boosted toxic masculinity and its role in the teenage experience. It’s one of the first scripted projects to confront the rising cultural influence of the “manosphere,” a network of online spaces that promote rigid notions of masculinity and espouse misogynistic stereotypes about women.
The story centers on Jamie (played by Owen Cooper), whose murder of his classmate Katie sends shockwaves through their English suburb. Each episode is shot in one continuous take and focuses on a different aspect of the fallout.
Rating: 5