Adolescence

Heard they made another tense Stephen Graham One Take style drama (see boiling point) and instantly knew this was for me. The series feels like it was lifted from ‘men who hate women’ but I think suffers the same issue as that book. It very poignantly analyses the ways that our negligence fails young men; how It lets incel ideology fester, and reach them. But it doesn’t concern itself with how to prevent this from happening. At least not enough to give us hope that It can be prevented. The end of episode 3 is actually what I found to be the best articulation of the masculine wound. Jamie’s pleading ‘do you like me?’, gave so much insight into his fears, and thus what is motivating him. It’s a shame. A feeling of being unloveable. When he eventually opens up to his psychologist, it is because he feels like she is beginning to understand him… and to his credit, she is, but she cannot give him what he needs. It’s already too late for that.and that’s why she breaks down crying, not because he is screaming from behind the glass. Ultimately, Incel ideas become more attractive to young insecure men because it is easier to believe there’s a system put in place (by women) preventing them from receiving love. The reality is harder to accept - The models of masculinity they’ve grown up with push away the very people they expect love from. Though Jamie’s father is far less toxic than his son, we see how by bottling all of his emotions actually distances him from his wife and daughter. We see his outbursts terrify the very people who are closest to him, and leave them too scared to address it or hold him accountable. At the end of the day, it isn’t just the actions of terrible men that poison the minds of young boys. It is the inaction of a few good men, who fail to speak out against the everyday violence committed against women. Adolescence wants you to realise that it isn’t enough to not be a shitty man. You have to do something about it or this cycle will only get worse. But it also doesn't want to hold your hand to lead you to that conclusion.