Do Something-itis' Won't Fix Crisis Among Boys Shown in Adolescence

The issues identified in the hit Netflix series are every parent's nightmare. But they defy the simple technocratic solutions society reflexively demands.

- Bhavan Jaipragas

If you haven't watched Netflix's child murder drama Adolescence, you should—if for no other reason than to witness the technical marvel of four hour-long episodes shot in unbroken single takes.

This feat alone would be remarkable, but it's the acting that truly astonishes.

Novice Owen Cooper, portraying 13-year-old Jamie Miller, delivers a performance so extraordinary that viewers have dubbed him the "Lionel Messi of acting"—a raw talent that seems to defy his inexperience.

The story itself plunges into every parent's darkest nightmare: Jamie stabs a female classmate to death, apparently radicalized by misogynistic ideology absorbed from the internet's darkest corners. What unfolds is a heartwrenching examination of a family in an English town imploding under the weight of unimaginable tragedy.

Predictably, a tsunami of commentary—reaching our shores in Singapore—followed the series' release.

Everyone seems fixated on the same elements: the toxic influence of "manosphere" figures like Andrew Tate (the accused sex trafficker who preaches misogyny to millions of impressionable boys), the dangers of unlimited screen time, rampant bullying, and the vacuum where positive male mentorship should exist.

In Britain, where the series is set and where knife crimes involving young perpetrators have reached alarming levels, the political machinery has already whirred into action.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer invoked the show during Question Time in Parliament, framing it as a window into the crisis facing British boys and endorsing campaigns to screen it in the legislature and in schools.

A group of MPs from Mr Starmer's ruling Labour Party meanwhile are said to be organizing outreach efforts targeted directly at men and boys. They warn that "leaving a void" allows misogynistic figures like Tate, and the wider "incel" or involuntary celibate community, to gain influence.