{"id":701,"date":"2025-04-08T12:41:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T12:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollcom.fr\/skyroll\/?p=701"},"modified":"2025-04-08T12:47:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T12:47:59","slug":"spoilers-adolescence-sensationalism-disguised-as-brilliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollcom.fr\/skyroll\/en\/2025\/04\/08\/spoilers-adolescence-sensationalism-disguised-as-brilliance\/","title":{"rendered":"[Spoilers] \u201cAdolescence\u201d: Sensationalism Disguised as Brilliance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When marketing meets moral panic: an analysis of a critical success that blurs the lines.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tailored like a marketing product, Netflix’s series Adolescence<\/em> has achieved resounding media success, sparking a heated political debate about online masculinism \u2014 particularly in the UK. While the subject may be legitimate, it is tackled here through an unrealistic and fantasized scenario; in this sense, the series paradoxically contributes to the dangers of our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A curious paradox: just a few weeks ago, the media were raising alarms about the influence of Netflix\u2019s Squid Game<\/em> (1,<\/a> among others) on violent playground games in primary schools. And yet now, it seems perfectly acceptable to let the very same streaming giant into the classroom \u2014 this time to promote Adolescence<\/em>, a dramatic fiction in which a family\u2019s life is turned upside down after their 13-year-old son is arrested for the murder of a classmate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a devoted fan of British series, I watched Adolescence<\/em>. But by the time the episode was over, it had left me with a very strange feeling. Despite the strong acting performances, this show won\u2019t make it into my personal top list. Everyone seems a little too enthusiastic. When critics from T\u00e9l\u00e9rama<\/em> to Le Figaro<\/em> are in complete agreement, something feels off. The media frenzy has generated a salutary buzz for the once-dominant on-demand series pioneer. With such massive press exposure, public curiosity inevitably drives up viewership and allows the series to establish itself as a social phenomenon \u2014 one that quickly draws in political attention. It feels like a marketing move executed to perfection. But that doesn\u2019t make the underlying themes any less legitimate: Adolescence<\/em> raises essential questions about masculinism, bullying, and the influence of social media on teenagers, which breeds\u2026 violence and insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This marketing coup couldn\u2019t have come at a better time for Netflix, which in recent years has faced growing critical disappointment<\/a> and increasingly fierce competition \u2014 whether from the veteran HBO (Max) or opportunistic newcomers like Amazon Prime and Apple TV+. Once the undisputed leader of streaming, Netflix now holds only 27% share of the French market in 2024<\/a>. With Adolescence<\/em>, the platform seeks to reclaim its image as a trendsetter \u2014 not only narratively, but also technically. T\u00e9l\u00e9rama<\/em> is glowing in its praise<\/a> of the series\u2019 use of enormous single takes (each episode is filmed as a nearly one-hour-long continuous shot), while France Info<\/em> goes into detail about the weeks of preparation<\/a> required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magnificent as it may be, the long take is a technical device that demands exceptional skill, both in directing and in acting. The scenes are shot in one uninterrupted movement, with no visible cuts for the audience \u2014 at least in theory, since the camera can discreetly pause on a static moment, a trick made easier today by digital technology. Critics may have had a point that Adolescence<\/em> is by no means at the forefront of this approach: in recent years, sequence shot have flourished<\/a>, often in even bolder formats \u2014 Victoria<\/em> by Sebastian Schipper (2015), shot in a single 2-hour-14-minute take; 1917<\/em> by Sam Mendes (2019), which admits to faking<\/a> its two-hour one-shot format; and even a Russian film<\/a> Russian Ark<\/em> by Alexander Sokurov (2002). But the real question isn\u2019t about technical prowess \u2014 or the cleverness of Adolescence<\/em>\u2019s press kit \u2014 but rather about the purpose behind this stylistic choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say what, exactly? Traditionally, the long take is used to capture a raw sense of reality \u2014 uninterrupted, unedited \u2014 allowing for narrative breathing room, for silences, for stillness. But in Adolescence<\/em>, such pauses are nowhere to be found. The direction follows the cardinal rule of today\u2019s Net 2.0 video production: uninterrupted attention capture. The viewer must never be given the chance to look away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chase for audience attention is coupled with an unapologetically sensationalist approach. Not only are moments of pause eliminated, but constant action \u2014 whether physical or psychological \u2014 is required. The result is a caricatured portrayal of society, one that offers the illusion of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Adolescence<\/em> paints a distorted version of society. All institutions appear overwhelmed, decaying, or simply obsolete. The school is noisy and chaotic \u2014 a foul-smelling mess where teachers arrive late and struggle to manage students\u2019 reactions. The police only intervene after the crime \u2014 despite it being captured by surveillance cameras \u2014 and respond with brute force, appearing just as powerless as every other form of authority. The series also sketches the figure of a judicial psychologist who, under the guise of building a psychological profile, probes a child\u2019s intimate life while steering the conversation directly toward the issue of masculinism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cYou go through so many different emotions \u2014 it\u2019s like a rollercoaster.<\/em>\u201d \u201cWhy is it shot in one long take? Simply so the viewer is forced to face the truth. So they don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re watching a film.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nComments from YouTube series reviewers<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Truth… or something like it. A sense of confusion begins to take hold around this distorted reality. Though Adolescence<\/em> is clearly a work of fiction, its stylistic choices give it the appearance of a documentary. As a result, reality and fantasy blur. (The word \u201cfantasy\u201d comes from the Greek phantasma<\/em>, meaning \u201cghost\u201d or \u201cvisual hallucination.\u201d) The absence of pauses, combined with the show\u2019s sensationalism, short-circuits critical thinking: the viewer is overwhelmed, trapped in a constant state of unease, as if ordinary life could collapse at any moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Adolescence<\/em> is, above all, a portrayal of the banality of evil. The perpetrator of the murder looks like an innocent child, raised in a respectable middle-class Anglo-Saxon family. \u201cThe child, with his cherubic face and urine-soaked pants, is suspected of stabbing a classmate to death<\/em>,\u201d reports Le Monde<\/em><\/a>. The first episode begins with the brutal intrusion of the police into the family\u2019s peaceful home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence S01E01 Extrait 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every parent can feel concerned by this form of silent, insidious radicalization \u2014 one that social media might very well exert on their own child. A new kind of anxiety emerges: the fear of no longer being able to decipher teenage language, of losing all grip on their inner world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence S01E02 extrait 2 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re swept into a flood of obscure terms and concepts: the manosphere (the masculinist movement), \u201cincels\u201d (involuntary celibates whose social stigma becomes a form of identity), or the 80\/20 rule (which claims that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men, supposedly justifying manipulative tactics). These are the kinds of theories spread by figures like Andrew Tate, a controversial influencer recently arrested in Romania on charges of human trafficking<\/a>. The series plunges us into a parallel society, one that\u2019s unsettling and unfamiliar \u2014 and one that awakens a latent fear: the fear of being disconnected from the real world. Adolescence<\/em> serves as a warning, but at the same time, it delivers a kind of moral injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware the parents who forget their child. Episode 4 opens with a striking scene: a father discovers that the word \u201cNonge\u201d has been spray-painted on his car \u2014 a reference to sexual offenders, briefly raising the suspicion of incest as a possible explanation, before quickly dismissing it. The real subject here is the fear of social disgrace, which hangs heavily over the characters, growing into a kind of generalized suspicion and culminating in an intrusion into the family\u2019s private sphere \u2014 already violated during the police raid that extended even into the parents\u2019 bedroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence S01E04 Extrait 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An explanation? There won\u2019t be one. The series deliberately chooses to skip the trial altogether. The director\u2019s use of narrative acceleration up to this point gives the impression of a plea deal rushed through in four hours \u2014 the culmination of a judicial process whose professionalism can reasonably be called into question. The investigation presented in the third episode isn\u2019t led by a judge, but by a psychologist. Justice is effectively replaced by another institution, one that is supposed to correct the individual\u2019s mores and Justice is effectively replaced by another institution, one that is supposed to correct the individual\u2019s mores and readjust them into society. In reality, at this stage of the proceedings, a psychological evaluation serves only to determine whether the accused is aware of their actions and fit to stand trial. Instead, the show immerses us in a long digression, driven by the psychologist\u2019s at times intrusive questions and the child\u2019s violent outbursts. After about thirty minutes of conversation, the expert seems to have formed an opinion based on a few fragile connections, before returning to her official role and hastily wrapping up the assessment with three final questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence S01E03 Extrait 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u00a0It’s all there\u00a0\u00bb, succinctly summarised by researcher St\u00e9phanie Lamy in Le Monde<\/a>: \u00ab\u00a0The ideology of incels is based on \u2018lookism,\u2019 the idea that certain boys or men are \u2018genetically oppressed,\u2019 meaning physically unattractive, and that society therefore owes them access to the bodies of \u2018genetically superior\u2019 women.\u201d This is illustrated in the series when Jamie follows accounts of models on Instagram and describes himself as ugly. When he shows interest in a girl, he believes she owes him gratitude<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb and to deduce \u2018When she doesn’t give it to him, he slaughters her<\/em>\u2019. We are faced with absolute evil, no excuse is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series ends with a scene that moved many viewers: the final moments in the child\u2019s bedroom, where the father, overwhelmed, utters in a broken voice, \u201cI should have done better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence S01E04 Extrait 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are no tears for the victim, nor for the perpetrator. What the series invites us to mourn is parental failure. The narrative structure leaves no room for the idea of a second chance \u2014 not even for the parents. There is no possibility of reclaiming their role, of supporting their child in prison, or of helping him toward any kind of psychological recovery. Redemption, in this story, is not even on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In such a context, it\u2019s hardly surprising that every parent might instinctively feel concerned \u2014 if not compelled to engage. Unsurprisingly, then, a journalist \u2014 herself the mother of a teenage boy the same age \u2014 invites readers to take that step in an article published in Le Point<\/em> on April 6, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00ab\u00a0Vadim says nothing. His eyes stay glued to the screen.\u00a0\u00bb (\u2026) I can sense he\u2019s tense (\u2026) I watch him silently. He turns slightly toward me, maybe looking for a reaction. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to believe someone my age could do that \u2014 and yet, I know it\u2019s a true story.\u201d (\u2026) Then he suddenly continues, as if needing to get something off his chest: \u201cMe, I\u2019ve never done anything serious. I\u2019ve got friends who\u2019ve stolen stuff, for example. I don\u2019t think they always realize what they\u2019re doing. That it could actually have consequences.\u201d (\u2026) Then this line, out of nowhere: \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not the same to kill people in GTA\u2026 and to kill a real person.\u201d (\u2026) When the psychologist enters the room to evaluate Jamie, Vadim is surprised: \u201cActually, he\u2019s smart.\u201d He searches for words. \u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026 People usually think kids who do that kind of thing are dumb. That they didn\u2019t think it through. But him \u2014 you can tell he gets it. That\u2019s what\u2019s scary, I think.\u201d I watch him, and I know he grasps the weight of what he\u2019s seeing, putting words to it with the logic of a child. (\u2026) It could be any school. So I ask him, \u201cAnd at your school, is it like that? Are there still the popular kids, the scapegoats?\u201d He shrugs. \u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe\u2026 but it\u2019s not really like that at my school.\u201d (\u2026) He seems a little relieved, happy that his school doesn\u2019t resemble what he\u2019s just seen. \u201cEven though I know my school\u2019s super strict and it\u2019s not the same everywhere \u2014 in England, it looks more violent.\u201d (\u2026) \u201cHave you ever been bullied?\u201d I ask. He thinks for a minute, then replies: \u201cPeople gave me a hard time when I was younger. Remember when I had long hair? But that\u2019s over.\u201d I listen, and I understand that, for him, it\u2019s in the past. It was a moment, not a wound. But I hear something else. I think to myself: that\u2019s how it always starts \u2014 a comment, a nickname, something that makes the others laugh. It doesn\u2019t take much. Just a few kids laughing. (\u2026) I watch him and wonder what it does to him, hearing masculinity talked about like something you have to achieve. Beside me, he gets impatient: \u201cHonestly, I think she goes too far on the masculinity thing. That\u2019s not really the issue. Yeah, I have friends who lift a bit, but it\u2019s rare. We\u2019re all just growing, our bodies keep changing. I guess\u2026 it must be tough when you\u2019re really small. People don\u2019t listen to you the same way.\u201d I look at him. He says it without judgment \u2014 just like it\u2019s obvious. And I realize he\u2019s already talking about invisible hierarchies, about what we become in the eyes of others. (\u2026) He doesn\u2019t understand how a boy who seemed normal, almost invisible, could change that much. And I see it too. Jamie could have been any 13-year-old boy. He has that quiet, ordinary face \u2014 the kind you pass by without really noticing. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s so disturbing: normality tipping over into horror. (\u2026) When the episode ends, he seems almost disappointed. \u201cThey didn\u2019t even show the trial,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018It’s crazy to think that a boy my age could have done that\u00a0\u00bb: we watched \u201cAdolescence\u201d with a teenager, Le point, 06\/04\/2025<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

With all this in mind, one has to wonder: how can so many progressive media outlets heap praise on this series, and why do left-leaning political figures want it shown in schools? Adolescence<\/em> paints a bleak portrait of society, detailing all its failings, offering no optimistic path to resolution, and pushing the envelope by urging people to act without allowing them to detach from their emotions. Politicians, then, become the next logical step: they hold the keys to recognition, influence, and direct access to schoolchildren. And in recent years, they\u2019ve developed the unfortunate habit of responding to shocking news events with rushed decisions, rarely allowing themselves the space for careful analysis \u2014 thereby contributing, often unwittingly, to public confusion. Questioned by a Labour MP in the House of Commons, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer delivered a slip that was as revealing as it was unfortunate: \u201cAt home, we watch the series Adolescence<\/em> with our kids. I have a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. It\u2019s a very, very good documentary to watch… uh, I mean, drama…\u201d A slip of the tongue that speaks volumes \u2014 and one that\u2019s particularly damaging: by mistaking fiction for documentary, the head of government and father of two implicitly validates, without critical distance, a work whose very ambiguity may be its greatest danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keir Starmer reacts to the Adolescence series in the House of Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence feeds into a familiar narrative: that of an increasingly violent society, the resurgence of evil, and the inability of our institutions to respond. Faced with such a bleak picture, our collective fears push us to promote the series \u2014 if not to reinforce our own confirmation bias, then at least in the hope of finding some kind of reassuring solution. But that solution is far from evident, especially when it emerges from emotionally charged reactions and a fantasized view of reality. After rightly describing Adolescence<\/em> as \u201chard-hitting TV,\u201d the centre-left newspaper The Guardian<\/em> didn\u2019t seem convinced by the quick follow-up suggestion<\/a> to ban mobile phones for teenagers. In its Focus<\/em> podcast, attempts to gather reactions from young Britons<\/a> \u2014 who admitted they were impressed, but not directly concerned \u2014 left the journalist unsatisfied. Perhaps it’s simply because the elements staged in Adolescence didn’t fit in with the real-life experiences of teenagers, and so, on principle, there was no serious outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the British government has decided to show the series in schools<\/a>. In France, \u00c9lisabeth Borne has \u2014 for now \u2014 declined to follow the British example. The website Arr\u00eat sur images<\/em>, usually known for its critical lens on the media, surprisingly aligned itself with the emotional tone of the moment : \u201cThe truth is out there.<\/a>\u201d Instead of offering real analytical distance, it too surrenders to the show\u2019s ambiguity \u2014 calling not for reasoned critique, but for belief in a mystical, unquestionable truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#OurTime<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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