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Killer in the family podcast
A true crime podcast exploring men who kill their families.
Killer in the family podcast
BONUS - Analysis of Netflix's Adolescence
This bonus episode is my analysis of the Netflix show Adolescence. A drama by Stephen Graham which follows the story of Jamie – a 13 year old boy – who is arrested for the murder of a classmate – Katie. It explores incel culture and misogyny amongst young people and apparently the Prime Minister has committed to showing it in all schools as part of relationships and sex education.
This is my analysis of Netflix’s Adolescence.
Information and support
· Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans
· National Domestic Violence Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA
· Women’s Aid Home - Women's Aid
· National Domestic Abuse Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Mental health support USA Mental Health America | Homepage | Mental Health America
· Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline
References
Watch Adolescence | Netflix Official Site
BBC Radio 4 - You Do Not Have to Say Anything - Available now
What Is Incel Culture And Where Did The Term Come From?
Netflix drama Adolescence shines light on 'growing problem' - PM - BBC News
Credits
Hosted and created by Clare Laxton @ladylaxton
Produced by: Clare Laxton
Killer in the family podcast (buzzsprout.com)
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Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast dropping just before my regular weekly episode drops this Friday. This bonus episode has been requested by many listeners and is my analysis of the Netflix show Adolescence, a drama by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne which follows the story of Jamie, a 13 year old boy who's arrested for the murder of a classmate, katie. It explores incel culture and misogyny amongst young people, and apparently the Prime Minister has committed to showing it in all schools as part of relationships and sex education. This is my analysis of netflix's adolescence. Before we delve into this bonus episode, I would recommend that you watch Adolescence on Netflix if you haven't already, as there will definitely be some spoilers in this episode. I think it might only be available in the UK and Ireland, but if you're in North America and other countries where my listeners are, then let me know if you can actually watch it. So let's get straight into this Now. As lots of you may know, adolescence was created by British writer Jack Thorne and British producer and actor Stephen Graham. Some of you will know Stephen Graham from shows such as this Is England, and he was also in Line of Duty as well. Now, one of the things that is different about Adolescence is its cinematography, as each of the four episodes was shot in one continuous take, which I'm sure, takes loads of production and logistics and also makes you feel as a viewer, that you're there, sort of experiencing what they are in real time. Now for this episode. I'm going to take us briefly through the four episodes of adolescence and add my thoughts and analysis as well, before doing a sort of final sum up. And you know, as I said, this has been requested by a few of you brilliant listeners. So I hope you enjoy it and I'd be really, really interested to know what everyone else thinks of adolescence as well, for those of you who've watched it.
Speaker 1:So we start in the first episode with an armed police raid on a family home in a town in England. Now, I'm making an assumption that this is a town sort of near Liverpool just because of people's accents, but you don't actually necessarily know that completely. Now there's a 13 year old boy called Jamie Miller who's arrested and taken to the police station. The actor Owen Cooper plays Jamie Miller, while Stephen Graham plays Jamie's dad, eddie, and they're both really excellent in this. I think in this first scene you're supposed to feel sorry for Jamie, armed police have barged into his house and arrested him. He's had to change his trousers as well because he wet himself, presumably because he was so scared. He's crying in the car to the police station and at this point we don't know what he's being arrested for. So sympathy might be viewers' first instinct. So Jamie is taken to the police station. The arresting officer is the actor Ashley Walters, by the way, who is brilliant in this Jamie's family follow, and he's taken for a series of medical tests and a strip search as well. He has an appropriate adult there his dad in this case for all of these things, and the episode sort of shows all the different stages of what happens after someone is arrested. There's a lot of waiting, particularly for Jamie's appointed solicitor, who arrives about half an hour after Jamie's arrested. And, just to flag at this point as well, jamie is denying doing anything wrong at all and he continues that denial for the whole of the episodes, that denial for the whole of the episodes. Now, on a total side note, there was also a brilliant BBC Radio 4 documentary called you Do Not have To Say Anything, which takes the listener through the criminal justice process from allegation and arrest to trial and possible conviction. Now it's really interesting if you want to know more about the actual process that people go through and all the different stages of the criminal justice process, so I've linked to it in the episode notes. So once Jamie has chatted to his solicitor, who advises him to say no comment about anything the police ask about.
Speaker 1:The night before he goes into a formal interview with Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, played by Ashley Walters, and Detective Sergeant Misha Frank, who's played by Faye Marseille. The detectives start asking Jamie about who his friends are and what he did the night before. No comment, he says. They also start asking him about how he feels about women. They present him with some printouts of Instagram pics of models which he'd made some like sexually explicit comments about on insta. Now it's not until 52 minutes into the first episode that you actually hear the victim's name katie leonard. She was murdered the night before and that is what jamie is being arrested for.
Speaker 1:Detectives continue to ask Jamie about his movements the night before. No comment, no comment, he says. And then they present him with CCTV images of him out in the town with two friends. They then show CCTV images of Katie in the town and Jamie walking a bit behind her. Jamie still maintains that he has done nothing wrong.
Speaker 1:At 59 minutes into the first episode, detectives show CCTV video of Jamie and Katie arguing in a car park and then Jamie stabbing her multiple times. You see this on the show and that video is so confronting and just so awful to watch. Jamie cries, his dad, eddie cries, the interview ends and my initial thoughts on the first episode was the absolute non-stop focus on the perpetrator here. It shouldn't surprise me, considering everything we talk about on this podcast and how much the media focus on the perpetrators of violence, but I just really hate it. The reason I said the number of minutes into this episode when Katie's name was first mentioned was to flag that we've had 52 minutes of drama and content without even knowing who the victim was and what her name was. We knew Jamie's name. We knew his deal.
Speaker 1:Now moving on to the second episode that focuses on the detectives going to Jamie's school and starts with a focus on a tribute to Katie outside the school. They're not only trying to find the murder weapon in the school the knife that Jamie used but also trying to understand his motivation here as well, and a complicated factor here for Bascom Ashley Walters was that his son, adam, also attends the same school, though he's a couple of years older than Jamie, and I don't think they have the best relationship. Anyway, we see the detectives here talking to Katie's friend, jade, who is just really angry, fair enough. And then they try and chat to Jamie's classes in school to get them to let them know any information they might have. Bascom eventually gets out of one of Jamie's friends, ryan, that it was a knife from his house that Jamie used to kill Katie, that it was a knife from his house that Jamie used to kill Katie. Now a really interesting part of this episode is where DS Frank says that what gets her about this whole thing is that it's Jamie who's getting the headlines rather than Katie. And here here to this.
Speaker 1:Now, the crucial part of this episode is when Adam, baskin's 15-year-old son, tells his dad about what the comments on Jamie's Instagram really mean. So in the interview in episode one, the detective showed Jamie printouts of his Instagram profile and Katie having made lots of comments about it, seemingly innocuous at the time. But Adam tells his dad what these comments and the emojis that she used actually mean and he talks about the emojis that are actually part of incel culture and that they are mean. They mean something that adults might not realize, and this is the point at which I think people really pinpoint adolescence to be about incel culture, misogyny and the manosphere. So before we go on to talk about what Adam tells his dad, let's take a step back and look at incel culture. Now I'm sure loads of you know what it is, but it's really important to explore it, so this context sort of makes sense.
Speaker 1:So the term incel comes from a blend of the words involuntary, celibate. It's effectively a culture of mostly men who are frustrated by their lack of sexual experiences and lack of attention from women. They turn their frustrations outwards towards men who are attractive and to women. So in incel culture these people are called chads and stacys. Now, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which works to address hate and extremism, an incel is defined as heterosexual men who blame women and society for their lack of romantic success. Now, we actually talked about this type of culture in our episodes about Carol Hanna and Louise Hunt, as Kyle Clifford, who killed them all, watched and listened to misogynistic and anti-women content before going out to kill them.
Speaker 1:You might also hear the term manosphere being associated with incel culture as well, and according to Grazia, this term means quote. The manosphere is a network of online men's communities against the empowerment of women, who promote anti-feminist and sexist beliefs. These groups place the blame on women and feminists for many problems in society, and many encourage resentment or even hatred towards women and girls. There is so much out there about incel culture, so please do read around. The only other thing that you need to know for this episode is something called the 80-20 rule. So in incel culture, the 80-20 rule believes that 80% of women are attracted to, like the top 20% of men, which effectively means that most men will never have a chance. That's what they believe and it makes men radicalised by incel culture angry. And what I want to say as well about incel culture in the manosphere is that this belief, this approach, this hatred of women has always existed. There have always been men 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago groups of men who think feminism is going too far and blame women for their problems. I think you see it more now because it's in the online world and it being online enables more people to find out about it, more people to engage with it and maybe younger men and boys to engage with it because they are online, like on their smartphones and computer. But I want to like really make clear that this sort of belief and this culture of hatred of women has always existed. It has not been created by an online incel culture. It has always been there in some form or another.
Speaker 1:Now back to adolescence. So Adam is here telling his dad what some of the emojis that Katie used on her Instagram comments to Jamie actually mean. So my friend and brilliant listener, rebs, has actually done a great LinkedIn post about this and what the different emojis mean in incel culture. I've linked to it in the episode notes. So thanks very much, rebs. So, according to Adam on adolescence, this is what some emojis really mean in the incel world.
Speaker 1:Now there's a sort of red and yellow pill emoji, which means awakened to the manosphere. Now the dynamite exploding emoji means a radicalized incel, and this is one that Katie used on a comment on Jamie's Instagram, so she was effectively calling him an incel. Now the kidney beans emoji so it's like three little brown beans apparently belittles women and is an incel symbol. And the hundred emoji with two lines underneath it two red lines underneath it is about the 80-20 rule. Now you've got to be careful with this because I use that hundred emoji all the time. So I've tried to like be more aware and considerate of what emojis I'm using. And it also turns out that heart emojis and different colours of them have different meanings. So the purple heart emoji means horny, apparently. The orange heart emoji means everything's going to be fine, the pink heart emoji means I'm interested, but not sexually, and the yellow heart emoji means I'm interested. Are you interested? So again, that puts a totally different perspective on all of these different emojis. And Adam in adolescence tells his dad, the detective, that basically Katie was calling Jamie an incel on Instagram.
Speaker 1:So as we get into episode three, we see Jamie speaking to forensic psychologist Bryony Ariston at a youth detention facility, which he clearly doesn't like being in. The episode spans their whole conversation and it's not the first one they've had, so they've obviously had sessions before this one and throughout this session Jamie has a few outbursts of real anger towards Bryony outbursts of real anger towards Bryony getting in her face, trying to scare her, but she is very resolute and keeps her face very placid. Afterwards she does seem pretty shaken, which I would be, to be honest, as his anger is quite scary. He actually mocks her about being scared of a 13-year-old as well, which is interesting. Now, I think the point of these sessions is for Bryony to really understand Jamie's psychology, how his mind works, what his motivations might have been when he killed Katie, like those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:And the really important conversation about this episode is about Jamie's Instagram and what Katie commented on his profile, as we've talked about basically calling him an incel. He says in this episode that he knows about these incel groups but they weren't really for him. He explains that the emojis all mean different things, as we talked about earlier, but does say that he does agree with the 80-20 rule. And Bryony like, really tries to delve deep into why Katie would be calling Jamie an incel on Instagram. He initially said that it's because he was ugly and like she didn't like him, but actually it turned out that Katie herself was a victim of sexual image based abuse, so a topless photo of her was circulated without her consent by one of Jamie's friends and he said after this happened he thought she might be weak so he asked her out as she might like him. At that point, apparently, she rebuffed him and said that she wasn't that desperate and then started leaving comments on her Instagram page.
Speaker 1:Now Jamie talks about how Katie was a bitch and a bully and how he could have touched her I assume he means when he killed her, but that he didn't. So that makes him a better person than other men and boys. And I think what is really interesting in this episode as well is that Katie is a complex victim. Right, she is portrayed as a victim of sexual image-based abuse, which she is. She is also portrayed as a bully. So, as with many victims of murder and sexual assault, they are human beings, they are complex, they are not angel or devils, and I think that was a really important thing that the episode brought out. But what this episode also showed me is that Jamie, yes, has some misogynistic traits and beliefs, for sure, and he is angry. He's an angry boy but also that maybe he's a bit scared as well. I also got from this episode that and obviously it is a drama it's made for dramatic effect, but there did seem to be a lot of victim blaming, lots and lots of discussion about how Katie was bullying Jamie. She left mean comments on his Instagram, she rebuffed him when he asked her out, and I can see why this didn't happen in this drama, but none of that was challenged or critiqued. Katie was a bully and deserved to die was the message that came out of that episode for me. We'll come back to this again, but a reminder, in case we needed it, that this is a Netflix drama, not an educational resource.
Speaker 1:Now, the final episode of Adolescence focuses on the Miller family. Jamie's awaiting trial and his parents talk about whether they should move, but decide not to. Jamie calls them to say that he's planning to plead guilty at his trial, which makes total sense. Now Jamie's parents, eddie and Manda, talk about if they could have done anything differently. They talk about how he was in his room on his computer all the time and that he was safe in his room. How could he harm anyone there? They did reflect that they didn't know what he was watching on his computer in his room. He could have been watching porn.
Speaker 1:Eddie talks about that guy who appeared on his own social media when he searched stuff to do with the gym. I assume that guy was andrew tate by the, and they talk about whether they could have stopped it, but actually they can't blame themselves. Eddie talks about the physical abuse he experienced from his own dad and how he just wanted to be better. But maybe he let Jamie down by not being there. As he grew up, they thought Jamie was safe in his room. As he grew up, they thought Jamie was safe in his room.
Speaker 1:Once again, the focus here is totally on the perpetrator and their life and their family, rather than the victim, katie and her life and her family. Adolescence finishes with Eddie crying on Jamie's bed. So so now we've talked through the content of adolescence, let's discuss its reception and response to it throughout the country, and you know what I think about it now. Unless you've been off social media completely, I'm sure that you will have seen that adolescence has become a phenomenon and I'm sure that you will have seen that lots of people's hot takes on it and what it means for teenagers and tackling the epidemic of misogyny and violence against women and girls.
Speaker 1:The drama was, in fact, raised during Prime Minister's Questions in mid-March by Nosley MP Annalise Midgley. She asked, quote Everyone is talking about adolescence, the series by Knowsley's own Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco, which highlights online male radicalisation and violence against girls. The creators of the show are calling for screenings in Parliament and schools to spark change. Will the Prime Minister back the campaign to counter toxic misogyny early and give young men the role models that they deserve? The Prime Minister responded, quote yes, at home we are watching adolescence with our children. I have a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl. It's a very good drama to watch. The violence carried out by young men influenced by what they see online is a real problem. It's abhorrent and we have to tackle it. We're putting in specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and doing work on 999 calls, but this is also a matter of culture. It is important that, across the whole house, we tackle this emerging and growing problem, this emerging and growing problem.
Speaker 1:Now, following this PMQ, the Prime Minister invited Netflix, jackthorn and children's charities to Downing Street to discuss the issues adolescents raised and backed calls from Netflix for it to be shown for free in schools. Now the Netflix drama was also raised in another parliamentary debate on the impact of digital platforms, where MP Saoirse Eastwood said, quote the release of adolescence. Where MP Saoirse Eastwood said, quote the release of adolescence has rightly ignited a national conversation about online misogynisty and radicalization, exposing the toxic digital culture infiltrating our homes and classrooms. So Netflix is obviously Netflix's adolescence has obviously got the the ear of the prime minister. It's been raised in parliament and throughout the country in national newspapers and blogs and podcasts.
Speaker 1:And so what? What do I think here? Now, before I offer my analysis, I want to emphasize that these are my personal opinions. Yes, they are based on years of working with survivors of domestic abuse and violence and my research into intimate partner homicide, but nonetheless, my personal opinions. So, firstly, the good stuff there is no doubt that Adolescence is as a screenplay and a piece of dramatic cinematography is brilliant. The one-shot production really brings the viewer into the drama and it's a powerful watch from a dramatic point of view. Secondly, I think that it probably did offer an insight into the lives of teenagers nowadays.
Speaker 1:Apart from the incel culture, the scenes in the schools and the discussions about the online lives of teenagers was interesting and enlightening to me. I've chatted to some of my friends who have children and although they agree that they worry about their children's online lives, they thought that the dramatic depiction of their lives was potentially a bit exaggerated. So while I thought that the actual TV drama was brilliantly done, I don't think or believe that it is the right drama to be teaching children and young people about the online and real life dangers they face when it comes to misogyny and those dangers exist. Absolutely Misogynistic incel culture, you know the online content that children, young people, are consuming, absolutely needs to be addressed, as does the cultural epidemic of anti-women hatred of women. You know, that real sort of glorification of violence against women. But I'm not sure that this TV show is the right place to do it.
Speaker 1:Firstly, as I have said before, the pure focus of the show is on the perpetrator. It is about his arrest, his life, what he thinks by the way, he consistently denies what he has done, even though there is CCTV video evidence of it what his family thinks and what he says he didn't do. You see one photo of Katie and only hear her name in relation to the crime that Jamie committed. There's no consideration or thought to the impact of her death on her family or exploration of the wider issues of violence against women and girls and homicides of women and girls. Apparently. There have been rumours of a second series of adolescence which has more of a focus on Katie, but by that time it's way too late. The sentiment that the perpetrator is more important than the victim has already been set.
Speaker 1:The whole focus of a lot of the response to adolescence has been how it shines a light on boys engagement with incel culture and how that led him to murdering a female classmate, basically, and I think that this has been a total dog whistle for adolescence and isn't actually what the show is about at all. Indeed, although there was the discussion between Adam and his dad focused on emojis associated with incel culture, when Jamie was actually questioned about whether he'd seen incel content online, he said that he had, but it wasn't really for him, so he wasn't actually an incel. And there were some really clumsy attempts to talk about Andrew Tate in the show, including Eddie talking about that guy that appeared on his social media, and I just think the show really tried to hang its hat on being about incel culture and young men becoming incels, when that wasn't really the reason behind why Jamie did what he did. The show highlighted emojis that are associated with incel culture, which in mainstream media, really captured everyone's attention, but really that's not what it is about, because Jamie himself said he wasn't an incel. What I think the real issue is, particularly seen in episode three, is the actual challenges that young people and young men specifically face in how they manage their emotions and how they interact with each other. Vulnerability and emotional vulnerability seems to be a real challenge for Jamie, as it is for any sense of toxic masculinity and, as we've talked about, jamie himself says that incel content isn't really for him. So what he's clearly grappling with is his identity, being able to build equal friendships with women, and his sense of self. That's why the focus on incel culture is just an easy dog whistle that is masking some of the real issues facing young people today.
Speaker 1:Although I can see why the call for adolescence to be shown in schools isn't attractive and a quick fix for a complex issue, I am not convinced on this at all. Educational resources on relationship, sex and consent in schools should be developed as such. Dramas that have been created to attract audiences have not been developed as educational material. I would support the showing of adolescence in schools if it came along with a resource for young people and teachers to get the most out of it, for example, offering critiques and questions to consider. At the moment, in isolation, I don't think it should be shown in schools in some effort to tackle misogyny. Instead, lessons on healthy relationships, consent, seeing each other as equal human beings would go further than a Netflix documentary. So, in conclusion, as a modern depiction of the dangers of online misogyny, the real-life impact of incel culture and as an analysis of the causes and impacts of male violence against women, I think adolescence falls way short and doesn't meet any level of what I would want to see as an educational resource for children and young people.
Speaker 1:But what do you think? Do you think adolescence outlines an accurate portrayal of male anger and violence against women, or do you just think it's a brilliant drama that has no space in our schools? Let me know. I really want to hear from everyone that has watched it and tell me what you think. Message me on my Insta at KillerInTheFamilyPod, or through a text via a link in the episode notes. This has been a bonus episode of Killer In the Family podcast, written and produced by me, claire Laxton. Normalcy Service will resume this Friday, the 25th of April, when a brand new episode drops. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you, thank you.
