'Adolescence' ... web series is a big hit and everyone must watch it !! It's all the more a compulsory viewing for parents ... it talks about unfathomable pressures boys do face

The four-part British series by Netflix is an eye-opener and has a path-breaking story line. It's about a 'knife' murder by a 13-year-old boy. Maybe because I have already crossed teen and early period of parenthood; I was most touched by the episode-four !!  

Of course it's a four-part series. Do not shed tears as you move to the middle-stage of the episode-four. What happens to 'parents' when their teenage boy is inside a prison.  

'Adoloscence' is made from four perspectives — distinctly different from each other -- parents, the psychologist, the school and the cops -- in reverse order.  

And trying to understand deep  - the web series that hooks everyone has a combo offer on Male rage, toxic masculinity, online misogyny.  

By simple definition the term "Adolescence" is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood when a person experiences rapid growth and biological changes. It's also a time of social and emotional development. 

Let us try to understand two other phrases -- "Toxic masculinity". This refers to harmful, traditional male gender roles that can negatively impact men, women, and society, characterized by dominance, aggression, and emotional suppression. 

The next is 'Online misogyny' == and it talks about -- hatred or prejudice against women, typically exhibited by men. 

It is generally accepted that misogyny is a consequence of patriarchy (male-dominated society), MALE chauvanism -- as we often say.

Internet also says - the term may be applied to certain individuals as well as larger systems, societies, or cultures. 

Now sample these from the webseries:

"All kids are like that these days....."

"You know, you do not know what they are watching in their room" ---- these words from the father of the house to the kid's mom. 

The father also says -- "Did I give them that ..."

In retrospect, the sobbing mother is always right: "But I do sometimes think we should have stopped it". 

Men will be men -- the dad says - "We can't blame ourselves".

Mother is again right -- "But we made him, did not we?"  

The father counters - "When I was of his age ...my father used to batter me. Sometimes he would take the belt at me...".

(The dad in the web series reflects my generation. My mother did all that stuff to we two brothers -- even she used the famous bamboo-cane made hockey stick in Mizoram's Lunglei....) 

We grew up learning and believing - Spare the rod and spoil the child. 

But all that had changed years later. 

Even the protagonist in the webseries says -- "And I promised myself .... when I have my own kids I will never do that".  

Adolescence stars Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old murder suspect Jamie.

 

(This 'spare the rod' is a syndrome. It is also one of the causes of problems, challenges and agony in today's generation kids and their parents.)

The dad (Miller) throws the googly -- "I just wanted to be better (a better father than his father was)"

And then he questions himself and also his wife -- "But am I". 

I do not want all of your party further. Do watch the series. Parents should sit together to do it. 

'Adolescence' as a series actually gives its audience a peek into how easily "boys" can be swayed by “manfluencers” before they become 'men'. 

"Over the past decade, the number of UK teenagers killed with a blade or sharp object has risen by 240%. On a cultural level, it’s about cyberbullying, the malign influence of social media and the unfathomable pressures faced by boys in Britain today. Male rage, toxic masculinity, online misogyny. 

This isn’t just all-too-plausible fiction. It’s unavoidable fact," goes an article in 'The Guardian', London. 

There is always a good sentence about a good movie. The camera never leaves the action. 

True, in this case neither can we as the audience. 

'Adolescence' lays bare how an outwardly normal but inwardly self-loathing and susceptible youngster can be radicalised. Parents would hardly notice that.

His parents even recall (when the damage is done) that Jamie coming home from school, heading straight upstairs, slamming his bedroom door and spending hours at his computer. 

They thought he was safe. Maybe they thought, he was growing wiser. 

They thought they were doing the right thing. 

It’s a scenario which will ring bells ... either in Britain or India or any other part of the globe. 

THE CHALLENGE IS BIGGER as the world will be now more dependent on Artificial Intelligence. 

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