By Nithilan Balachander (26A01C)

The manosphere and incel culture are two of the most widely discussed topics of the 2020s. The sudden rise of Andrew Tate served as perhaps a watershed moment. For media outlets, coverage of incels and incel-related violence all but guarantees easy clicks. (Did you notice the title of this article perchance?) But, despite all of that, the general public has a really poor understanding of what the manosphere is beyond “incels are weird and possibly dangerous” and “oh, the Andrew Tate stuff?”.

In such a landscape comes “Adolescence”: a Netflix series that is about an ultimately dangerous 13-year-old incel that, beyond using the topic for shock value and views, tries to raise awareness about it. I absolutely loved the show, and here’s why you should watch it.

All The Feels

The series starts with a police raid on an unsuspecting family in an unnamed British town. The objective? To arrest 13-year-old Jamie on suspicion of murder. Jamie (Owen Cooper) assures his parents, sister and the officers who arrested him that he didn’t do anything, and you just can’t help but believe him…

“Adolescence” is four hours long—not much longer than a movie. But despite its short length, it makes incredible use of the episodic format. Each of the four episodes take place at a different time, present a self-contained narrative within the larger storyline, and, most impressively, are shot in one continuous take.

It is this one-take format that empowers “Adolescence” to do what it does best—devastate you emotionally. The different episodes examine the murder case—and the boy at the centre of it—from different perspectives, but all of them achieve the same thing: creating tension and relieving that tension by making you tear up/cry at the end.

As the camera moves from a police car to inside Jamie’s house to the police station lobby and to the jail cell, you feel the same emotion and unease felt by each of the characters. The confusion of the family, the desperation of Jamie, the pity and unease of the police officers all feel too real; the cast is nothing short of impressive. (It is also Cooper’s debut performance).

Masculinity and Stuff 

“Incel” is short for “involuntarily celibate”. The police officer who investigates the case, struggling to understand a possible motive, asks “He’s 13. How can you be

involuntarily celibate at 13?” A lot of adults watching the show might’ve asked the same question—that lack of understanding is what “Adolescence” (successfully) addresses. The incel community, along with the “manosphere” that it is part of, is not really about being involuntarily celibate. It is a culture of misogyny and distorted masculinity built around men (and boys) coping with resentment and loneliness—something that could very well attract a “normal” teenager.

Manosphere-related violence, as framed by the media, would probably seem like a foreign threat to most. “Adolescence” takes care to shake off that framing. In the first episode, you are made to wonder how a seemingly normal 13-year-old could possibly commit murder; by the third (and best) one, you understand exactly how.

Jamie isn’t really portrayed as evil, or a monster. The things he says (like the 80-20 rule) aren’t really far off from what you may see on Reddit or Instagram Reels or, perhaps, what one of your friends might’ve said. The fact that such beliefs and worldviews are so prevalent is what makes the show so unsettling.

But being an incel doesn’t make you a murderer. Most aren’t violent; many would never even consider it. Rather, incels are evidence that, even in the big ‘25, sexism is deep-seated. It is so deep-seated that it has somehow adapted itself for younger audiences, a fact still not understood by many, making it all the worse. That is the core point that “Adolescence” is trying to make.

True Crime

“Adolescence” is not based on a true story, despite what Elon Musk might have said. It was inspired by reports of young boys involved in knife crime that co-creator Stephen Graham saw (he also plays the dad). Still, it feels very much like a true crime show. 

More interesting, though, is how “Adolescence” subverts the genre in making its point. For one, the show is not a whodunit—you kind of know right from the start. Rather, it focuses on the humanity and emotions of the various characters involved. Throughout the series, the “villain” is not really a villain, but rather an object of pity and perhaps even a victim himself.

“Adolescence”  doesn’t offer the audience any sort of comfort either—there is no clean, satisfying conclusion or a sense of closure. In fact, the plot only gets worse as it goes on; you get emotionally devastated more and more. Appropriately, the series’ narrative structure only mirrors real life: there is no clean, satisfying solution to stop the radicalisation and isolation of young men.

Will any of it actually matter, though?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently praised the show and said that it “​​lit a touch paper” on the issue of the manosphere. And it has—it is #1 on Netflix and basically every media outlet is covering it. It will also be available for free for all UK secondary schools. The show has undoubtedly succeeded in its mission of raising awareness.

Yet, at the end of the day, will there be any real difference made? I don’t really think incels who watch the show are going to shift their views. As for parents, “Adolescence” does offer them a compelling call-to-action—to be more proactive in their parenting. But even so, a TV show is not going to suddenly change the fact that they are disconnected from children’s digital lives or give them tools to address the problem.

So, the role must fall on policymakers, right? The series does have the ear of the British government right now. But, Prime Minister Starmer also admitted “there isn’t an obvious policy response which will answer all of these questions”. Then what?

“Adolescence” is a really good TV show. It is purposeful in its writing and directing, has an impressive cast, and is a technical achievement. It has sparked some important conversations and will continue to do so for a while, till it loses relevance.

Despite its very best efforts, I don’t really think it can achieve anything of consequence to disrupt the deep-rooted influence of misogyny and the manosphere, and this won’t be due to any fault of its own. There are no clean, satisfying solutions. At the end of the day, I think “Adolescence” will probably be remembered as just that—a really good TV show.

“Adolescence” is currently streaming on Netflix.