Tape 3: Side B – Marcus Cole
One of the interesting things about this series is that I believe that in some ways it was ahead of its time. The book Thirteen Reasons Why was published and released to the public back in 2007. Think back how things were in 2007 and compare it to how things are today in 2018… a big dramatic difference. Truth be told I never heard of this book back in 2007 and had they made a tv series about this book during that time it may not have had the same cultural impact that it had in today’s climate. Unlike then the world is more aware of injustices that women go through and is at a constant stance to fight back the issues that are brought to light that used to be hidden in the dark. The “#MeToo” Movement and Toxic Masculinity are two top issues that are being fought against in today’s forefront. Which is why I believe the next two tapes deals with those issues… for this tape we deal with Marcus Cole.
To sum up Marcus’ tape: the school cheerleaders were running a paid Valentine’s Day type of fundraiser to set up students that matched each other through questionnaires. With the help of cheerleader Sheri (remember that name, we’ll talk about her on a later entry) Hannah matches up with Marcus. Against her doubts and reservations she decides to go on a date with Marcus, he tells her to meet him at the local diner Rosie’s. At the diner Hannah gets there and she waits for over an hour with Marcus being a no-show. Once she decides to leave Marcus finally shows up… but with his group of buddies as well. The group sits in the back while Marcus convinces Hannah to stay. Marcus sits next to Hannah and because of the vicious “slut” rumors Marcus tries to get sexual with Hannah against her wishes. Using all of her force Hannah pushes Marcus off of her to the ground, feeling embarrassed Marcus gets up and loudly calls her a “TEASE!” then leaving with his group except for Zack who stays behind and… well Zack’s part is for the next entry.
The first thing I’ve noticed is that when deciding which people on the tapes caused major damage to Hannah and who caused minor damage a lot of people deemed what Marcus did was only minor damage… I personally disagree with that view. Before Hannah accepted the date with Marcus he already had trust issues with everyone from pretty much everything that’s happened to her so for her to accept the date was mentally a big gamble for her… a gamble that backfired. Then comes the realization that Marcus only asked her for a date because of the “slut” reputation that plagued Hanah so he only saw her as a prostitute of sorts. Then he forced himself on her WITHOUT consent and with her pleading with him to stop. Top with all off with Marcus embarrassing Hannan in front of a lot of people when he didn’t get his way.
Sum it all up… Marcus was a Grade A asshole. Whatever trust in people that Hannah had left was completely gone at this point. For now on she knows that when guys ask her out they are not asking the person out they are asking the “slut” out which made Hannah feel alone. As for Marcus in today’s world what he did would definitely be classified as: toxic masculinity, slut shaming and just being a mean person yet has the nerve to try and act like he did nothing wrong. Also ironic that Marcus acts like he’s better than Tyler when the truth is that both are guilty of invading Hannah’s personal space… Tyler did it from far away and Marcus did it very closely. We live in a generation full of men that act like Marcus that think that they can do anything to women and get away with it and that’s very sad. If anything Marcus’ tape is a strong case of the old saying “No Means No”.
Fractured Mindframe 