r/OutOfTheLoop • u/AshtarB • Apr 13 '17

Answered What does "Welcome to your tape" mean?

I’ve been coming across a lot of memes about someone named Hannah catching people in awkward situations by saying that.

88 Upvotes

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105

u/3_Mighty_Ninja_Ducks Apr 13 '17 edited Apr 13 '17

This is a reference to Netflix' series 13 Reasons Why, based on the book by Jay Asher. It could be considered a bit of a spoiler, so -- "Welcome to your tape" is usually the opening line to a series of cassette tapes that a girl leaves behind after taking her life. She instructs the tapes to be given to certain people -- people that, in her mind, contributed to her suicide. Each tape is directed toward one person. The tapes usually start with a short intro and then say, "So-and-so, welcome to your tape."

It's actually a pretty good series, although frustrating at times.

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u/AshtarB Apr 13 '17

Thanks! I’ll be sure to check it out.

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u/frozenplasma Apr 15 '17

In my personal opinion the show dragged on too much and added in a lot of unnecessary content... Plus had a crappy ending.

If you're genuinely interested I'd suggest the book.

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u/3_Mighty_Ninja_Ducks Apr 14 '17

Cool! Let me know what ya think!

76

u/sqdnleader Apr 13 '17

She instructs the tapes to be given to certain people -- people that, in her mind, contributed to her suicide.

Now I haven't watched the show so I don't know the content of these tapes, but it sounds like they are not favorable. This rubs me the wrong way it's an impressive level of passive aggression.

I feel like I heard that there was a sexual assault or something in the series so perhaps that could warrant a tape to her attacker, but otherwise it would seem petty and selfish to do tapes. Like the tapes say "I blame you for my suicide, but I couldn't bother to get help myself." I say this as someone who deals with many passive aggressive people and battles depression and suicidal thoughts too and got help.

This is just my two cents. I could be completely off base with what the show is.

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u/wolfmeister3001 Apr 14 '17

SPOILER

You think that frustrating? The whole time I kept thinking, why are these girls talking to their rapist alone?

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '17 edited Apr 14 '17

Pretty much my thoughts.

The premise just sounds like incredibly fucked up and unhealthy behavior.

A person who commits suicide is already suffering from some very distorted thinking patterns, so who's to say all these people deserve a personalized suicide note? If they go through the elaborate effort of assigning blame via a series of tapes, rather than seeking help or attacking the root problem, that's energy that could have been directed elsewhere, to positive ends. Like maybe trying to communicate with said people before it's too late.

In effect, they're deliberately assigning survivors guilt to a ton of people, via the ultimate passive-aggressive "fuck you." That's monstrous.

It also sounds like every selfish, immature suicide fantasy ever. The elaborate, unrealistic idea that "I'll kill myself, and everyone will miss me when I'm gone! That'll show them!" Sort of the last laugh, slam-the-door argument-ender. Like petty revenge.

Kind of makes me not want to watch the show. I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds like an unhealthy portrayal of suicide.

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u/Feebedel324 Apr 15 '17

Is there a healthy portrayal of suicide? Also I think you'd really need to watch it and give it a fair chance. It's hard to explain. I think part was definitely revenge, but I think most of it was her way of saying "think about your actions and how much they might hurt someone." I don't think she really blames each one them all for her suicide, but the all of their actions combined. It's her way of saying "your actions might not seem that bad alone, but you have no idea what else other people are going through." I think that's her point. But she's also pretty fucked up in the head and some horrendous things happen to her.

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u/kr51 Apr 17 '17

Is there a healthy portrayal of suicide?

Euthanasia? Ending your life because of pain without reasonable solution? I'm sure it exists in fiction somewhere.

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u/Jyxxe Apr 16 '17

Yeah you're asking for a lot if you want a "healthy" suicide.

Suicide is a GIANT MESS. It makes sense that a show focused on a suicide would also have MESSY MORALS. The fact that you even have this perception that somehow there is a way to portray suicide in a healthy manner is an indicator of how little you understand the topic.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '17 edited Apr 16 '17

Uhm...

I think you're being rather uncharitable in how you read my post.

I'm deeply concerned that the show might be portraying her behavior as somehow justified. The fear of an "unhealthy" depiction comes from how her behavior with the tapes is portrayed, because it raises substantial problems if she isn't shown as being somehow at-fault for assigning survivor's guilt. Suicide is screwed up. It's not healthy by nature. But this is a meta-concern regarding whether or not the show itself glorifies such behavior.

"How little I understand the topic" has nothing to do with whether suicide itself can be "healthy". I'm asking if the script itself is sensitive to the topic. Suicide itself is not healthy, nor did I ever imply it could be. A portrayal of suicide can be healthy, if it treats the topic with grace and accuracy. Two different things.

EDIT: I'm also evidently not the only one who's concerned about it. http://www.self.com/story/13-reasons-why-suicide-and-mental-health

Hannah uses her suicide and the tapes to get revenge on, and gain control over, those who hurt and violated her. The tapes are like fuel for her power, boosting her posthumous status to become "the girl who completed suicide." Hannah even calls out her guidance counselor, Mr. Porter, for failing to help her find a reason to live—essentially blaming someone else for a decision that she ultimately made for herself.

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u/randy_buttcheese Apr 13 '17

I wont spoil anything but there's a sort of snowball effect of events that build to her reasons. The show doesn't treat it as if she's perfect either, and a lot of characters are upset she made the tapes which is addressed often. It was more showing them that their actions, whether big or small in the grand scheme of things can really affect someones life.

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u/Feebedel324 Apr 14 '17

Watching it makes more sense. Hannah is a very interesting but very flawed character. A lot of crappy things happen to her and things snow ball. The tapes are her story (reasons why). It's messed up, but makes you really think about your daily interactions and how they might affect other people. Hannah is a puzzle and each of the 13 people who were given tapes were a piece to her story. The show definitely isn't cut and dry. I'd recommend it.

1

u/sylveonce Apr 20 '17

SPOILER

One of the tapes is addressed to someone she attempted to get help from. That person dismissed her/victim-blamed/diminished what she was feeling, which is why they ended up on the tapes.

15

u/Where_is_my_salt Apr 13 '17

So the joke is people kill themselves and hand the person that annoyed them a tape?

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u/3_Mighty_Ninja_Ducks Apr 13 '17

Hmm, I actually don't know the context of the Reddit joke itself, but that's a pretty damn good guess.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '17

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u/Where_is_my_salt Apr 13 '17

ah so exaggerating as in the pizza is so bad they would kill themselves? now I get it.

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u/aidyfarman Apr 13 '17

It's to do with the book, and newly premiered Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. My wife has told me about it, but I can't elaborate more. Wikipedia may be able to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Reasons_Why

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u/UrbanToiletShrimp Apr 16 '17

"Hannah hides in the closet and witnesses Jessica being raped by Bryce. Justin knew about the rape and let it happen."

Why didn't Hannah stop the rape if she were in the same room? Sounds like she was part of "letting it happen"?

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u/wakka12 Apr 16 '17

Ive not read the book but in the episode of the tv show when that occurs, she says she's too scared to move her feet while its happening, she also throws up after. Suffice to say she was pretty disturbed by the event overall

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u/UrbanToiletShrimp Apr 16 '17

She still let it happen.

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u/BigJuicyDuck Apr 17 '17

In the book, she takes part of the blame too. She knows it's also her fault.

Edit: book, not books

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u/AwYisBreadCrumbs Apr 18 '17

In the show, on the tape when she's talking to justin she says "That girl had two chances that night, and we both let her down" so she accepts her fault in the situation.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '17