A Meditation on Masculinity

“Adolescence” review

Adolescence on Netflix

Adolescence is told in four unbroken one-hour shots. This would be gimmicky, except it’s done so naturally, everyone hits their mark perfectly, the camera right in their faces or literally soaring. All of this creates a grueling, trance-like meditation on masculinity.

I happened to binge it on Transgender Day of Visibility, and against that backdrop, it becomes obvious that the vendetta against Trans kids being “indoctrinated into gender ideology” is really scapegoating and projection by a culture that refuses to admit what’s going on with their boys. They are actually being indoctrinated into cults of masculinity, with predatory personalities making money from boys’ sexual confusion and hormonal outrage. More parents need to leave Trans issues alone and focus on what the “manosphere” beams to their own kids’ phones.

The series is careful not to blame one issue, but it effectively sets the environment for how young male fury can foment, from an overload of porn to misogynistic influencers, angry fathers, and the age-old question of nature versus nurture. It does, however, fall short of tackling how race can make some of these behaviors more accepted or easier to get away with. Both the father and the son would have been treated very differently if they were not white.

The series feels like an after-school special meets We Need to Talk About Kevin and I mean that as a compliment. The brutal four hours provide no answers, but it’s cold comfort that Adolescence has become a smash hit. At least it’s raising questions, even if they feel too late.

It’s terrifying that this generation of young boys will create the world we’ll grow old in. If we’re rewarding sociopathy and “make me a sandwich, bitch” 1950s gender dynamics, reinforced at the highest levels of government and backed by unchecked capitalism and tech, what future are we headed for?

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More on how media shapes our views of sex and ourselves in POST and Analog Cruising