‘Suicide Is Permanent’ – Netflix’s ‘A Girl Like Her’ Is A Brutally Real Insight Into Teen Bullying & Suicide

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For anyone that has been touched by suicide, experienced bullying at school, or was even a bully themselves, Netflix’s newest offering A Girl Like Her is compulsory viewing. But bring the tissue box.

The faux-documentary follows the story of Jessica Burns who after being victimized and endlessly bullied by popular girl Avery Keller in school for over a year attempts suicide.

It’s an unflinchingly real glimpse on the sides of both the victim and the bully, and the impact bullying has on the mental health of teens – and the role parents and families can play in the present bullying epidemic.

While albeit a seemingly exaggerated version, the film really captures the bullying and social torment that takes place every day in almost every school across America – and Australia for that matter.

Released last year, A Girl Like Her carries particular significance into the ramifications of bullying, after the 2010 sentencing of the teens for bullying Irish high school student Phoebe Prince, which led to her suicide.

Writer and director Amy S.Weber said the plot for the film has been on her mind for decades, but she took direct inspiration from the death of Prince and the public and media’s demonisation of the teens that bullied her.

“We as a society have learned that people who project their pain, people who abuse, are monsters,” Weber told TIME Magazine. “When they hurt others, our innate response and reaction is to protect the one they’re hurting.”

In Australia, according to 2012 figures one in four young Australians currently has a mental health condition, and suicide is the biggest killer of people aged 15-24, accounting for the deaths of more young people than car accidents.

Across Australian schools over 20 percent of males and 15 percent of females aged 8 to 18 years report being bullied at least once a week.

A Girl Like Her is available to watch now on Netflix.

Watch the trailer for the film below:

If you feel like you need to talk, call Beyondblue Support on 1300 22 4636 or go to their website to chat online or call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or visit the website.

Header via Netflix.