As local networks retreat, Netflix is filling the gap in teen TV
Despite attracting all sorts of controversy, at least Netflix’s recent teen offerings are attempting to reach out to today’s 12 to 18-year-olds. That’s little more than can be said for Australia’s TV networks, argues Anna Potter in this cross-posting from The Conversation.
With storylines that encompass stalking, eating disorders, rape and suicide, Netflix dramas To the Bone and 13 Reasons Why have been accused of being harmful to their target audience: teenagers.
Mental health advocates, psychologists and journalists have claimed these shows are irresponsible and unrealistic, and pose unacceptable risks to young people.
Keanu Reeves and Lily Collins in To the Bone (2017), which follows a young woman struggling with an eating disorder. AMBI Group, Sparkhouse Media, Mockingbird Pictures
But by creating and distributing live action drama for a teenage audience, Netflix is targeting a demographic that Australian broadcasters have almost entirely abandoned. In 2016, ABCME, Australia’s only free-to-air children’s channel, lowered its target age group from 15 to 12, with 8–to-12-year-olds now considered its core audience.
