16 November 2019, Saturday:  “13 Reasons Why” is an American teen drama series released originally in March 2017, which is available on Netflix and is based on 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. In an interview of the lead actress Alisha Boe, who portrayed the character of Jessica Davis, the new popular girl at Liberty High School, told the interviewer that she was not sure of her looks, that whether it will match the requirements of the character or not. As she was stereotyping the character looks requirement to be a girl with blonde hairs and blue eyes will be a perfect choice, which is a usual choice for school girl looks in an English drama series, but she was fortunate to have grabbed the role.

 


Boe’s father is a Somali and mother is from Norwegian. And Hollywood’s preference for such stereotypical characters has been white-skinned actors - actresses, so getting the role  of Jessica in Netflix teen drama, was a big deal for her. It did surprise her, but in the best possible way. Earlier it was not prevalent in shows, to properly portray the diverse and mixed families on screen. So, at least now the industry should take up the areas which never been explored earlier.

 


In a major subplot of season 3, Jessica was finding her way out from sexual assault trauma. After this, she started a club at school for fellow victims and also rediscovered her confidence through physical and emotional transformation, which was followed by an empowering solo sex session with a vibrator and gave herself a hair makeover. This might seem to be insignificant to the character’s journey but this move was a very conscious choice, and it was the first time when you could have seen Jessica taking on the role of being a survivor, and that too conveyed from her hairs.

 


As it is heading towards its fourth and final season. So, the wrapping up ie making all the actors nostalgic. Boe started the first shoot at the age of 19, and now she has turned 23, so it’s like her college years, and she has grown with the character in all these years and has become a different person altogether. The season finale will tackle with the graduation of the characters from the high school, that too with great distinctions.