Enduring in Silence: How Adolescence Normalizes Emotional Suppression

Teen dramas today are cultural artifacts, shaping how young audiences perceive themselves and the world around them. Praised for its sensitive exploration of mental health, misogyny, and the digital pressures teens face today, Adolescence has recently been added to UK secondary school curricula, with official backing from the government and educational charities. This critique focuses not on the lead character, Jamie, but on overlooked figures like Mara and Theo, whose quiet suffering reveals a deeper flaw in the series’ portrayal of emotional pain as something to be endured in silence rather than confronted or expressed.

At the heart of this emotional stillness is Mara, a character rarely discussed but quietly central to the show’s weight. Her grief following a friend’s death isn’t loud or chaotic; it’s restrained and internalized. She doesn’t lash out or open up, but simply disappears into herself. Skipping classes, isolating in her room, and retreating into the numb comfort of her phone screen, Mara becomes a portrait of unresolved pain. Yet the show never frames her behavior as cause for concern. In Episode 3, Mara scrolls through photos of her friend in the dark, her face barely lit by the screen. The scene lingers for nearly a minute without dialogue, just ambient sound, as she swipes through memories, then turns the screen off and closes her eyes, not crying, just enduring.

Repeated exposure to this type of muted response can shape how viewers perceive grief and mental health, not as something to process out loud, but as something to quietly endure. Mara isn’t just mourning, she’s modeling what many young viewers might begin to see as “normal” sadness- quiet, invisible, and left untreated.

This emotional passivity is mirrored by those around her. Friends sense something’s off but don’t intervene. Adults appear overwhelmed, unsure, or altogether absent. Each episode unfolds like a snapshot of tension left unresolved. In Adolescence, characters rarely voice what they feel, and when they do, it’s often brushed aside or left hanging. The show avoids clichés of melodramatic breakdowns, but in doing so, also avoids offering models of vulnerability, communication, or help-seeking. In Episode 5, when Mara mentions to a friend that she hasn’t been sleeping well, the moment is met with silence before the conversation shifts to a meme. Rather than acknowledging the disclosure, the scene drifts into casual distraction, mirroring how emotional discomfort is often avoided both on-screen and off.

One of the most affecting scenes features Theo, a classmate who experiences a panic attack in a bathroom stall. Instead of seeking help, he quietly cleans himself up, looks in the mirror, and walks back to class. Just before leaving, he whispers to his reflection, “Just keep it together,” a line that captures both his internal pressure and the show's broader messaging around emotional endurance. The camera lingers on his face to capture the quiet collapse. He is praised later by a teacher for being “resilient.” The implication is clear: the less noise you make, the stronger you seem. While this moment reflects a haunting truth about teen mental health, it also subtly valorizes emotional endurance over expression.

What Adolescence does well is show the in-between moments, the confusing parts of being a teenager that we don’t usually see on screen. It captures what it feels like to be disconnected, unsure of how to talk about your emotions, or scared to open up. In one scene, Mara sits in the kitchen with her mother, both of them silently eating dinner. Her mother glances at her, clearly wanting to ask something, but says nothing, and neither does Mara. The moment hangs before the scene cuts away. It’s a powerful example of how emotional distance is shown, not spoken. But while the show is good at portraying these feelings, it doesn’t go much further. It lets us see what emotional silence looks like, but it doesn’t offer young viewers real guidance on how to deal with it or move forward.

While shows like Euphoria spotlight teenage chaos in high contrast, Adolescence chooses a softer lens, one filled with pauses, silences, and lingering shots of pain left unspoken. In characters like Mara and Theo, the series captures the quiet realities of emotional suppression that many teens live through daily. But by stopping at representation and offering little in the way of resolution, the show risks reinforcing the very silence it portrays. Its honesty is powerful, but incomplete. For young viewers navigating their mental health, Adolescence may not glamorize pain, but it doesn’t challenge it either. And in a world where silence is already the default, that absence speaks volumes.

References

Hui, S. (2025, March 31). 'Adolescence' will be shown in schools across the UK to spark conversations on social media harm. Associated Press. URL: 

https://apnews.com/article/adolescence-netflix-starmer-social-media.