British Netflix hit 'Adolescence' to be shown in French schools: minister
David Ridley (center) and Aaron May (second from right) perform onstage during Netflix's FYSEE Music Night at Hollywood Athletic Club on June 01, 2025 in Hollywood, California. --AFP
British Netflix drama "Adolescence" -- which has sparked widespread debate about the toxic and misogynistic influences to which young boys are exposed online, can now be shown in French secondary schools -- a minister has said. The initiative follows a precedent set in the UK. The producer of the series broadcast on Netflix has "opened up the rights to us" and the French education ministry will "offer five educational sequences to young people based on this series", Education Minister Elisabeth Borne told LCI TV late on Sunday.
These excerpts from the mini-series are "very representative of the violence that can exist among young people", Borne said. She added that they would be shown in secondary schools to children from the age of around 14 onwards.
Such materials are intended to help raise awareness of the problem of "overexposure to screens and the trivialisation of violence on social networks", as well as the spread of so-called masculinist theories -- misogynistic spheres which advocate violence against women, said Borne. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the move to screen the show -- in which a 13-year-old boy stabs a girl to death after being radicalised on the internet -- "an important initiative" which would help start conversations about the content teenagers consume online.
"Adolescence", which was released on March 13, follows the aftermath of the schoolgirl's fatal stabbing, revealing the dangerous influences to which boys are subjected online and the secret meaning youngsters are giving to seemingly innocent emojis. The series has resonated with an audience increasingly disturbed by a litany of shocking knife crimes committed by young people and the misogynistic rhetoric of influencers like Andrew Tate. As of June 1, "Adolescence" reached a total of 141.2 million views, making it Netflix's second most watched English-language series ever, according to industry magazine Variety.--AFP
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