O’Bard and Harlins speak of the struggles Latasha went through-her mother was murdered when she was just nine years old-but they also dwell on the mundane sweetness of her young life, including trips to the pool and the basketball courts, and playing “Stand by Me” on a jukebox at a local burger joint. Allison, who studied photojournalism before becoming a filmmaker, renders the young girls who stand in for Latasha and her playmates with the natural but studied eye of a street photographer. The filmmaker deploys experimental reenactments to re-create the memories of two of the women closest to Latasha, her best friend Tybie O’Bard and her cousin Shinese Harlins.
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natives that still don’t really know who she is.”
NETFILIX DOCUMENTARY S OUR TEEN SUICIDE ARCHIVE
“So I wanted to rebuild this history and this archive for Latasha, because there are a lot of L.A. “When I was finally in my late twenties and learning about Latasha, I was completely shocked that I’d never heard about her,” the filmmaker told Esquire. Then Du picked up a handgun and shot Harlins in the back of the head.Īllison was barely preschool aged at the time of Latasha’s death, but though she grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, she knew only of Rodney King as the face of the city’s riots. The shopkeeper threw a stool at Latasha, who threw the orange juice on the counter before turning to leave. She reached across the counter to grab the teen, who in turn punched Du. But Soon Ja Du, the store owner, accused her of shoplifting. Police would also determine that she hadn’t tried to steal the drink. Witnesses testified that once inside the store, Latasha put the bottle of juice in her backpack and then approached the counter, money in hand, to pay for her purchase. The best-known fact about Harlins, whose friends and family called her Tasha, is that she was killed over a $1.79 bottle of juice. Allison instead creates a brief, stirring portrait of the fifteen years that preceded them. If you’ve seen anything of Latasha’s life, it’s likely the final seconds of her existence. Instead of focusing on the circumstances of the teenager’s death through the shorthand often deployed in recounting her story-the orange juice, the video tape-the experimental short, which debuts on Netflix Monday, celebrates her life as told by the women who loved her. In Sophia Nahli Allison’s new short documentary about the girl’s life, A Love Song for Latasha, the footage from the liquor store isn’t featured. Within view of the store’s security cameras, she was shot in the back of the head by the store owner after a dispute over a bottle of orange juice. Just thirteen days after Rodney was beaten, a fifteen-year-old Black girl named Latasha Harlins entered the Empire Liquor Market in South Central Los Angeles. But that attack wasn’t the only filmed assault that sparked L.A.’s 1992 riots. Season 3 is slated to come to Netflix later this year.Any 1990s news viewer is familiar with the footage of Rodney King being kicked and beaten with batons by four members of the LAPD-it’s been seared into the American consciousness. Two seasons of “13 Reasons Why” are currently available for streaming. “All disciplines, including the media, need to take good care to be constructive and thoughtful about topics that intersect with public health crises.”
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“The results of this study should raise awareness that young people are particularly vulnerable to the media,” study co-author Lisa Horowitz, a staff scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health, said in a statement. Netflix said in a statement Tuesday, “This is a critically important topic and we have worked hard to ensure that we handle this sensitive issue responsibly.” The study concludes that the show is associated with a surge in teen suicide and cautions children and adolescents from viewing the series. It does, however, control for seasonal and other factors that could influence suicide rates.
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The study does not claim a causal relationship between watching the show and committing suicide. They may easily identify with the experiences portrayed and recognize both the intentional and unintentional effects on the central character.” Its powerful storytelling may lead impressionable viewers to romanticize the choices made by the characters and/or develop revenge fantasies. The Nation Association of School Psychologists issued a warning statement: “We do not recommend that vulnerable youth, especially those who have any degree of suicidal ideation, watch this series. The show’s depiction of teen suicide has caused controversy since its release.