You’re watching one of your favorite shows, and one of the main characters is in a bind. He’s held captive by mercenaries and, for the past two episodes, has struggled to escape a prison. It’s unclear whether the hero will live or die, but the next episode opens with a warning: “The following contains a depiction of suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.” You think, “Welp, I know how this story ends.”
So what happens when trigger warnings need spoiler warnings? As content disclaimers trend in television, some viewers are taking issue when they give away crucial plot details or ruin surprises. Take Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer,” which dulled a shocking assault scene with a preemptive warning reading, “The following episode contains depictions of sexual violence which some viewers may find troubling.” Or Apple TV+’s “Severance,” which tipped viewers off to an episode cliffhanger by revealing, “The following contains a depiction of self-harm.” Or “Better Call Saul,” which, on the international streamer Stan, foreshadowed a major character’s death with a suicide hotline number.
The list goes on: Shows like Netflix’s “You,” Hulu’s “Life & Beth,” TNT’s “Snowpiercer” and Apple’s “The Morning Show” have slapped trigger warnings on the beginnings of episodes to alert viewers who may be sensitive to seeing suicide or sexual assault on-screen. Separate from typical parental guidelines — like a TV-MA rating that warns of drug use or nudity — trigger warnings are more specific (and more in-your-face). Some flag strobe sequences. Others contextualize “outdated” content. In May, AMC was ridiculed for warning that Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mob epic “Goodfellas” contained “cultural stereotypes that are inconsistent with today’s standards of inclusion and tolerance.”
But the most common trigger warnings in TV are content advisories relating to self-harm and sexual violence. They became popular after the release of Netflix’s 2017 teen drama “13 Reasons Why,” which follows Hannah, a high schooler who dies by suicide and leaves behind a box of cassettes detailing why. The Season 1 finale showed Hannah cutting her arms in the bathtub. A year later, after mental health experts criticized the show for glamorizing suicide and a study found it was “associated with a significant increase in monthly suicide rates” among teens, Netflix added advisory warnings. And a year after that, Netflix removed the suicide sequence entirely as it debuted the third season.
Since then, a growing number of programs have opted to inform viewers before showing potentially traumatizing content. But as trigger warnings continue to spread on TV, those who rely on them in other fields, like academia, stress that they’ve always been controversial — and widely misunderstood. “Trauma and discomfort have started to become conflated, and I think that’s where people pull away from the idea of a trigger warning,” says Colleen Clemens, the director of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania’s Kutztown University. Clemens has published a defense of trigger warnings and provides them for her students regarding topics that might specifically elicit a “trauma response,” as opposed to any subject that could offend.
Still, some research suggests trigger warnings don’t dissuade vulnerable people from continuing to watch, instead creating a “forbidden fruit effect,” according to Deryn Strange, a psychology professor at John Jay College who co-authored a heavily cited study titled “Trigger Warnings Are Trivially Helpful at Reducing Negative Affect, Intrusive Thoughts, and Avoidance.”
As the industry embraces trigger warnings, alternate models could be guideposts for how shows can look after audiences while preserving plot twists. Perhaps streamers will integrate an “opt-out” setting or conceal warnings in episode synopses. Either way, given that the goal is to help viewers enjoy TV without trauma does worrying about spoilers feel like a trivial pursuit?