Pretty Little Liars and Destructive Secrets
The moral case for trying to avoid keeping secrets from people.
Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
This final line in the intro to Pretty Little Liars is one that's often repeated elsewhere. It's so popular in part because it's true. Keeping a secret is very hard to do if more than one person knows about it. There are always incentives to reveal it, particularly if you can gain something from revealing it. In the age of the internet, revealing the secrets of people who want them kept might just allow you to become popular and seemingly knowledgeable. A person worthy of going to when you can't afford to reveal things yourself.
Another benefit however is the way in which the internet can be used to exploit other people's secrets for their own benefit. If you can contact the holder of a secret anonymously, that can be used to your advantage or someone else's against you. To get people to do things they don't want to whether it's for amusement or power. Once this dynamic has been established, it's possible to create more secrets worthy of more exploitation. Living through a never ending cycle of secrets which gets more and more destructive the longer it goes on.
Following this spiral is at the heart of what makes Pretty Little Liars so compelling, despite yourself in the case of some fans. The more secrets get revealed, the more you feel an emotional connection to those at the centre of the secrets. Even when revealing a secret could be helpful to your situation and end the cycle, there's still a consequence of sorts. When you reveal a secret, you have to live with the fact that some people will be hurt by doing so. Those you care about might be better off if you don't reveal things about yourself or other people you know.
How do you balance the difference between the good a secret does by keeping it and the negative consequences of revealing it? Where do you draw the line?
The problem for characters like Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna is that the place to draw the line is often unclear. And when you live with a secret long enough, the line becomes a lot more blurry until you can't even see it anymore. At which point you're likely to end up saying things you probably shouldn't and hurt people whether you're keeping the secret or revealing it. Ultimately, the key is not to have any secrets at all.
If you're entirely upfront and honest with people, then there can't be any secrets to keep. Getting to a place where you can do that however isn't a straightforward process. It takes a willingness to stand up for the truth even when it might hurt you and other people. Committing to saying what's true beyond anything else.
It's a hard thing to get behind, but very much worth it in the end, much like the show if you stick with it and see it through till that point.
Check out Pretty Little Liars on HBO Max in the United States and on Netflix in Canada.
Finally, it would be really great if you could share this article with other people on social media.
In addition, I would love it if you’d subscribe, whether it’s the free version or the paid version doesn’t matter, it’s going to mean a lot.