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| Photo from Netflix |
Queer representation in media hasn't always been great and getting to where we are now in terms of making the LGBTQIA+ community visible has been an uphill battle. However, with Netflix's recent hit series, this may be one of the better representations of queer people in mainstream culture, as it not only tackles a wide range of sexual identities but also portrays them in a positive manner.
Premiered on April 22 of this year, Heartstopper is a coming-of-age series based on the webcomic of the same name written by Alice Oseman and directed by Euros Lyn. The show follows the blooming romance of two teens from an all-boys school—Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nicholas “Nick” Nelson (Kit Connor)—as they sit together in class one fateful day. With Charlie immediately stricken with love, and Nick coming to terms with his sexuality, their love story of acceptance and trust only shows how queer characters can experience a wholesome and pure connection.
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| Photo from Netflix |
Along in the series are characters we are introduced to such as Tao Xu (William Gao), Charlie’s overly protective straight friend; Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney), Charlie's friend who recently came out as trans and had to move to a nearby all-girls-school; Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan), Charlie's aro-ace friend who often keeps to himself; and as well as Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell) and Tara Jones (Corinna Brown), the lesbian couple at Elle's new school whom she later befriends.
With such an ethnically diverse cast of queer identities, the show greatly helps showcase representation for members of these communities to feel seen.
It is especially important as in the past, queer representation would either be shown in a negative light or they would be entirely token queer characters who added nothing essential to the story and at times would be a harmful representation.
This is very apparent in Disney films from back then to the present day. A large portion of Disney villains are queer coded; take for example, Ursula from The Little Mermaid. She was inspired by Drag Artist, Divine, who acted in perverse and obscene ways. Jafar from Aladdin also is another great example of a queer-coded villain from his well-dressed manner to his flamboyant gestures and mannerisms.
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| GIF from Disney |
Though Hollywood has made attempts at improving queer representation in the past, they failed miserably with LeFou in the 2017 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Not only was he sided with the villain, he was but a mere henchman which added another layer of bad representation of the queer community.
Heartstopper, on the other hand, shines a light on the struggles of being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community such as Charlie's trauma-affected behavior and mannerisms because of the bullying he had endured after people learned of his sexual orientation; Nick's valid frustration with his sexuality as a result of feeling attraction to both sexes; Darcy and Tara's fear of being an out couple and having to face the discrimination from other people thinking differently about them, and many more that is expounded in the series.
By showing these troubles that the queer community has to face, they are humanized. They can be perceived by straight people as "just like them" and having their own sets of problems that they have to deal with. As a result of this, the LGBTQIA+ community is becoming more accepted and normalized in society. Indeed, a 2020 study shows that queer representation helped increase queer acceptance by over 45 percent.
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| Photo from Netflix |
Moreover, it is also important for queer people to find these kinds of positive representation in media because it validates their struggles, and lets them know that they aren't alone in facing these problems—which perhaps, will help them have greater confidence in themselves, especially the younger generation in which they can be free to be whoever they want to be.
This series holds a special place in my heart, not just because of how heartwarming the story was between Charlie and Nick, but because it was the proper queer representation that we needed in society as a whole. We, queer people, had our queer ancestors fight for our rights and there is an ongoing battle to normalize our integration into mainstream culture. Though there has been a lot of progress, there is still a lot more work to do to protect this very progress.
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| Photo from Netflix |
Heartstopper for me is a solid 9.6 out of 10 stars. It has a diverse cast that gave great representation, a beautiful soundtrack, and an adorable story with a nice message. My only qualms were minor nitpicks such as occasional inconsistent and slightly cringe-worthy dialogue, as well as a few issues with the pacing, but I am willing to overlook it because of the overwhelmingly positive aspects this show has delivered.
Heartstopper is available for streaming on Netflix.
Heartstopper is available for streaming on Netflix.
