The new Netflix show 'Heartstopper' stops the internet's heart
May 3, 2022
2 min read
Kit Connor (on the left) with Joe Locke (on the right) in Heartstopper Heartstopper. Photograph: Netflix
A new Netflix TV show based on a comic written by Alice Oseman has managed to gain the love and attention of the internet after its release on the 22nd of April. Heartstopper is a coming-of-age LGBT tv show starring Joe Locke as Charlie Springs, a 15-year-old boy that has developed a crush on Nick Nelson, played by Kit Conner, the 16-year-old star rugby player of the school. The show has almost a cult following on the internet for its wholesome and sweet teenage, in a world where most teen dramas on TVs focus on much more hard-hitting topics.
The internet acclaimed that Heartstopper normalized queer youth in a way that has never been seen before, where it celebrated queerness rather than demoralizing the queer experience.
Many of those who have navigated the queer struggle of coming to terms with one's sexuality and the daunting process of coming out to loved ones are represented by the characters on the screen, especially in its destigmatizing of bisexuality
In the TV shows with a queer character, only on sub-group of the LGBT, whether it be the sexualization of the L in LGBT or demonization of the T, while heartstopper the humanizes its trans character and protects the innocence of the 2 girls in love.
Many LGBT adults who are well past their teenage years are watching it and reminiscing in melancholy about how growing they never had queer media to make them feel seen and represented, but they feel happy to know that the queer youths of today have such delightful representation.
Hollywood queer stories usually are told through a straight lens, which causes the LGBT storyline to feel almost voyeuristic rather than authentic. Heartstopper on the other hand was written by Alice Oseman, a queer person themselves, which has not gone unnoticed by the queer audience as they praise its unadulterated queerness.
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