Heartstopper

Young queer love at its finest.

Disclaimers: Alice Goes by she/they pronouns please respect <3. As a result, I try to use both pronouns as equally as possible. Additionally, there are spoilers here so if you haven’t watched Heartstopper then maybe do not read this.

On April 22, 2022, Netflix released its new romance coming of age story; heartstopper. Heartstopper is based on the 2018 graphic novel by Alice Oseman. As Oseman describes in her youtube video about publishing Heartstopper, the graphic novel was originally a spinoff from their previous work Solitaire. Oseman found that providing these characters with their own backstory was just as important, in addition to them always wanting to produce a young adult (YA) webcomic themself. However, what Oseman didn’t expect was the amount of love and support that Heartstopper received. As of writing, there are currently 290.6M views with 1.3M individuals subscribed on Webtoon and 4 published volumes of the graphic novel.

Heartstopper has won over the hearts of many but why? The series itself was produced by Sew-Saw Films and consisted of 8 episodes ranging from about 26–33 minutes each. This means I very much watched all episodes back-to-back in one night. The story which took place at Truham Grammar High School centred around the life of an openly gay teenage boy named Charlie and Nick a popular rugby player. The boys meet in form class where they are seated beside each other. Although there were not many words that were communicated, the boys seemed cordial to each other. However, we are now introduced to Charlie’s first boyfriend, Ben Hope. Ben’s and Charlie’s relationship is what I would call a down-low agreement. The relationship functions with Charlie looking for what Rachel Bloom would say ‘love kernels’, which can be any little compliments or signs that this person is definitely into you. While Ben is picking where to meet and when to meet in addition to behaving as if he doesn’t know Charlie in public and protecting his image as a heterosexual male. Charlie, however, would call off his ‘relationship’ when he would see Ben flirting with a girl in front of the school’s gate. During this time we can see Charlie’s and Nick’s relationship flourish. Charlie, being himself, turns out to be an amazing runner which prompted Nick to ask him to join the rugby team. One day after rugby practice, Ben would ask to meet Charlie where he would then force a kiss onto him. Nick, who felt suspicious about Charlie wandering off, would follow him just in time to fend Ben off Charlie. Now let me tell you that Sebastian Croft, placed his whole bussy into this character because by the end of the series I didn’t want to see, hear or even think of Ben Hope. All of this happened in the first episode in addition to meeting other important characters such as Tao, Isaac, Elle, Tara and Darcy. Everyone who was mentioned here had a side story except Issac. Sometimes I didn’t even see Issac, like in the episode where it came to telling everyone about Nick and Charlie, he was nowhere in sight, we should just believe he knew. You will meet other persons such as Harry you will come to hate, especially as a queer person. I feel as if this show illustrates gay love in such a that you feel sunshine inside you when you think of it. Yet, it includes horrific truths about what life could look like for some queer teens in the United Kingdom.

My personal connection with the story is it shows a love that I wish I saw more of when I was younger. The way I would imagine my love to be. In a space where that love is not just tolerated but that love is understood. The space was created for everyone to be themselves. It was a beautiful story and it was in a way I could understand and relate to.

I am happy that this side of the queer journey is being shown. It was a good watch! What do you think of the story if you have watched Heartstopper or even read the graphic novel? What did you take away from it? How did it make you feel? I really want to know.