Shades of Gay is Brig’s culture sections pride month celebration of queer culture, with articles each week focusing on queer poetry, writing, reviews and artists.
Alice Oseman is an English author, most popular for her Heartstopper series of novels, which is now a Netflix original show. While originally aimed at a young adult audience, the story of Nick, Charlie and friends has become a cultural phenomenon which transcends age groups.
Oseman started writing her Heartstopper web comic in 2016. Three years before talks of a television adaptation began.
An optimistic tale of coming out, queer friendship and love
Heartstopper is an optimistic tale of coming out, queer friendship and love. The character’s feel genuine and relatable and it’s nice for LGBT+ audiences to see themselves reflected so positively when so many queer stories are focused on tragedy (It’s A Sin) or kept to the sidelines (Disney, looking at you). Hearstopper takes familiar romance tropes and applies them to it’s queer characters, it’s refreshing and lovely to see young queer romance displayed so normally.
Oseman herself is openly asexual and the Heartstopper television show has boosted the careers of other up and coming LGBT actors, such as Joe Locke (Charlie) who confirmed his sexuality in a 2023 interview and Kit Connor (Nick) who was saddeningly “forced” to come out as bisexual after accusations of queerbaiting on social media. Trans actress Yasmin Finney who plays Elle Argent in the Netflix series has also worked on BBC’s new season of Doctor Who.
As debates around whether straight actors should play gay characters continue, what can be said is that Heartstopper‘s authenticity could be traced to it’s queer creative team who care deeply about the material and have been through experiences displayed in the show.
Impact on audiences
An interview with BBC, Fiona (pseudonym), who is in her 40s, stated that, “Saying that Heartstopper made me realise I was bisexual is a bit of an oversimplification. There was probably a part of me that always knew but didn’t really know how to label it because there weren’t any people talking about bisexuality when I was growing up”. She continued that the show has “been really important for young people… because it normalises those feelings… there is a generation of older people who are realising they are bisexual because Heartstopper is helping them to go through the things they went through as a teenager and recognise it”.
Adults who discover Heartstopper are given insight into identities they may not have known existed, and get to live the youth they deserved vicariously through the show and books while todays queer teens are finally able to see themselves in their media as fully drawn characters.
Unlike many franchises which still rely heavily on queer-coding stereotypes, Hearstopper‘s bisexual lead Nick is part of a rugby team and Joe Locke’s character Charlie is a drummer. Even in queer communities, many people may fear they will be seen as “not gay enough” so it is important to see different types of queer representation in media.
Erik Van Dam, 41, from the Netherlands stated that representation matters because, “the fewer things you see around you that you can relate to, the less you’re going to understand what you are and what you feel”.
Heartstopper Season 1-2 are available to watch on NETFLIX UK now.
Featured Image Credit: Alice Oseman/Joe Locke
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