Heartstopper

In 2022, this year, a new romance Netflix series will be released called “Heartstopper”. It’s based on the novel written by Alice Oseman. Heartstopper is a cheesy-romance story between 2 boys named Charlie and Nick, who first start off as friends and eventually fall in love. This story shows real issues like mental health disorders, coming to terms with sexuality, homophobia, etc. While it does discuss real issues, it still has the charm of romance and comedy.

On WEBTOON, Heartstopper has 496,455 subscribers with over 9 million views. One of these many subscribers and viewers is Junior, Rosalía Velasquez, they appreciate how it does not fetishize lgbtq+ relationships such as a lesbian relationship but especially Men loving Men relationships (MLM) unlike a lot of other novels they have read.

“The majority of what I’ve read is either very fetishized to the point it’s like people being taken advantage of, sexual assault is glamorized, things like that. The LGBTQ+ story’s written by straight women for straight women is very fetishized and it doesn’t show real depictions of queer people; contrastingly the one written by queer people tackles real issues and a real depiction of what lgntq+ people go through”. Despite Alice Oseman not being MLM themselves, she is able to show her credibility to write this non-fetishized story, as she is in the Lgbtq+ community. 

Velasquez also loves how “Heartstopper” is able to show real situations that occur and that need time to improve, but still being able to include the positives of any relationships, especially with comedy. It’s important for these things to be presented in media because it gives them recognition and makes the reader feel as if they aren’t the only one who goes through these things, it gives a space of relation and comfort to many individuals while also making it fun and enjoyable to read.

“I love all the representation that Alice brought to show the lgbtq+ and MLM relationships in a healthy way. It’s a very realistic romance for a piece of romance fanfiction and it went through things like a mental health crisis, coming out to people, all of those different things, and I enjoyed the comedy that was also put into it”. 

When asked about their favorite character, Velasquez mentions Miss Singh who is Nick and Charlie’s rugby coach. They explain how it’s important that Miss Singh was shown to be a supporting character who helps defend Nick and Charlie from judgemental people but also helps Nick through his journey of discovering his sexual orientation, as she has a wife herself.

“My favorite character was the rugby coach in the beginning because I feel like when Nick started to come to terms with his sexuality she was there for him. I thought it was a really important thing because the sad truth is that there’s not a lot like figures that young lgbtq+ people can look up to or confine in; Until this year I never had someone like that so it’s a good thing that they have a figure like that in the story because its something that people do face but it still gives hope and shows a good confidant for people like me who didn’t have someone like that”. 

Heartstopper has overall given a lot of LGBTQ+ people a story that they are able to read and relate to without the fear of it being fetishized or depicting them wrong. It’s is available to read for free online on WEBTOON, Tapas, or Tumblr; if you wish to support the author financially, you can also read it on Patreon. If you want to read Heartstoppers three physical copies, you can buy them at local bookshops and retailers such as Barns & Noble and Target.