5 reasons to watch Heartstopper (even if you’re no longer 15)

Sensationalism and clamor are avoided and sexual identity is talked about with realistic, respectful and inclusive tones. Stereotypes related to sexuality are completely overturned: it is assumed that Nick cannot be anything other than straight, simply because he loves a purely male sport just as Charlie is thought that he cannot be as good at rugby. Instead, all of this will be reversed because people can be complex and multifaceted.

2. The actors are real teenagers. The author specifically said that “There aren’t enough shows where teens are played by real teens”, for which he decided to do public castings to which over ten thousand aspiring candidates presented themselves. The actors are in fact little known or even at their first real job on the set.

3. The cast is made up of truly queer people: this is the case with the representation of Elletransgender girl played by the 18-year-old Yasmin Finney, – transgender even in real life. Her story as a trans girl focuses on the positive and she herself stated that her experience was very similar to that of Elle and it is very appreciable that in the series there is not the slightest mention of her being trans, precisely because it is not. it must be something sensational.

4. It finally includes the real reality of teenagers, made up of stories, social media and direct on instagram. The characters write to each other continuously, they are always on social networks, flirting in direct, shaking the social networks, looking for explanations to problems on Google and continuously checking the profile of their crush. Just like any real-life teenager who spends half his day on his cell phone would do. What can I say, finally a series in which social networks are used in an authentic way and do not exchange e-mails.

5. It is based on real life. The author Alice Osman revealed that he drew inspiration from his own life and personal experience as a queer person. She also went to a same-sex high school in a conservative town in south-east England and the world of Heartstopper it is completely inspired by what his life was like in those years, with all its difficulties.

The second season of Heartstopper is not yet officially confirmed by Netflix but the conditions for a renewal are all there, from the welcome of the critics to the positive reactions of the public, who was literally conquered by the simplicity and the tender and sweet way of telling the dynamics between adolescents and the LGBTQ + world. Alice Oseman herself has revealed to the press that to cover the whole history of comics she would have foreseen four seasons of Heartstopper. Let’s hope!

What it means to be the only queer person in the room