By: Valeria Gonzalez Gutierrez
On April 22, 2022 a new show came out on Netflix. Heartstopper, is a drama show with LGBT representation of all types.
The show is about two teens Charlie Spring played by Joe Locke and Nick Nelson played by Kit Connor who discover that their friendship might be more than just that as they also deal with navigating school and the issues that come along with it.
The show was based on the series of graphic novels Heart stopper by Alice Oseman, which was followed by Nick and Charlie, which is a short Novella based on the novel itself. The show quickly became popular among the youth and has become a favorite show for many.
The show has been doing a good job at balancing real life issues and the LGBT romance without making a big deal about all the characters being in the community. As a whole, the show has been a great success for the community and Netflix, as it reached the top #10 shortly after release.
As for Redwood’s reaction of the show, Morgan Kane ‘25’ hasn’t watched the show says “I heard the representation in the show is actually pretty good compared to other works that have been released covering LGBT couples.”
“I have mostly just heard about it from tik tok. I have heard people say that the couples are very believable and it’s a good representation.” Kane says
Amirah Najem ‘25’ shares a similar opinion as Kane “ I think it’s really good in telling a story of LGBT people specifically youth or really anyone. It’s a good representation for us.”
Another student Kianna Garcia ‘25’ says “It’s really great cause in a lot of shows normally we never get that much representation cause in a lot of big Hulu and Netflix shows they get taken down or canceled”.
As for opinions on the show itself,. Najem says that “I really appreciate that they didn’t try to make it super different then other romances, and they tried to just shine light on it just as a romance. While also including queer issues.”
Kane says “ Before watching it, it does seem very cute. And I have seen the trailer for it and it does seem more light-hearted than the other shows that show the community.”
Garcia says “I think it’s really cute and heartwarming because in general you never see a lot of shows like that.”
As for if they believe that it’s gonna become over-hyped or not, Kane says “ Honestly it does look and seeing how it topping the charts on Netflix and i don’t think it been super super over-hyped you know?”.
Kane adds “It’s not like euphoria status, but I can see why someone could be disappointed if the level of rep(representation) is more minor than they thought.”
As for another student’s view on if the show can live up to it’s name a be a heart stopper . Najem says “It does seem good but I don’t think it’ll become as popular as euphoria, but it does seem great for the community.”
Heartstopper is available for streaming on Netflix.
Tags: arts & entertainment, entertainment, Heartstopper, LGBTQ+, netflix series, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers