Heartstopper

• TV Show
• TV-14
• Alice Oseman
• Reviewed by Anonymous

The following are out of 5

Racial Representation: 3

LGBTQ+ Representation: 5

Disability Representation: 0

Body Size Representation: 0

Gender Representation: 5

Socioeconomic Representation: 0

Mental Health Representation: 5

Religious Representation: 0

Own Voice: Yes

**CW sexual assault**

**This review contains spoilers**

Heartstopper is a tv show based on a webcomic written by Alice Oseman. It mainly follows the story of two high school boys who start to like each other and later start dating. Charlie is out as gay and Nick starts to question his sexuality, later realizing that he is bisexual. Charlie deals with mental health and bullying, getting help from one of his teachers and from his friends. The show alludes to Charlie’s eating disorder, which is explored in the webcomic and will likely be explored more in the later seasons of the show. Among the friends of Charlie and Nick, one is Chinese, one is a Black trans girl, one is aroace, one is a Black lesbian, and another is also a lesbian. While there is a racially diverse cast, race is usually ignored and not relevant to the story. This show portrays mental illness and self doubt, with Charlie not believing that Nick could actually like him back or that he is deserving of love and romance. It also shows Nick’s process of discovering his bisexuality, and how that can be both a stressful thing to discover as well as something worth celebrating. This is also explored through Tara and her experiences after coming out as a lesbian. The characters in this show have impressively healthy communication, especially for teenagers. This show was purposefully created to be appropriate for younger audiences to increase lgbtq+ representation for young people, but the themes in the show are relatable to people of all ages, especially lgbtq+ people.

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