Sexualities on the TV Screen: Heartstopper
Part 4 of my Netflix analysis series.
The diverse sexualities of characters in Netflix’s Heartstopper (Walters, 2022-present) shows a greater step towards diversity and building on the progress of ‘gaystreaming’ of the 2000’s. Parsemain discusses the revolutionary aspects of the period in television known as ‘gaystreaming’ for its positive inclusion of LGBTQIA+ identities rather than the negative stereotypes of the 90s. She also criticises it for its representation of only a very specific type of gay: wealthy, educated, white, and male (2017).
In more recent years, representation of sexuality has come a lot further. In particular, I will focus on the inclusion of bisexual representation in Heartstopper. The character of Nick Nelson discovers his bisexuality over the course of the first season of the show while battling with his reputation as the star rugby player and thus against the stereotype that playing sport and being queer are mutually exclusive. Furthermore, his sexuality is foreshadowed prior to his discovery of it through the use of bisexual lighting in episode 3. During the party scene of that episode, he sees the lesbian couple, Tara and Darcy, kiss publicly on the dancefloor for the first time. He is then bathed in pink, purple, and blue lights— the colours of the bisexual flag. This signals to the audience that he is starting to think about Charlie (the main character and Nick’s love interest) in a romantic light, which in turn foreshadows his coming out as bisexual. This is leaps and bounds worth of improvement from the stereotyping of gaystreaming that Parsemain describes since it includes a young bisexual character, played by a bisexual actor which also breaks stereotyping. There is still room for improvement as he is white and male and moderate attention is given to his coming-out story— an element discussed as a criticism by Parsemain (2017), however the black, transgender character, Elle highlights that the show is aware of the lack of representation and working to avoid the pitfalls of gaystreaming.