While browsing Netflix to kill some time, my eyes stopped at the title Heartstopper. I clicked for more information. It was a drama starring Joe Locke, one of my favorite actors. Kit Connor was another main character. As I researched, Heartstopper was based on Alice Oseman’s LGBTQ novel for young adults. The definition of the term is: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.
The drama has three seasons, each with thirty minutes of running time and eight episodes. Joe Locke, who also starred in Disney +’s drama Agatha All Along, plays the lead character, Charlie Spring. The drama is rated 15+, which is appropriate for young adults and teenagers. Its genres were romance, LGBTQ, and eighteen. Highteen was my favorite genre, while LGBTQ was a place I had never stepped on. It fascinated and intrigued me. I have known about the drama because it was popular, yet I didn’t watch it until a few days ago.
Before giving my objective opinion, I checked the ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. It scored 8.5 out of 10 on IMDb. The Tomatometer sat at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the Popcorn Score was 96%. Overall, the drama was enjoyed by many viewers.
I went to a girls’ school until middle school, but I started to move on to a coeducational school. I saw a new world. Right after I joined, a male student approached me with an unexpectedly friendly demeanor and physical affection. I soon learned he was openly gay and had already come out to his peers. I knew about the LGBTQ group and wanted to accept them without prejudice. However, when I actually met Gay in person, I was fascinated. At this time, I came across a drama called Hearstopper.
Charlie, who is gay, meets Nick, who is popular around school and falls in love like fate. However, Charlie’s heart begins to shake when he finds out that Nick is heterosexual. In other words, Charlie starts to have one-sided love.
The drama often shows Nick confused about his identity. He thought he was bisexual, but after meeting Charlie, he became confused about his sexual identity and began to think he was gay. However, he later realizes that he is bisexual and is attracted to both women and men. During the season, Nick is teased by friends around him for being gay because he was close with Charlie, who openly came out as Gay.
Of course, the school I attended was an international school in Korea, but I didn’t see any teasing or harassment like the one in the drama, despite Korea’s overall poor perception of sexual minorities compared to other countries. Perhaps the international school setting created a more open environment that helped to quell such prejudices.
Why do people enjoy mocking those who are different? Perhaps it’s because they struggle to accept others who don’t fit their own mold.
After watching the show, I gave it a solid 10 out of 10. Surprisingly, the most memorable part for me wasn’t a scene with Charlie or Nick. Instead, it was about Ben, another gay character who didn’t come out of fear of societal judgment until season three. In season one, Ben ends things with Charlie on a wrong note and repeatedly harasses him and Nick throughout the show. Yet, he asks Charlie for forgiveness in season three. At this time, the shining waves of pastel rainbow wave down to Ben’s toes. This showed that he was hesitating about whether or not to admit his sexual identity as Gay. All he did was step forward. However, he quickly turns back and moves away, and the waves also disappear. This scene was so touching for no reason. However, I didn’t feel uncomfortable just because Ben didn’t get a scene to reveal that he was gay. I understood. Although I wasn’t part of the LGBTQ community and have never experienced the discrimination and contempt they receive, I believe their thoughts and choices should be respected.
According to BBC Korea, a lot of Asian countries are accepting same-sex marriage. It was shown that Taiwan became the first Asian country to admit same-sex marriage, followed by Japan and Hong Kong. Although a lot of countries around the world are accepting same-sex marriage, Korea lately has been allowed it.
Not only did characters like Charlie, Nick, and Ben appear in the drama, but many sexual minority characters also appeared, and I was very interested in each character’s narrative. Darcy and Tara were a lesbian couple, and Mr. Singh and Mr. Farouk were a gay couple. Also, Isaac, who was Charlie’s longtime friend, confesses that he is asexual.
Once I started watching the drama, I couldn’t stop or pause, and I eventually finished all the seasons in one go. It had been quite a while since I felt so captivated by a drama, and I thought it was an incredibly engaging topic. In the drama, misunderstandings and prejudices about sexual minorities of Nick’s father, brother, and school students are revealed, but the reality is even more serious.
The Hankyoreh, a Korean newspaper, posted an article in 2022 that four out of ten teenagers considered extreme attempts due to discrimination.
The South Korean government is still indifferent to sexual minorities. The same goes for parents. Parents are the first to respect their children’s choices and identity, but they also kick their children out towards discrimination while wearing colored glasses.
Recently, on September 9, 2024, a large video in Gangnam showed LGBTQ+ individuals sharing a kiss, created to promote acceptance of same-sex relationships. Yet, after a public outcry, the district office removed the ad just three days after it was posted, stating that “it may disrupt public morals and customs.” Are we certain this happened in 2024, not 2014? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Why should there be an issue with love between people, regardless of gender? It’s not as if someone is claiming to fall in love with an alien—it’s simply a matter of same-gender love. I asked my mom the same question, and she answered that only love between a man and a woman is normal. I couldn’t understand her, but I had no choice but to accept it, knowing that she had lived in a time when homosexuality was less common.
There was a murder in Kenya in which a lesbian woman died just because she was a lesbian, and Australia and South Korea have also had murders against sexual minorities. As someone who respects and supports LGBTQ, and as we are living in the 20th century, I think they should be respected. I hope many dramas and movies, such as Heart Stoppers, to be made so that people’s perceptions will gradually improve and close their jaundiced eyes.
By- Areum Kim
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