Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman has been credited for creating a screen world where many young gay people can see themselves represented.
And in the second season, she has written from an even more personal perspective, including the coming-out of a character as asexual.
Oseman told the BBC’s Newsbeat that she identifies herself as asexual and aromantic, someone who doesn’t feel sexual attraction to anyone regardless of gender, and doesn’t feel romantic connections.
Oseman said:
“I’m 28 now and I didn’t even really learn about those terms until I was at university. And honestly, I didn’t really understand them until even later than that. I feel like asexuality and aromanticism are identities that are not known about by a lot of people. I wanted to bring that representation into the mainstream.
As well as for younger fans, the Netflix drama has been a massive hit with older ones, many saying they wish there had been such a show when they were younger, and Oseman says the same for having a drama with an asexual character.
“If I’d seen asexual characters when I was a teenager, I would have understood that part of myself so much earlier, and it would have saved me a lot of anguish, pain and confusion.”
Oseman told the BBC she was proud of the representation the show had brought for different sexualities and gender identities – noting it is “an increasingly difficult time for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Heartstopper, whose second season has just arrived on Netflix, stars Joe Locke and Kit Connor as teenage couple Charlie and Nick. It entered Netflix’s top ten of most-watched English language shows within two days of release in April 2022. A third season is in development by production company See-Saw Films.
Content Source: deadline.com