With the huge number of weekly Netflix releases, it is becoming more and more common for many of them to have some success the first 2-3 weeks of release and then fall into oblivion. If you missed ‘Heartstopper’, Alice Oseman’s comic book adaptation, at the time, you shouldn’t let it go because the series ticks all the boxes to be a real happy place.
boy meets boy
The synopsis of ‘Heartstopper’ does not fool anyone: how love between two teenagers arises. The series gives what it promises, it does not intend to become transcendental or give a radical turn to the genre but is limited to approach from the simplicity the development of the relationship between Charlie and Nickhonestly and without loading the ink too much with sugar.
There will be those who criticize the fact that it is not particularly transgressive or that what they are telling us does not waste originality, but it is precisely this commitment that makes it even more necessary. In the seriéfilo field we are overwhelmed with dramatic proposalswhere there are impossible bodies, love conflicts galore… in short, there is a distorted view of what the adolescent world is.
Be careful, this does not mean that this other type of series is not of interest and can be enjoyed. However, having so many titles like this within the adolescent genre, yes more series are missing that get out of that trend to have alternatives on both sides. It’s okay to have a “fantasy” of what teenagers are but not to close ourselves to that alone.
realism and simplicity
Examples like ‘With love, Victor’ or ‘Heartstopper’ have come to fill that gap that had been neglected until then. His approach to the first loves of adolescence is a breath of fresh air. There are conflicts and dramatic moments but exposed in a sober and much more realistic way, in which in the end an optimistic and carefree tone predominates that leaves you with a smile.
They are teenagers, behaving like teenagers and having teenage problems.. Something quite positive because, although it is not bad that there are those fictions that adolescents can dream of, it is also it is important that there are series where they can be truly reflectedin terms of concerns and even physically (all the actors are around 18 years old, no thirtysomethings in uniform).
In the same way, the effort to reflect diversity is notable in order to offer younger viewers a wide range within which to identify, also approaching this subject from realism and naturalness.
First of all, it is a kind and very tender story, which manages to visually transmit those butterflies in the stomach so typical of first love. He also uses animated elements to highlight his comic identity and emphasize those feelings that are there although they have not yet been verbalized.
Therefore, we should value ‘Heartstopper’ for what it is and not for what it is not. You don’t always want to put on an intense drama that makes us rethink our existence: sometimes we just need a happy place that warms our hearts and make us experience what it feels like to fall in love. That, of course, he succeeds in spades.