Faced with the drama and constant emotional anguish that other shows portray youth with, Heartstopper chooses light and color. Faced with the low-key romance of many teen productions, Heartstopper opts for vindication and psychiatric treatment. The Netflix series might seem like just another high school story, but it’s chosen to be different. It’s a true celebration of diversity. It not only tells the story of the romantic relationship between a gay boy and a bisexual boy who has just discovered his sexual orientation. In his circle of friends there is a lesbian couple as well as another trans girl and a cisgender boy with their romantic tug of war. It’s not easy for any of them. Adding to the dramas of youth is the complexity of a world that doesn’t always absorb them optimally. But Heartstopper chooses to let her characters live in a world full of color and optimism; that yes, without hiding that they coexist with the dark. The latter makes the second season, which recently appeared on Netflix, clear.
Charlie and Nick’s on-screen love story is the translation of the comic book written and drawn by Alice Oseman (Chatham, United Kingdom, age 28). “Stories about LGBT characters and stories that address trauma and have a more mature, adult tone are very important and I like seeing them, but at the same time we need stories that are light-hearted and accessible to younger audiences.” “In the end, it has to a variety of queer series,” said the Brit to EL PAÍS.
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In a video call interview on Aug. 1, the author, who is also the series’ screenwriter, explains the complexities of a second season of a title that became a cult phenomenon with its first installment. “Writing the second part of whatever, a sequel, a new music album, whatever, is more difficult. The pressure from the fans is great. The hardest part was coming up with storylines that aren’t in the comics. The story stays very close to the books at its core, but that leaves me a lot of leeway for other things, especially the supporting characters. I had to create a lot of storylines and expand on the ones that already existed and adapt everything to what’s already in the comics.
Kit Connor, Joe Locke, Tobie Donovan, William Gao and Yasmin Finney in Heartstopper Season 2.
“Heartstopper” goes beyond the central love story and the relationships that develop around it. That becomes clearer in a second season, which explores his characters’ mental health issues, as well as their insecurities and doubts, on a journey to Paris through and against the backdrop of Nick’s progressive coming-out counseling. For example, Nick is increasingly concerned about eating disorders and the consequences of his boyfriend’s past bullying. Mental health was one of the core themes Alice Oseman wanted to address in her stories, celebrating the joy of love of any kind. “This is a story about mental health and it really shows in season two. There were already hints in the first part, but now we are right in front of the matter. Nick and Charlie need to learn and understand each other better in order to know how to manage each other’s mental health. We started this journey in the second season and it will also be a fundamental element of the third,” says the author, who finds it a challenge to combine the luminosity of her colorful series with darker themes.
Heartstopper was launched as an internet comic in 2016 and has surpassed the success of its author. The web edition gained popularity, after which it switched to the paper version and from there came to the screen with Netflix. “At first it was literally something I did for fun. It’s my full-time job now, the only thing I’ve worked on for the past few years and probably the only thing I’ll be doing for the next two years. It completely changed my life,” says Oseman. When asked about the possible reasons for the success of his story, he names several reasons, but one in particular: “People want happy stories”. “Other series like Los Bridgertons or Sex Education show that. People want this type of content, especially in times like these. I also think that while Heartstopper is intended for teenagers, it also appeals to people of other ages. I really think we did a good adaptation of the books, which doesn’t always happen. Adaptations are very difficult because there’s so much expectation and it’s difficult to get what’s in the books on screen, but we did it.”
Joe Locke plays Charlie and Kit Connor is Nick, the protagonists of Heartstopper. Samuel Dore
It was important to have a good cast. According to Oseman, achieving this was not easy. “I had a very clear vision of these characters and how they should be. We had to consider several factors: that they looked like the cartoons, that they were a similar age, that the chemistry between the actors Nick and Charlie had to be right…” In a casting process the author described as “intense and almost a nightmare” describes, they found out who they thought was “the perfect person for every role.” “We only had one actor for each character, there weren’t any alternative options because it was extremely difficult to find each one.” From this process, Joe Locke and Kit Connor emerged as Charlie and Nick. “What surprised me the most about them was their emotional intelligence and that they are not afraid to push emotional scenes to the limit and immerse themselves in the feelings of Charlie and Nick. It’s a teenage romance and in the hands of the wrong actors it could easily get cheesy and silly, but with Kit and Joe you can tell how seriously they take it and how much they love the characters.”
With Heartstopper now a global phenomenon, the attention its comic is receiving has multiplied, as has the fan phenomenon surrounding its creation, leading Oseman to distance himself from online reactions. “Luckily the Heartstopper fans are great, but there are always a few shady characters. You have to learn to take a step back, which was difficult for me because I had a very close connection with the fans. If it was a trifle, I was able to talk to readers many times, reply to their comments and read all the messages. Well, that’s impossible and it would be very bad for my sanity if I did.
Yasmin Finney and William Gao, Elle and Tao in the series.
Oseman speaks calmly and with a constant smile, an attitude that suits his creation well. She already knows how Heartstopper will end, whose television version will be renewed for a third season and whose comics will have a new volume, the fifth, which will be published in December, and a perspective, the sixth. “I’ve been thinking about the ending, yes, and I know how Nick and Charlie’s story is going to end, but for the other characters I don’t know yet, we’ll see.”
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