The Crucial Importance of Heartstopper's resident rugby lad : Nick Nelson

Heartstopper is a beloved coming of age, LGBTQ+ Graphic Novel series by creative author: Alice Oseman. The series in which, had originally started out as a webcomic on social publishing sites such as Tumblr & Tapas, quickly grew popular amongst members of the LGBTQ+ community. The series was then brought out in the form of graphic novel books and has since, recently been turned into a Netflix production of the same name.

With all the huge success that the show has reached within only three official weeks of being released, it's no surprise that there are swarms of eager fans campaigning for the show to have a second season. (Fingers crossed!)

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While the shows story of Nick and Charlie is indeed important for queer representation in mainstream media these days, I want us to take a closer look at a certain- key storyline arc in which I believe to be as equally essential. That's right, I want us to take a moment to appreciate one of the series' male lead characters, Nick Nelson.

[ Nick Nelson from Heartstopper : played by Kit Connor ]

At first glance, Nick Nelson seems like your stereotypical popular boy, who of course, is heavily invested in some form of sport. In this case, it's Rugby. However, you only need to fixate your gaze on this specific, Golden Retriever like boy for more than a few seconds to discover for yourself that he isn't stereotypical at all. In this classic case of "Don't judge a book by its cover”, Nick Nelson completely defies all expectations, that the media has previously forced upon us when it comes to how the school's popular yet closeted individual should behave in specific social settings and more importantly, just in general.

For example, in Netflix's other fan-favourite original series, Sex Education, closeted pupil Adam Groff is notorious for bullying the openly gay (and proud) character, Eric Effiong. Now, what starts as viewers assuming that Adam Groff is just a homophobic, disturbed individual with his own home life issues, eventually it is revealed that the reason Adam is the way that he is, is because he is struggling to cope with the realisation that he himself is queer. Adam however goes on to have a 'redemption' arc in later seasons and actually ends up in a relationship with his bully victim, Eric.

[ Adam Groff from Netflix show : Sex Education ]

This sort of storytelling is damaging for a whole list of reasons, including the promoting of mental and physical abuse being acceptable, as well as the toxic message it sends that it's perfectly reasonable to forgive and forget-simply because they have their own issues, and you just need to be understanding of that.

This comparison is crucial to understand because unlike Adam, Nick Nelson doesn't feel the need to behave in such an extreme way when he is dealing with his own confused, conflicted emotions. In fact, Nick doesn't tolerate any form of bullying or homophobia- even before he started questioning his sexuality. We get to view many scenes in which Nick stands up to his friends whenever they're attempting to bully the shows other lead character, Charlie Spring. Unlike many characters from other media adaptations, Nick doesn't sit back and allow for his best friends / team mates to be horrible people for sake of some passing laughs. When Nick's close friend Harry Greene is making homophobic remarks towards Charlie in the earlier episodes of the show, Nick calls Harry out for it-which for some viewers who hadn't already read the webcomics beforehand, was a refreshing surprise.

[image of a scene from Hearstopper with characters: Harry Greene, Nick Nelson and others ]

The bully to lover trope is fetishized so much in mainstream media today and it's not a healthy outlook for anyone, especially not for young queer kids that see this sort of portrayal and believe it's what should be their normality. Self-worth and self-love don't go hand in hand with the sort of message that these types of storylines send out to impressionable minds.

It is for this reason, why Nick Nelson is a character that people can relate to. We deserve to have more forms of media showcasing the same degree of healthy expression in which we witness Nick have for himself. It is encouraging to see that there are people out there like Nick who have gained the popularity status yet refuse to shy away from making controversial’ decisions, such as standing up for what’s right, despite the majority of people around you thinking its acceptable behaviour. Nick Nelson truly does set up realistic idealisations for - not just but especially- members of the LGBTQ+ community and he is clearly a huge comfort for them for this reason.

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