Regarding the characters being more emotionally mature than most kids their age, a lot of people have complained that it’s unrealistic. But the truth is that it’s entirely intentional on the author’s part. Beyond just telling an optimistic LGBTQ+ story, part of Alice Oseman’s goal with Heartstopper has been to give young people a model for how they might handle it if they’re going through similar situations. It’s low-key educational without being corny like an “after-school special”
Thank you @danieloneal7137! I'm grateful to Alice's portrayal of these young people, because I know that I would've greatly benefited from them better than the LGBTQ+ examples that were around in the late 80s/early 90s. Most of those characters we often used as a joke or victims of harassment. I'm very glad that today's youth have a show like Heartstopper. 🥰 - Alex (GV)
I’m going to feel free to get spoilery here, since I know y’all are already deep into Season 3. Charlie’s mental health journey was set up from Season 1 Episode 1, and it really starts to build here. What I want to call out is the schoolwork issue as a bellwether for Charlie’s deteriorating mental health. We know from Season 1 that Charlie is more academically accomplished than Nick, as he is taking a much harder course load and is better at math even though he’s a grade behind (Ep 1 & 2). Here, he’s offering to tutor Nick in math and chemistry, again, above his grade level, instead of doing his own coursework, because he finds helping Nick more gratifying than doing homework. He’s been repressing the upsetting events from Season 1 (especially re: Harry and Ben), worrying about Nick getting bullied, taking responsibility for making Nick’s coming out journey ideal, supporting Tao and Elle, putting everyone else first, and hiding his eating disorder and self-harm tendencies. Being with Nick is when he feels happy and safe and valued, and being away from him, he can’t escape the mental health issues lurking in the shadows, so of course he wants to spend all of his time with Nick, to the detriment of his schoolwork and everything else in his life. The problem is that he doesn’t have the tools yet to deal with the upset he feels when he’s not with Nick, so he’s not able to push through the darkness and focus. Yes, he’s being a typical bratty teenager throwing a tantrum that he can’t be with his boyfriend when his grades are slipping, but the reason underlying it is because he’s spiraling and lacks the tools to cope. I like that they give his mother a parenting journey across the two seasons, but in the beginning, nobody picks up on the fact that her style of parenting is part of the problem. She sets boundaries and goals, which is good, but she also shuts down all conversation. She’s not a safe person in whom to confide about the mental health struggles, and she never sits Charlie down to ask him why his academic performance is slipping or what else is going on in his life. She assumes she knows the full picture, and that any protest is just bratty backtalk that needs to be nipped in the bud. This is the beginning of exploring how laying down the law as a parenting style has its drawbacks, and her approach to nurturing Charlie’s emotional development as a young adult is contrasted with Sarah’s to show that inviting dialogue with your teenager is critically important, whereas shutting them down can be really damaging. I really like Jane’s arc in both the comics and the show, and I hope it’s become clear by now that Charlie putting off his coursework essay was never just about being lazy or contrarian.
Thank you @elisabethbauman6190!!! I understand what you mean with respect to Charlie's desire to be around Nick is more gratifying than doing his own homework. I also realize that I can be overly critical of Jane's parenting style, but I feel like I'm projecting the feelings for my own disciplinarian parental figure onto this character. If you've seen all of our Season 3 reacts, you'll see my own self realization, and greater empathy for Jane in the end😊- Alex (GV)
I just saw your other comment on Top Gun Part 1 ✈️😅👍 Our plan at this moment is: Top Gun Die Hard Lower Decks (S1E1) Done Prophecy (S1E1) Arcane (S1E1) Last of Us (S1E1) Stranger Things (S1E1) Red White and Royal Blue [2nd Movie for February] Full Season 1 [Whichever (S1E1) does best]
It looks like Charlie was able to complete his coursework in the, what?..two hours that it took Nick to take his exams. He could easily have done that earlier and saved himself a lot of drama.
That depends on his actual writing process. Charlie exhibits the characteristics of a heavy planner, as opposed to a heavy reviser or sequential reviser. The heavy planner brainstorms and plans their writing so carefully in their heads that by the time they are ready to type their first draft, it resembles other writers' second or third drafts. They need less time to do final revision or proofreading. They can look at an assignment and gauge how much time they need before a due date. They can think about and plan their papers while they are doing other things, such as playing a musical instrument, taking walks, working on other school work... The ones who habitually use this composing process have learned how much time they can spend in mentally planning an assignement before they need to sit down and start typing and then do proofreading. While they are working out the plans and revisions in their heads, they are often incorrectly perceived as "not writing." We've seen that Charlie had the questions to write about in advance. He had all term to work on it. He was able to name the number of weeks he had left to finish it. He spent a lot of time playing his drums. He was able to tutor Nick in Chemistry before his exam, because Charlie was ahead of Nick in many subjects ---- the cognitive load of telling Nick about the chemistry topics was not heavy enough to get in the way of his being able to finish up planning his paper in his head. We saw him doodling and then saying it was almost done. He was able to write up, revise and proofread what he had worked out in his head and turn his final draft in by the end of the term --- as promised. (And as he predicted to his parents on Teacher-Parent night.)
Thank you @slm_766! I don't think I've ever given this much thought, but you just described what I personally do 😅 Not just reports for school, but sometimes I feel like I've mapped out entire conversations with people before talking with them. Not that I can predict what they will say in return, but I've almost created a branching dialogue tree of responses, dependent on their feedback. I can't be the only person that does this... For a while, I was of the assumption that everyone must go through life this way. 😅 - Alex (GV)
Am I missing something or does your channel keep switching between Seasons 2 & 3 of 'Heartstopper'? No complaints about your content. It's just kind of hard to track continuity wise.
I get that-- I keep reading the episode numbers first (before the season number) and getting thrown, momentarily. BUT I just now thought about how I can use the switching to my advantage when I make comments later. Normally, I watched in order and made inferences about things according to the little information we've been given so far; and it's a politeness rule not to bring up future information to help clarify present inferences. By that I mean, there are events and bits of dialogue that arise in season 3 that clear up possible misconceptions that arise due to incomplete information in seasons1 and 2. (The normal politeness rule says not to use the season 3 information in advance) BUT We're bouncing back and forth, so we can assume that the 3rd Season stuff that has already been posted (and presumably watched thoroughly by both the Reactors and their audience) is fair game; I figure that the rule has been adjusted: If they have posted through 3x5 in third season, I can use information from 3x1 - 3x5, in a discussion about events in 2x1-2x3 ---- as long as I don't go past where we are in the lists. This is great!
Apologies @ESkye91, Our original upload schedule did not include Season 2 or 3, and getting all of Season 2 edited/uploaded (enough to satisfy Copyright) in the week before Season 3 was too ambitious. Since we didn't want to make people wait for Season 3 reacts, if that was the only content they were looking for, we decided to stagger the episodes from both seasons. I did arrange them correctly in the React Playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLDyIs9BuRFcYEbv-So1o6bcs46demm3jk.html&si=RGKcN4coASIy4UCs Hope this helps 😊 - Alex (GV)
Thanks for understanding @slm_766! I'll give you an additional piece of insight, which I believe I will mention in the upcoming Heartstopper BTS (Behind The Scenes) episode that we've already recorded. I was not looking forward to the Season 2 Episode 7 edit at all. That was a very emotional episode when it was filmed and I knew the edit would also have me in tears 😅 Staggering the episodes from both seasons, allowed me to hold off on that edit for as long as possible 😊 - Alex (GV)
![[GVSV Reacts Ep013] Straight Veteran watches Heartstopper S2E4 for the First Time](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6-patZQXigI/mqdefault.jpg)
![[GVSV Reacts Ep013] Straight Veteran watches Heartstopper S2E4 for the First Time](/img/tr.png)
![[GVSV Reacts Ep014] Straight Veteran watches Heartstopper S2E5 for the First Time](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NosWyCJH-Co/mqdefault.jpg)
![[GVSV Gaming Ep001] Straight Veteran plays & watches The Last of Us S1E1 for the First Time](/img/n.gif)
Regarding the characters being more emotionally mature than most kids their age, a lot of people have complained that it’s unrealistic. But the truth is that it’s entirely intentional on the author’s part. Beyond just telling an optimistic LGBTQ+ story, part of Alice Oseman’s goal with Heartstopper has been to give young people a model for how they might handle it if they’re going through similar situations. It’s low-key educational without being corny like an “after-school special”
Thank you @danieloneal7137!
I'm grateful to Alice's portrayal of these young people, because I know that I would've greatly benefited from them better than the LGBTQ+ examples that were around in the late 80s/early 90s. Most of those characters we often used as a joke or victims of harassment. I'm very glad that today's youth have a show like Heartstopper. 🥰
- Alex (GV)
I’m going to feel free to get spoilery here, since I know y’all are already deep into Season 3. Charlie’s mental health journey was set up from Season 1 Episode 1, and it really starts to build here. What I want to call out is the schoolwork issue as a bellwether for Charlie’s deteriorating mental health. We know from Season 1 that Charlie is more academically accomplished than Nick, as he is taking a much harder course load and is better at math even though he’s a grade behind (Ep 1 & 2). Here, he’s offering to tutor Nick in math and chemistry, again, above his grade level, instead of doing his own coursework, because he finds helping Nick more gratifying than doing homework. He’s been repressing the upsetting events from Season 1 (especially re: Harry and Ben), worrying about Nick getting bullied, taking responsibility for making Nick’s coming out journey ideal, supporting Tao and Elle, putting everyone else first, and hiding his eating disorder and self-harm tendencies. Being with Nick is when he feels happy and safe and valued, and being away from him, he can’t escape the mental health issues lurking in the shadows, so of course he wants to spend all of his time with Nick, to the detriment of his schoolwork and everything else in his life. The problem is that he doesn’t have the tools yet to deal with the upset he feels when he’s not with Nick, so he’s not able to push through the darkness and focus. Yes, he’s being a typical bratty teenager throwing a tantrum that he can’t be with his boyfriend when his grades are slipping, but the reason underlying it is because he’s spiraling and lacks the tools to cope. I like that they give his mother a parenting journey across the two seasons, but in the beginning, nobody picks up on the fact that her style of parenting is part of the problem. She sets boundaries and goals, which is good, but she also shuts down all conversation. She’s not a safe person in whom to confide about the mental health struggles, and she never sits Charlie down to ask him why his academic performance is slipping or what else is going on in his life. She assumes she knows the full picture, and that any protest is just bratty backtalk that needs to be nipped in the bud. This is the beginning of exploring how laying down the law as a parenting style has its drawbacks, and her approach to nurturing Charlie’s emotional development as a young adult is contrasted with Sarah’s to show that inviting dialogue with your teenager is critically important, whereas shutting them down can be really damaging. I really like Jane’s arc in both the comics and the show, and I hope it’s become clear by now that Charlie putting off his coursework essay was never just about being lazy or contrarian.
💯
Thank you @elisabethbauman6190!!!
I understand what you mean with respect to Charlie's desire to be around Nick is more gratifying than doing his own homework.
I also realize that I can be overly critical of Jane's parenting style, but I feel like I'm projecting the feelings for my own disciplinarian parental figure onto this character.
If you've seen all of our Season 3 reacts, you'll see my own self realization, and greater empathy for Jane in the end😊- Alex (GV)
If you two keep this up I might develop an unhealthy attachment.
Thank you @astroworfcraig9164! I haven't been in the comment section these past few weeks, but its always nice to feel appreciated 😊 - Alex (GV)
Would punching David be justifiable violence? Asking for a friend...
I don't condone violence, but I have no control over Carl 😅 - Alex (GV)
I’m curious what your next planned reaction will be to?
I just saw your other comment on Top Gun Part 1 ✈️😅👍
Our plan at this moment is:
Top Gun
Die Hard
Lower Decks (S1E1)
Done Prophecy (S1E1)
Arcane (S1E1)
Last of Us (S1E1)
Stranger Things (S1E1)
Red White and Royal Blue
[2nd Movie for February]
Full Season 1 [Whichever (S1E1) does best]
It looks like Charlie was able to complete his coursework in the, what?..two hours that it took Nick to take his exams. He could easily have done that earlier and saved himself a lot of drama.
That depends on his actual writing process.
Charlie exhibits the characteristics of a heavy planner, as opposed to a heavy reviser or sequential reviser.
The heavy planner brainstorms and plans their writing so carefully in their heads that by the time they are ready to type their first draft, it resembles other writers' second or third drafts. They need less time to do final revision or proofreading.
They can look at an assignment and gauge how much time they need before a due date.
They can think about and plan their papers while they are doing other things, such as playing a musical instrument, taking walks, working on other school work...
The ones who habitually use this composing process have learned how much time they can spend in mentally planning an assignement before they need to sit down and start typing and then do proofreading.
While they are working out the plans and revisions in their heads, they are often incorrectly perceived as "not writing."
We've seen that Charlie had the questions to write about in advance.
He had all term to work on it.
He was able to name the number of weeks he had left to finish it.
He spent a lot of time playing his drums.
He was able to tutor Nick in Chemistry before his exam, because Charlie was ahead of Nick in many subjects ---- the cognitive load of telling Nick about the chemistry topics was not heavy enough to get in the way of his being able to finish up planning his paper in his head.
We saw him doodling and then saying it was almost done.
He was able to write up, revise and proofread what he had worked out in his head and turn his final draft in by the end of the term --- as promised.
(And as he predicted to his parents on Teacher-Parent night.)
Thank you @slm_766! I don't think I've ever given this much thought, but you just described what I personally do 😅
Not just reports for school, but sometimes I feel like I've mapped out entire conversations with people before talking with them. Not that I can predict what they will say in return, but I've almost created a branching dialogue tree of responses, dependent on their feedback.
I can't be the only person that does this... For a while, I was of the assumption that everyone must go through life this way. 😅 - Alex (GV)
Am I missing something or does your channel keep switching between Seasons 2 & 3 of 'Heartstopper'? No complaints about your content. It's just kind of hard to track continuity wise.
They filmed all of season 2 prior to starting season 3 but had trouble uploading the videos due to copyright issues.
I get that-- I keep reading the episode numbers first (before the season number) and getting thrown, momentarily.
BUT I just now thought about how I can use the switching to my advantage when I make comments later.
Normally, I watched in order and made inferences about things according to the little information we've been given so far; and it's a politeness rule not to bring up future information to help clarify present inferences.
By that I mean, there are events and bits of dialogue that arise in season 3 that clear up possible misconceptions that arise due to incomplete information in seasons1 and 2. (The normal politeness rule says not to use the season 3 information in advance)
BUT
We're bouncing back and forth, so we can assume that the 3rd Season stuff that has already been posted (and presumably watched thoroughly by both the Reactors and their audience) is fair game;
I figure that the rule has been adjusted: If they have posted through 3x5 in third season, I can use information from 3x1 - 3x5, in a discussion about events in 2x1-2x3 ---- as long as I don't go past where we are in the lists.
This is great!
Apologies @ESkye91, Our original upload schedule did not include Season 2 or 3, and getting all of Season 2 edited/uploaded (enough to satisfy Copyright) in the week before Season 3 was too ambitious.
Since we didn't want to make people wait for Season 3 reacts, if that was the only content they were looking for, we decided to stagger the episodes from both seasons.
I did arrange them correctly in the React Playlist:
th-cam.com/play/PLDyIs9BuRFcYEbv-So1o6bcs46demm3jk.html&si=RGKcN4coASIy4UCs
Hope this helps 😊 - Alex (GV)
Thanks for understanding @slm_766! I'll give you an additional piece of insight, which I believe I will mention in the upcoming Heartstopper BTS (Behind The Scenes) episode that we've already recorded.
I was not looking forward to the Season 2 Episode 7 edit at all. That was a very emotional episode when it was filmed and I knew the edit would also have me in tears 😅
Staggering the episodes from both seasons, allowed me to hold off on that edit for as long as possible 😊 - Alex (GV)