Alice Oseman, a popular author and the brains behind the popular comic and Netflix show, ‘Heartstopper.’ At only 30 years old she has gained recognition for her books, novellas, and comic’s, her comic’s gaining the most traction.
“While I loved reading books like that, I couldn’t find any that really represented my world, which was a British all-girl school. So I started writing Solitaire just for fun, to make myself happy. It was only towards the end that I realized how much I wanted to be an author, and how much I believed in that book.”, stated Oseman
When she was just 17, Oseman managed to sign her first deal writing a book. This would kick start her career, eventually making her way to making her beloved comic into a Netflix show. Many authors never reach this level of success and she feels very privileged to be able to get this far with her works
“Very few creators achieve this level of success, and I’m very aware of that. I feel really lucky and grateful to be in this position.”, Oseman stated during an interview.
When Heartstopper became a Netflix show, many people began speculating about the actor who plays Nick Nelson; Kit Connor’s sexuality, solely based on the show’s viewpoint.. This forced him to make a statement confirming that he was Bisexual in which he said that he hoped the people were happy for forcing an 18-year-old to come out.
“I truly don’t understand how people can watch Heartstopper and then gleefully spend their time speculating about sexualities and judging based on stereotypes,” Oseman tweeted in response.
Oseman is overall confused how people can watch shows on queer people and say that they will never force the stereotypes from the characters sexuality and force it on the actor, then turn around and do that, eventually forcing them to come out like the way Kit Connor was forced to at only 18 years old.
“We’re never really going to see much cultural change in terms of awareness until a big celebrity comes out as being asexual, and there’s nothing I can do about that.” Oseman commented out of personal experience.
When asked about how social media social media has shaped her and her career, she replied by saying, “Very much shaped the person that I’ve become, in good ways and bad ways, opened my eyes to queerness in a way that the real world was just not giving me,”
Along with Many others that she has worked with, she’s privileged to have these opportunities and looking at social media and seeing the influence they make on the community around heartstopper most definitely brings them joy.
