thekidwithsixthsense

[thekidwithsixthsense]

WHO WAS GONNA TELL ME DALLY SELF-HARMS IN THE MOVIE???? IN THE HOSPITAL TALKING ABT JOHNNY???? I THOUGHT HE STABBED THE BED AM I STUPID OR JS DUMB.

[thekidwithsixthsense]

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

[thekidwithsixthsense]

💕🙌🏻

[thekidwithsixthsense]

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[thekidwithsixthsense]

Heartstopper is different because it takes pleasure seriously

Since I watched Heartstopper, I've been trying to figure out what about it made it feel so different from other stories similar to it. When you just describe the plot of it, it sounds like something straight (har har) out of Glee or Sex Education or Elite or SKAM or Skins or Degrassi, or...you get my point.

But it felt so different to me, and I realized yesterday what it was. Hearstopper takes the pleasures of queer romance and eroticism as seriously as it takes the pains of it. By which I mean, it gives an incredible amount of screen time to the excitement of it, the thrill of it, the visceral good feelings of it. Pleasure drives Heartstopper, in a way that is still incredibly unusual in mainstream queer media.

In most other stories like this, the pain and the angst and the ambivalence and the negative social ramifications of the premise take up like 90-95% of the screen time. The pleasure aspect typically exists as minimally as possible to catalyze all the negative or difficult parts that are the 'real' story. And while Heartstopper doesn't shy away from those things, it gives a roughly equal amount of narrative and screen time to the two leads getting a lot of pleasure out of their relationship, too. The amount of time the show invests in showing Nick and Charlie enjoying each other romantically -- throughout the story, not just at the very end -- is just absolutely decadent (and I mean that 100% positively).

The first kiss is a perfect example. In any other TV version of this story, the boys would have kissed that first time for less than 2 seconds, and then IMMEDIATELY been interrupted by the other boys. Instead, Heartstopper lets them kiss once, take a breath, and then have a second, very extended kiss enhanced by animated embellishments designed to emphasize just how incredibly enjoyable this is for them...before finally disrupting it again with Plot™.

And the amazing thing is, from a pure narrative standpoint, you don't need the second kiss. It's completely unnecessary to the plot. You could completely eliminate it and the plot would hold together exactly the same. The second kiss is there exclusively to emphasize the intense pleasure of this experience for them. That's all it does.

Heartstopper is serious about foregrounding pleasure, and how important pleasure is in all of this. Which frankly, is a thing you usually only ever see in romance novels and fanfic.

***

One of the reasons I was hesitant to watch this show initially is because I have limited tolerance for coming out stories that are so focused on the unappealing parts of the experience. It's not that those things don't MATTER. But there is such a cultural allergy to making the pleasures of the experience a serious focus, particularly (yes I'm going to say it) the sexual pleasures of it.

Hearstopper, blissfully, refuses to shy away from pleasure, and from making it important.

It's not just that my tolerance for queer pain in media is limited (although admittedly that's true). I also grow so weary of popular culture treating queerness as mostly a political identity upon which we simply moralize about tolerance, and engage in self congratulatory yarns about ~being yourself~ and loving yourself. It's not that I think any of those things is BAD. But a) I've seen that story many times before and b) there's an ENORMOUS piece of this experience that we're still mostly skirting around the edges of because we're still very chickenshit about it, to be perfectly frank.

We, as a culture, are still scared as fuck to really say, very bluntly: queerness feels fucking good.

In the midst of this, Heartstopper does something wondrous. It says to the audience, in no uncertain terms: Queerness feels fucking good...so, let's spend some time actually talking about THAT for a while.

[thekidwithsixthsense]

#nick nelson being the bravest boy ever

[thekidwithsixthsense]

so you’re telling me this whole time hades, poseidon or zeus couldve just banged a dude?? imagine another big 3 kid rolls into camp and they’re like “oh ur dad broke the oath… which means you’re gonna have to pay for it…” and this kids like “lol which dad?”

no oath broken. loophole of the century.

[thekidwithsixthsense]

me @charlie when he did make nick fall in love w him after everyone assured him he was straight as fuck

[thekidwithsixthsense]

Fresh is gonna be a cult classic.

Calling it right now.

[thekidwithsixthsense]

me, listening to the same song for the 62nd time: this is everything i have ever needed to exist. this is it i do not need food or water or any other stimulation, just this song but loudr jUSt tHIS

[thekidwithsixthsense]

the faint dripping of a tap or a clock ticking : earpiercing, BAD

music blasting at full volume : ✨ t r a n q u i l i t y ✨

[thekidwithsixthsense]

Made by : me.

I am definitely in love with Genya🤧

[thekidwithsixthsense]

I will prolly write some bad head canons /drabbles surrounding Grishaverse. Also I love LCDP, TUA and the haunting series so you may expect ocassinal Damie content !

I will also post edits I made .

[thekidwithsixthsense]

Alexa Demie, I want you to sacrifice me to God.

[thekidwithsixthsense]

Alexa Demie

[thekidwithsixthsense]

can I use the label of queer as a sexuality? If so whats the difference between queer and pansexual?

absolutely! plenty of queer people use queer as their only label. and the difference between pansexual and queer is that all pan people are/have the liberty of calling themselves queer, but not all queer people are pan. lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, pansexuals, enbies, aces, aros, and trans ppl are all queer, but ID-ing as queer doesn't necessarily automatically put you in any one specific category. queer is an umbrella term for anyone who is lgbtq and can be your only label. hope that makes sense :)

[thekidwithsixthsense]

why read “real literature” when you can obsess over shitty YA books that contain way to much smut