"Running With a Crown on Your Head"

Heterotopic Queer Performances Against the Gay-Bildungsroman

Abstract

Why was Season One of Netflix’s Heartstopper (2021–present) such a prominent moment in LGBT television? What about Heartstopper’s warm, feel-good plot draws us in, captivates us, and what is really behind the sense of longing it provokes? Through analyzing of Heartstopper vis-à-vis the traditional bildungsroman, and against another LGBT Netflix show from the year prior, Young Royals (2021–present), the plot of Heartstopper is revealed to be part of a larger liberal literary project: the gay-bildungsroman. In a comparative analysis of care, protection, property, and the Foucauldian heterotopia, the affective mechanisms of the gay-bildungsroman plot are exposed by a queer of color critique of these shows and their star couples.