Heart Break high 2022, an Australian Netflix series, is a teen drama about heartbreak, friendship, betrayal, and most importantly, sex education. Show creator Hannah Carroll Chapman has rebooted the iconic '90s TV series Heartbreak High for a Gen Z audience.
The incest map revelations force university authorities to organize sex education classes for students whose sex lives were marked on the map. The series simultaneously portrays the individual lives of these children and at the same time crosses their paths. Although, the students are determined to attend the SLT classes run by Miss Jojo Obah (Chika Ikogwe), an English teacher at Hartley High. Everything from consent to peer pressure and queerness to the teacher-student bond is explored.
Creators: Hannah Carroll Chapman, Ben Gannon, Michael Jenkins
Stars: Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloe Hayden
The series is based on the queer father-son bond. Darren, a black, queer, non-binary teenager, and his relationship with his father is something new to see, hardly portrayed in this way. He literally takes you through the ups and downs of the bonus. He represents what it is to be queer and the father of a queer child. Darren is sensitive and rigid about the idea that no parent understands what it's like to be queer. While the parents are trying to cope, but it is not so easy to do because sometimes it is tiring and too much. For example, he misses the gender and the use of incorrect pronouns.
There is a scene where it becomes confusing for Darren's parents to keep up with their pronouns: they and them. Parents try hard to use the correct one, but forget to make it exact. The fight is visible and this is what it is in real life too. The cisgender who believes in inclusion, whether they are parents who are struggling to keep up. The acceptance is there, but their world and they are still unknown. The drama sensitively portrays the struggle between the two. It can serve as a starter book for exploring queer parental bonds.
Also, Darren's love story is not about sex, but about a genuine bond of love and care, unlike how LGBTQIA+ characters are often portrayed. The love story of Darren and a drug dealer named Cash (Jett James) is touching. In addition, Cash's life represents what life is really like for young people in Australia today. Another interesting character is Quinni, who plays the role of a queer autistic woman. The writer does not paint her with sorrow, in fact, he empathizes with her. This kind of broad intersectionality is rare on screen, but the show captures it correctly. The cast seems interesting and inclusive because most of them are gay and people of color.