As a society today, modern technology plays a huge part of our everyday lives. Whether that be through mobile phones for contact and entertainment, Bluetooth for music streaming, or even now with the introduction of “streaming” to provide us all with regularly available means of entertainment pretty much wherever we are in the world. However, with media being such an integral part of our lives today, there’s pressure to keep our films and TV shows evolving with society. Recently, the streaming giant Netflix acquired distribution rights and released season one of a coming-of-age romantic drama series called Heartstopper – a show adapted from the graphic novel of the same name. As well as this, in recent years, more and more shows highlighting diversity have begun to be released through the media and streaming services. So, is this a step in the right direction? Or is virtual media still too far behind the ever-varied communities and people we see every day in the real world?

First applied in the early 1990’s, streaming was created as a better description for video on demand, however it wasn’t revolutionised until the mid-2000’s, when larger streaming giants began to crop up as alternate ways of consuming visual media. Despite this, the first streaming service to launch was Netflix, first released in 1998, originally with 925 titles available to rent. It took around a decade for Netflix to garner enough popularity to launch worldwide. Since then, despite new competition being formed as streaming developed with platforms such as Hulu and more recently Disney + and paramount +, (which was only launched in 2022), Netflix has continued to grow. Now combined with its array of old films and shows to stream, it has begun to create original series and movies, as well as buying right to share new upcoming shows to roughly 209 million subscribers. However, at the heart of our media today, there are calls that what we consume just isn’t a true representation of who we are – or that these new films and shows don’t truly reflect all the different and important aspects of human identity.

Within the world today, there is more acceptance and ability for expression. Human sexuality, freedom, rights to name a few, have changed and become more varied throughout the centuries. In our community within the 21st century, there is an estimated 1 billion people who have a disability of any form, and from the most recent census in England and Wales, more than 1.3 million people identified as either bisexual, lesbian or gay – and the LGBTQ+ community across the globe is ever expanding. Recently, platforms such as Netflix have launched new shows like Heartstopper and Sex Education, which have begun to bridge the gap between media and real life – a step to changing the norms of what film and tv should be. 

Heartstopper, released in April of 2022, grew wildly popular almost overnight. It’s warming depiction of both friendship and self-discovery, along with the incredible cast and writers behind the scenes instantly enamoured the show with viewers across the globe. It’s portrayal of the struggle with identity, and in Heartstopper’s case sexuality, contrasts with a lot of media we see centred around these topics currently – it allowed viewers to resonate with the characters, to see some of their own struggles within the show, something that is still relatively new to TV today. One viewer of the show said “I think it’s amazing how there’s more coverage of it in the media now, and it helps teenagers like the characters on the show who aren’t sure of their sexuality to accept themselves. It’s a heart-warming show and it’s realistic in the issues that people face at school”. Furthermore, shows like Sex Education don’t shy away from topics normally considered taboo, and again have created spaces for people where they can see themselves in characters on the screen. As a collective group, we still have a long way to go to create a more diverse and equal space in media, and these new (and old) streaming services contribute massively to everything we consume. Shows like heartstopper highlight that it is possible, and that one day these shows won’t simply be one offs, but available for everyone to see and connect with.