One is that older LGBTQ+ viewers are so glad that it exists at all, for the generations that have come after them. The reactions have broadly appeared along two lines. (I loved His Dark Materials so much that I named my dog after one of its characters, so I hold my own hand up to that one.) For years, adults have tentatively admitted to reading YA or even children’s fiction – one study, from 2012, found that 55% of YA fiction readers were over 18 – and there have always been adult editions of His Dark Materials and Harry Potter, for example, with more muted jackets.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been such a shock. Netflix is famously coy about who watches what so this is purely anecdotal, but over the last couple of weeks I have been surprised at how many of my fully grown adult friends have mentioned Heartstopper.
