This is now a Heartstopper squee account. Previously JATP. She/her. Old as dirt. I wrote fanfiction and created podfics for Merlin and some other fandoms. I don't make any claims about the quality, but you can find it at www.archiveofourown.org/users/jelazakazone
Doorways and corridors as liminal spaces in Heartstopper pt 1 of 8
Thanks so much to @herewetumble for editorial help and @barrows-teeth for feedback and the awesome gifs! All mistakes are mine.
Find part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.
Part 6 here.
Part 7 here.
Part 8 here.
If you want, you can read the whole thing without gifs on AO3 here.
Doorways and corridors are not just scenery in Heartstopper — they are silent characters supporting a journey.
Charlie Spring walks through a corridor to meet Ben after winter break, and passes through a doorway where a teacher is taking down some decorations. Could this be a signal of things changing?
When Charlie reaches the library, he finds the library empty and a text from Ben asking to meet up later. This opens a space in Charlie’s heart when he meets Nick a few minutes later.
We do see him actually pass through the doorway into his new form room. He exchanges inanities with the teacher and then turns to go to his seat. When he lays eyes on Nick, you can tell he is immediately struck. I think this doorway, into his new form room, represents Charlie’s imminent relationship with Nick.
Then we see Charlie coming through a doorway into a corridor and passing through another door to meet up with Ben in the music room. They kiss, Ben says “still don’t tell anyone about us,” and leaves. We see Charlie through the window as the door closes. The beginning of the end of their relationship.
The very next doorway is Nick and Charlie bumping into each other as they try to pass through it at the same time. Destiny has brought them together! They are about to embark on something together …
Montage of passing in the hallway/meeting in form and saying hi and then they meet up on the way to math class. After Nick has doodled on Charlie’s hand, they easily pass through a doorway big enough for the two of them as though the world is bending to make more space for the two of them as they become more comfortable with each other. They happen to run into Ben who completely ignores Charlie. That door between Ben and Charlie has just closed a little more.
Charlie exits the bus and gets a text from Ben to meet up in the library. At this meeting, Ben kisses Charlie, but Charlie doesn’t really kiss back and he’s distracted by the doodle on his hand Nick left there yesterday. Although Ben has called Charlie to him, Charlie is drawing away.
The next doorway we see is really a gateway. Ben is kissing a girl. That does it for Charlie. He slams that proverbial door shut hard.
Charlie describes his ideal boyfriend and clears the window only to see Nick Nelson.
Nick watches through a fence as Charlie runs (faster than his classmates).
Next we see Charlie struggling in front of an open locker door. Nick asks if Charlie wants to step onto his turf and Charlie can’t turn him down.
Charlie walks down a corridor, through a doorway, and faces a closed door to the locker room where he can hear people talking about him. He pushes the door open and Nick stands up and says “hi”, welcoming into the space. Charlie is so brave for pushing that door open!
The next time he steps into the locker room, “In my self-made isolation, you’re my only inspiration / when the mirror says I’m ugly and if anybody loves me it’s a lie” is playing, but none of the boys notice him or talk to him. We see Nick talking strategy and then some scenes on the field.
Cut to Ben walking down the corridor. It feels so ominous and closed in, especially when it cuts back to Nick and Charlie working on tackling at the goal posts. You can see Nick’s admiration for Charlie’s improvement and Charlie feeling good that Nick is complimenting him. They are out in the world and it’s just them and life is good.
Then we see Ben through a “window” waiting for Charlie. Charlie walks out one door (leaving Nick standing in the doorway behind) and through another to meet Ben. He turns around a corner and has a conversation with Ben which ends with Ben forcing a kiss on Charlie and then Nick pulling Ben off. They are in the corridor.
Nick puts himself between Ben and Charlie, tells Ben to piss off, checks that Charlie is ok, then the two of them walk off through the corridor together, out the door, and out the school gate. There is a feeling of release as they walk outside and say goodbye.
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Jack Wolfe fandom, I come to your rescue. I was inspired to download The Magician's Elephant while the video was public, and now here it is in all its glory:
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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There's a lot of good comments and tags in the notes, but this one is very important, I feel like it deserves some emphasis.
Part of how authoritarianism works is telling you that you can't stop it. And you can't stop it by yourself. But it wants to stop the train of thought there and let you fall into despair.
You need to remember the next part: you don't have to stop it by yourself.
You're not alone. Take care of your community and let your community take care of you. Supporting each other is so vital.
I fucking love the way Nick doesn't get defensive about his feelings for Charlie. This is huge for a boy in this kind of culture, especially Nick who until this point has been repressing so much of himself in order to fit in with “normal” guys.
We see what can happen with Ben. He resents Charlie for making him feel this way. He hates himself and he can’t deal with it, he doesn’t know how to handle it, and he punishes Charlie for it.
But Nick goes the opposite way. He's scared, he runs away, he makes mistakes, but he always knows those are his fears and not Charlie's fault. He keeps trying to do better, to do right by Charlie. He keeps being friends with Charlie even after he realises he likes him. He learns to stand up to his friends and challenge their behaviour, not only because he cares about Charlie, but he also learns from him. He learns that he’s been wrong to accept that behaviour and he needs to do better. He changes his own behaviour because he cares about Charlie and because he wants to be better for himself.
I think it's also a really important part of Nick’s story that he’s not just learning and growing for Charlie, he’s doing it for himself too. He’s becoming a person he wants to be and can be proud of. Yes, Charlie’s a huge part of that. He helped Nick realise all the things he was accepting that he shouldn’t, partly because Nick had to face a lot of it as a result of realising he was bi, partly cos Charlie's so different from the rugby lads and offers an alternative way to be in the world. But even though he is doing it for Charlie a lot of the time, Nick is also becoming a better person because it’s who he wants to be for himself.
I think that’s partly why it’s so important for Nick to say “I love liking you”. It's important for Charlie to hear, yes. But it's also super important for Nick to say for himself. It’s so opposite to Ben, who hated himself for liking Charlie and hated Charlie for it too. Even though it was hard for Nick, he never saw it as a bad thing. Yeah, it was hard. And he struggled. But it was worth it to him. It’s so fucking important.
