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‘David and Keith were the role models I didn’t otherwise have’: The impact of the Six Feet Under Heartstopper couple-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
‘Six Feet Under got Keith and David so right when nothing else really did at the time.’
In 2022, Heartstopper arrived on Netflix, and everything changed.
It was an absolute gift for the LGBTQ+ community, as two teenage boys figured out their feelings for each other without any death, disaster or gratuitous cruelty, which are still all too prevalent in same-sex storylines.
For LGBTQ+ people who had grown up before Heartstopper, positive representations of same-sex couples in the media were few and far between – but they did exist, and they were just as important.
As Pride month comes to a close, Metro.co.uk are catching up with LGBTQ+ people about the on-screen romances that impacted them growing up.
We’ve had Emily and Naomi from Skins, Tara and Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and now we’re diving into another trailblazing couple: David and Keith, from Six Feet Under.
Their journey was far from the wholesome, hope-filled relationship enjoyed by Charlie and Nick in Heartstopper, but for LGBTQ+ people growing up in the early 2000’s, it was everything.
Keith and David fought to have a stable relationship and a family together at a time where it wasn’t as easily accepted (Picture: HBO)Adam found Keith and David at a ‘pivotal time’ in his life, and was drawn to their ‘rich and complicated‘ relationship
For Adam, seeing a gay relationship on a mainstream TV show, where each character dealt with their own personal strife but still found a way to make a relationship work, meant everything.
While he ‘always knew’ he was gay, as a teenager Adam had ‘a lot of questions that needed answers. Only I couldn’t ask anyone those questions to get those answers.’
He discovered Six Feet Under, where in the very first episode, David’s father dies, leading to massive shifts in his family and responsibilities, all happening as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality.
Adam wasn’t out to his family, and at the same time ‘had just lost my sister, which obviously brought seismic shifts in my life too, particularly where I sat in my own family.’
Over six seasons, David battles mental health and relationship issues, and while his life with Keith is unstable at times, we see him becoming more comfortable in his own skin – something Adam responded to.
‘It takes so long for us to let go of our shame, and arguably, most of us never really do. I think David was the first time I ever really saw that unfold,’ he said.
Watching their on-screen relationship came at a ‘pivotal time’ in Adam’s life, as, like David, he battled grief and hid his sexuality (Picture: HBO‘Their journey together was so rich and complicated, which I hadn’t seen in an [on-screen] LGBTQ+ relationship at all really. I think it helped me realise that the internal anger and shame I felt wasn’t unique to me at all, and despite holding onto both I could be a complicated mess that’s totally lovable too.’
While Six Feet Under tends not to come up in conversations about the ‘golden era’ of TV, for Ada,, it was ‘the most impactful show’ he had ever seen at the time.
As a young gay man with ‘no experience at all’ with same-sex relationships, he found Keith and David’s journey to be ‘fascinating and intimidating at the same time,’ and ‘ultimately the most informative.’
Russell T Davies’ groundbreaking Queer as Folk came two years before Six Feet Under, but David and Keith striving to simply be family men at a time when it was far less accepted was, in a way, ‘even more pioneering.’
The Six Feet Under couple simply wanted to be normal family men, which was less easily accepted at the time (Picture: HBO)‘I think Six Feet Under got Keith and David so right when nothing else really did at the time, particularly for a show that wasn’t queer-focused,’ he said.
Police officer Keith was forced to hide his sexuality from the force in the show, which articulated ‘how much LGBTQ+ people were struggling at a time when perhaps on the outside it felt like we were being more liberated.’
Like the characters, Adam didn’t come out until relatively late, not telling his family until he was in his 30s.
And as the time passed and he became the same age as David and Keith, Adam related to their journey even more.
He described this as bittersweet, as 20 years later he still ‘didn’t feel comfortable’ being himself to everyone.
Their journey is ‘still so applicable and relevant’ to LGBTQ+ people today (Picture: HBO)‘David and Keith were my Heartstopper then, and now, after going through a similar journey, they’re still a bit of a Heartstopper,’ he said.
‘Now, I look at their experiences and can compare them to my own a little bit more. ‘
More than 20 years have passed since Six Feet Under first graced our screens, but David and Keith’s story is still just as important, Adam said.
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‘Their relationship, the battle they have within themselves and with each other, is still so applicable and relevant to me and so many other LGBTQ+ people, particularly gay men, that I know.’
‘In some ways, looking back, David and Keith were role models that I didn’t otherwise have.
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