The Big Picture
- Mr. Farouk is a strict science teacher at Truham School in Heartstopper Season 2, known for his humorous level of strictness and his catchphrase “Quiet!”
- Despite his tough exterior, Mr. Farouk opens up about his late realization of his own homosexuality and his missed opportunities for teenage queer experiences.
- The romance between Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi represents the important representation of queer adults who missed out on teenage experiences, adding depth to the show’s message of representation.
There are several new characters in Heartstopper Season 2, expanding the world of the graphic novels further. From the likes of Stephane (Thibault de Montalebert) and David Nelson (Jack Barton) as Nick’s (Kit Connor) absent father and cruel older brother. There are new additions to the friend group with Sahar (Leila Khan) and to Elle’s (Yazmin Finney) group with Naomi (Bel Priestley) and Felix (Ash Self). Some of these are from Alice Oseman’s source material, and others are new creations for the show. But by far, the standout new character is Mr. Farouk (Nima Taleghani), who’s finally brought in from the graphic novels.
Who Is Mr. Farouk?
Mr. Farouk is a science teacher at the Truham School that the boys attend in this series. He is strict to a humorous level, making sure his students respect his authority by raising his voice at them, often yelling “Quiet!” in a most attention-getting way. This is punctuated in the scenes where he reprimands both Nick and Ben (Sebastian Croft) while the school prepares for the GCSE exams and Nick has his phone out to message Charlie (Joe Locke). Meanwhile, Ben keeps trying to converse and egg on Nick. They eventually are sent into a room by themselves because Mr. Farouk will not tolerate the distraction to the other students.
Mr. Farouk, strong eyebrows and arms defensively crossed, also chaperones our young cast while they visit Paris on a school trip, along with fellow teacher Mr. Ajayi (Fisayo Akinade), who we of course remember from Season 1 as the teacher who let Charlie eat in the art room to both avoid bullying and be with Nick in private. Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi in their soft vs. strict teaching dynamic can handle the kids, even when Charlie passes out in the Louvre, and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) throws up on one of their beds after drinking too much alcohol. However hard Mr. Farouk’s outer shell may be, it does start to break on the Paris trip. In a mix of watching all these young out and proud queer kids, and connecting with the much more open and kind Mr. Ajayi while sharing a room, Mr. Farouk opens up about his feelings of figuring out he’s gay in his late 20s, unable to have the teen experiences. This then leads to Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi sharing a bed (thanks to Darcy vomiting on one of the two beds in their hotel room), foreshadowing and leaving room for a fuller romance later on, enhanced when Mr. Farouk shows up to the school prom at Mr. Ajayi’s request.
Mr. Farouk Is an Important Step Toward More Queer Representation
Heartstopper prides itself on being wholesome representation for queer people. It frequently gets a lot of flack for being “cringey,” but it’s not. After years of tragedy-ridden queer films like Brokeback Mountain, Philadelphia, and even the recent Portrait of a Lady on Fire, it was time for the opposite end of the spectrum. Not to say that these films were not important, or amazingly well-made. Brokeback Mountain and Philadelphia helped a lot in humanizing the general audience to queer people, especially the tragedy of the AIDs crisis. Heartstopper has its dramatic elements no doubt, shingling light on depression, bullying, eating disorders, and of course, homophobia and transphobia. But even through all that, the characters persevere and live happily, and are supported by so many people.
Mr. Farouk expresses his resentment toward the kids through his strictness in the first few episodes, and finally opens up to Mr. Ajayi later in the season and becomes more vulnerable. They had resources to find themselves and can live more openly than he ever has. He is someone who did not realize he was gay until his late 20s, meaning he missed out on any “beautiful gay teenage experiences,” as he puts it. The queer adults who missed out on these young experiences, and did not get representation like this in their teens deserve to be represented too, and not only in tragic and serious films. The sparks of Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi’s romance are really sweet, giving a teen-like energy of discovery to an adult storyline that is still more mature than our main protagonists. Mr. Farouk is the answer to the years of this missing representation.
This is why Heartstopper is so successful, and we would have never had a show like this just a few years ago. Even Love, Simon paved a lot of the way for gay teen film and television in 2018, and without it, we probably would not have gotten this far. Maybe Heartstopper can pave the way not only for more teen content but also for more queer adult stories that don’t have to be completely serious or end in tragedy. The new film Red White and Royal Blue is a great example of a more lighthearted queer film that we’ve been waiting for. Mr. Farouk is a standout character in Heartstopper and essential to the show’s message of representing different types of queerness.
Source link
