When Que Minh Luu was growing up in western Sydney as a ’90s kid, the disconnect between what she was seeing in her neighbourhood and what she was seeing on television was obvious.
“There was a real cognitive dissonance for me because I grew up in a very multicultural community, there were a lot of Vietnamese people, a lot of Middle Eastern people, and a lot of Anglos, as well,” Luu says.
“But what I saw on TV was really different. It didn’t really compute to me that it wasn’t truly representative.”
Netflix’s new reboot of 1990s show Heartbreak High features a diverse cast.Credit:Netflix
As the director of content for Netflix for Australia and New Zealand, Luu is now one of the most influential people in the local TV landscape and is in a position to make sure that what we see on our screens is actually reflective of the country’s diversity.
“For me [watching TV] was representing what I thought Australia was, what that Australian dream was. I used to fantasise as a child that Gary Sweet was my dad,” she says. It’s a reminder that the power of TV and storytelling shapes not just how we understand the world around us, but our thinking in terms of the world we aspire to live in.
Luu made the comments while speaking on the latest episode of Good Weekend Talks – a “magazine for your ears” featuring conversations between the best journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and the people captivating Australia right now.
The original Heartbreak High was a staple on Australian TV in the 1990s, and helped launched the careers of the cast including Alex Dimitriades (bottom middle).
One of the few Australian shows of the ’90s that did reflect the country’s cultural and class diversity was the iconic teen series Heartbreak High, a spin-off of the 1993 film The Heartbreak Kid starring Alex Dimitriades and Claudia Karvan.
“I loved Heartbreak High,” Luu says. “It was really groundbreaking for its time. It was the first time I felt seen and understood by a show. We’d go home every day and at 5.30, it would be on, I’d be watching it religiously.”
Nearly three decades on things have come full circle, with Luu commissioning a reboot of Heartbreak High for Netflix, one of the streamer’s biggest local productions so far. It’s a bold, and risky, move given how much widespread adoration there is for the original series, but Luu says the time is right to explore contemporary teen culture.
“What is that Australian teen personality? Like, really? Let’s interrogate what that is. What makes it different from a British teen or a US teen? We love watching Sex Education, we love watching 13 Reasons Why, we love watching Euphoria. What makes our teens different? There is joy in the familiar, in the ubiquity and the universality of that teenage experience. But what is that sort of secret sauce of Australian teenagedom?”
Sydney Sweeney in Euphoria. Netflix is hoping to recreate the success HBO has had with Euphoria by showing an unflinching portrayal of life as a modern teenager.
While the show has been deliberately constructed to reflect a diverse vision of Australia – across gender, sexuality, race and class – Luu understands that the basics of storytelling are what will ultimately make it successful
“We know that representation is important. But I don’t say it in a kind of worthy way. It’s about reflecting what our lives are like. But at the core of that is, what’s the cracking story? The story has got to be propulsive and fun, a bit of a romp and really, really engaging and universal.”
In her conversation on Good Weekend Talks, Luu discusses in-depth the decision-making process behind commissioning Heartbreak High, how the show came together, and the broader goals of Netflix in the local market. She also explores the balance between the need to make profitable work and art and idealism.
“We need to grow those creative voices from an industry point of view, and to kind of push Australian culture and art itself. But the only way we make it more successful, truly successful, is if it connects with an audience.”
Good Weekend Talks offers readers the chance to dive deep into the definitive stories of the day. Episodes are available wherever you get your podcasts.
To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
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