He sits and stares at the sky, daydreaming, wondering how great it would be to walk the halls holding hands. How great it would be to cuddle and do all the other couple things—  as if it could ever happen. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because it’s not acceptable for two males to walk side by side holding hands.

It is not possible for them to show any form of affection toward each other without getting strange looks or hearing comments here and there.

That is the issue with today’s society that Estaban Bravo and Beth David, the creators, of the recently viral animated short film, “In a Heartbeat,” wanted to bring awareness to.

The video is a mere five minutes long, but within those five minutes, the creators managed to tell the story of a young boy struggling with his sexuality, which eventually gets out of his control.

The short film is made in a very innocent way, in which the main character has a crush on another boy. Throughout the whole interaction there is no dialogue—  everything is conveyed by action and background music. The creators did this on purpose so the video would have a universal appeal. In the beginning, the main character’s heart pops out of his chest showing his affection for the other boy, and he follows him around because he feels affection toward him. It later goes on to show the other boy playing around the protagonist’s heart while simultaneously trying to keep his heart from going crazy for the other character. All of this combined makes the short film seem funny and charismatic.

By representing the young LGBT community in a way in which is a blur and emotions aren’t logical, it gives the animations meaning and purpose. The film tells the story of thousands within the five minutes; a story of seclusion and battles that everyone within the LGBT community inevitably faces. The audience gets their hearts played with and then eventually broken, showing an insight into someone else’s life so everyone can understand each other a little better.

The film also adds in the elements of homophobia along with the light heartedness of the film without making it as blatantly obvious as most of other LGBT films tend to do. At the beginning, the animated film seems innocent and pure, but as it progresses toward the end, the short film takes a turn toward the darker side. In order to introduce homophobia, the film features kids whispering and giving nasty stares, which brings in those elements of disappointment and fear, giving the film an overall balance to it rather than being all happy and cheerful.

This film generally sums up the feelings of the LGBT community for the most part. Realization and denial. Uncontrollable feelings. Hatred and disappointment. Finally ending with the typical happy ending.

With the short film becoming viral, it brought awareness to the struggle which most people who battle with their sexuality go through. It not only helps the young people of the LGBT community feel safe, but it also opens people’s eyes to the struggle that most teens who are battling with sexuality face during that phase of their lives.