Looking at Reading: Adolescents' Perceptions of Readerly Characters in High School Television Series

Despite growing concerns about declining reading motivation, research on adolescent literacy has rarely examined how readerly characters in mainstream media shape young people's perceptions of reading. Addressing this gap, this study explores how high school students perceive readerly characters in contemporary television series and how they evaluate their potential for use in literature education. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, we conducted nine focus groups with 42 Dutch students (aged 13–18) from four secondary schools. Using portrait cards and curated video clips from four Netflix series ( Riverdale , Sex Education , Ginny & Georgia , Heartstopper ), we invited students to discuss character portrayals, the role of reading in their lives, and possible classroom relevance. Thematic analysis revealed three central tensions: (1) reading was valued as intellectually enriching yet stigmatized in peer contexts; (2) students contrasted their own leisure‐oriented reading with the aspirational, identity‐shaping reading practices of the characters; and (3) reading was admired as a marker of intelligence and depth but remained socially risky, especially for boys. These insights show that students negotiate complex ambivalences between admiration and distance, suggesting that readerly characters function less as direct models than as prompts for reflection on reading identities. For education, these findings highlight the importance of creating safe, dialogic spaces in which adolescents can explore the cultural meanings of reading and encounter diverse models of reader identity, including those emerging from screen culture.