Source: Netflix
There’s been lots of excitement in the Asian American community (and beyond) about the movie Crazy Rich Asians, which has topped the box office for the 3rd weekend in a row! However, another recent movie release that didn’t receive as much fanfare, was the Netflix movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, adapted from Jenny Han’s novel. Hence, I’m going to talk a little about it now!
MOVIE SYNOPSIS
First off, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a charming romantic comedy.
The movie centers on the story of Lara Jean, a shy Asian American high school junior who is finding her way through life and school. She’s never had a boyfriend, but has a secret crush on her sister’s boyfriend. Yikes! Instead of sharing her feelings with her crushes throughout her life, she wrote these mushy gushy love letters to them that she’d secretly hide in a box in her closet.
When the love letters accidentally get sent out to the respective guys, all chaos ensues. This poor girl (who tried to be an invisible wallflower) gets thrust into the spotlight to deal with what she’s written about in these letters and her current feelings for these boys. You’ll have to watch to see what happens, but I wanted to make a couple of points.
REPRESENTATION MATTERS
This movie stars an Asian American lead and portrays an uncommon narrative for an Asian American female on the big screen (oftentimes Hollywood will cast the Asian girl as the supporting best friend or some other secondary role). This movie shows a more complex character, which I appreciate because #RepresentationMatters. I do feel like the tides are changing and the stories of women and of different ethnic backgrounds are slowly making their way onto the screen.
I believe seeing ourselves reflected in the stories on screen makes us feel less alone in the world, that what we’re feeling is normal.
Now this movie didn’t really highlight the Asian culture in the movie (as compared to Crazy Rich Asians), but I think the sentiment is there.
It makes me feel proud to see a fellow Asian American in a lead in a movie. It makes me feel like, hey, our stories and feelings are important enough to be captured for the screen. Important enough for other people to take time to watch this story and be entertained by it in their free time.
I think by just taking up space – whether in-person or on the TV screen, it implies that we matter.
There’s still a long ways to go though – i.e. needing to represent Asians with darker skin tones on screen as well, and representing more Asian male characters as love interests. Part of the reason for the lack of representation in these two areas may have been the way the story was written (the male character love interests had American sounding last names). And I’m also speculating that the production company may have wanted to play it safe with characters that followed the formula of typical romantic comedies in America. They know it sells well, so they go with it. Perhaps if the cast too diverse, they feared that the mainstream audience may not want to watch the movie.
Sigh. It’s hard though, I don’t know when movies on the big screen will reflect the diversity in real life. But I’m just glad to be able to witness progress in my lifetime and hope that we’re moving in the right direction. One step at a time.
PORTRAYING THE STRUGGLES OF ADOLESCENCE
Speaking of growing up, I also really enjoyed how the various struggles of adolescence were woven in to create a more complex storyline. Being bullied at school or having an enemy, not having many friends, dealing with peer pressure or rumors, sorting out feelings about crushes, challenges with family dynamics at home, etc… These are the real things that teens struggle with, and I spent a lot of energy and time spinning my wheels over these things. I think the movie did a great job developing the conflict that Lara Jean felt with herself and with others around here as she tried to figure out what she wanted.
(On the topic of adolescence, I’ve been meaning to watch another newly released movie Eighth Grade about an introverted thirteen-year-old girl named Kayla who is trying to survive 8th grade.)
RELATING TO THE MAIN CHARACTER
Anyhow back to the original movie I was talking about, there was something about Lara Jean’s shy and reserved demeanor that made me relate to her a lot. For example, growing up, I would be too scared to approach or make a move on my crush, haha! >.< I just lacked the confidence to do so, and so I just admired my crush from afar and maybe we’d have a chance encounter where we’d exchange a few brief words. LoL so funny to think back on. Sigh awkward times growing up.
Here’s a different perspective on dating from another emerging Asian American voice – Awkwafina, who stars in Crazy Rich Asians. This feels like a refreshingly honest perspective, and it’s pretty entertaining.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and excited about what it means for representation in the entertainment industry. If you’re interested in checking this movie out, you can find it on Netflix. Enjoy and let me know what you think!