Don’t worry, no spoilers!
Major streaming services like Netflix and Amazon prime have been producing young adult and female-centred book-adaptation movies and TV shows at a rapid pace over the last few years.
Major titles such as Maxton Hall, My Life With the Walter Boys, the After series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Kissing Booth, and future productions like The People We Meet on Vacation and The Love Hypothesis are just some of the adaptations that have been created or are in the works.
Arguably, the most popular of these adaptations over the last few years is Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP). The three-season show has been running since 2022 and has a dedicated fan base. Some of these fans have been around since the original three books were published in the early 2010s.
For those who have been living under a rock and do not let the Team Conrad or Team Jerimiah argument ruin their whole mood (I envy you), the show follows a love triangle between Belly (Lola Tung) and two brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jerimiah (Gavin Casalegno).
In the series, Belly spends every summer at her mother’s best friend’s beach house with the boys, and develops an on-again-off-again relationship with both. The side plots follow the families of the main characters, their relationship dynamics, and the inevitable drama that would come with dating the two brothers.
The third season of the show began a weekly episode release this past July. The series has had a dedicated fan base for years, but it has been thrusted into the spotlight since the release of the latest season. The show received 25 million views within the first seven days of the season premiere, a 40% increase from the second season. The show has also sat firmly in the Canadian top 10 picks on Amazon prime since July 16.
The show has done more than succeed in numbers, but also in its outreach to different demographics. You would expect young women to make up the vast majority of the shows’ viewership, and they do. But who makes up the remaining percentage? Surprisingly enough, it’s men.
Why is this show, which is predominantly aimed at teenage girls, easily breaching the gender and age barrier? Well, I think I figured it out.
Since the 1980s, romance has been the #1 most read genre by women. And The Summer I Turned Pretty embraces all of romance-fans favorite tropes. Many women love to read about a tortured, emotional older brother who yearns for the girl over the span of their entire lives, or a beach love confession. I mean, who doesn’t like to dream about a “pick me, choose me” moment?
You would expect young women to make up the vast majority of the shows’ viewership, and they do. But who makes up the remaining percentage? Surprisingly enough, it’s men.
The show is a love letter to classic romance movies and TV shows, and caters to its audience’s nostalgia. Think The Notebook, Gilmore Girls, and Grey’s Anatomy. The Summer I Turned Pretty utilizes everything that we loved about those shows, to give itself that 1990s-2000s feel that a lot of Gen Z and millennials enjoy. It purposefully adds this level of nostalgia, purely for the audience’s enjoyment.
The show plays on our love for nostalgia, but also our guilty pleasure for drama. Whether you want to admit it or not, almost everyone loves to get the gossip going on around them- who is dating, who broke up, and so on. This show has that in spades. Each week, a new episode reveals more delicious, juicy tales of love and betrayal. It almost feels like you’re right in the action. It keeps you enthralled and on the edge of your seat for 50 to 90 minutes each week. Drama isn’t a gendered enjoyment, it’s something all of us can get into.
By far, the best content you’ll get out of this show is on social media. The show has blown up on TikTok and Instagram to the point where you best watch the new episode before you scroll online at the risk of spoilers. It’s sparked countless trends, memes, commentary videos, and ongoing conversations as each episode comes out.
Its popularity has grown so much that more than just fans are trying to get in on the fun. Sports teams all the way from the Kansas City Chiefs and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, to the Toronto Blue Jays and various other teams have posted content related to the show.
Some teams prompt the question of their players “Team Jeremiah or Team Conrad?”, making players fess up to who they ultimately want to see end up with Belly. The NHL posted a video of the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup win Celebration with the caption “Team Conrad feeling.”
What is interesting about these posts is the fact that the primary audience for these accounts are mostly male. The days of being forced to watch a “chickflick” with your girlfriend seems to be over as more and more men begin to watch the show either eagerly with their partners, or even all on their own.
With only one episode left, I really do wonder what all of us are going to do with our free time once the show is over. I mean, rewatching marathons is always an option, but hopefully another mildly addicting teenage drama will be released soon. I personally will be sad to see the show end, I love watching adaptations of books. However I am sure my neighbors will not miss me screaming at my TV for an hour every week. My blood pressure also needs a break.
This article nails the vibe of The Summer I Turned Pretty! The nostalgia factor combined with the addictive drama is spot on. Love how it captures the shows massive popularity, especially among men now. Great read!