“Life doesn’t have to be so planned. Just roll with it and let it happen”
Jenny Han’s New York Time’s best selling novel To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before proved to be an even bigger hit when the movie premiered on Netflix late August. And, since then, everyone has been unable to stop talking about the teen romcom.
Though many of us find that our favorite part of the movie happens to be Peter Kavinsky and his perfect “boyfriend status,” there’s something else that makes the movie highly enjoyable to just about everyone, and that’s Lara Jean.
Portrayed by Lana Condor, Lara Jean is extremely relatable. From burying her nose in romance novels to staying in on Saturday nights binge watching The Golden Girls, to being totally awkward around boys — we have all found something in Lara Jean that we can relate to.
Today, many movies and TV shows are often times both unrealistic and unbelievable — no matter how much effort is put into it to make it as “high school” as possible.
Let’s face it: not every high school girl is winning the title of Prom Queen and we certainly don’t all have an extravagant party to escape to every Friday night. Take the hit movie The Kissing Booth for example: Elle Evans was portrayed to be a fairly well-known girl at her school with a surplus amount of friends (including the most popular girls in the school) and a super hot boyfriend. Lara Jean, on the other hand, admitted several times throughout the movie that she often times felt invisible to pretty much everyone.
Comparisons aside, Lara Jean just can’t help but be relatable. In reality, a lot of us find ourselves searching the crowded cafeterias at our schools for someplace to sit without having to seem like a total loner. And as for our weekends, those are also spent reading or most likely making a mess in the kitchen — very much like Lara Jean who can be found whipping up new recipes nearly every evening in comparison to attending any parties.
Teens today are in search of characters they can look up to — people they can admire. Jenny Han’s quirky character Lara Jean gives people a sense of belonging and security and helps them feel like they aren’t as alone as they thought they were.
