By Sumayah Medlin
Staff Writer
Aug. 17, 2018 will go down in history as the day “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” which was based on a bestselling trilogy, was released on Netflix. That was the day our hearts were filled with hope for a Peter Kavinsky of our own, and also the day our eyes were blessed with something new to binge watch. The film’s debut also secures 2018 as the year of the romantic comedy.
Lara Jean, the protagonist in the film, is a timid high school student with a crush on her older sister’s boyfriend, Josh. She is too shy to admit her feelings for him and keeps secret love letters that she never sent to any of her childhood crushes, Josh included. But those letters don’t stay secret for long. Lara Jean’s little sister, Kitty, decides to send them out to each boy she liked, which forces Lara Jean to break out of her shell and confront her own emotions.
In 2018 alone, we were given “The Kissing Booth,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and more titles. Two out of those three films feature a mainly Asian-American cast –– a feat as Hollywood strives for more diverse casts.
As time goes on, Hollywood is finally starting to diversify. Minorities have been able to land more big time roles this year, paving the way for others as well. Other ethnicities and races might not even get the luxury of playing a supportive character, so a movie like “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” which featured a mixed Asian-American family, makes great progress in the struggle for representation. The film may be diverse, but that is not what makes it a great movie to watch.
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” gives us hope that even if we may have never had a boyfriend, it’s not because we’re undesirable –– it’s just that we haven’t yet met our Peter Kavinsky, who will be the one to tell us we were never second best.
