My love for 'To All The Boy's I've Loved Before'

To All The Boy's I've Loved Before, created by Jenny Han

I’m back so catching up I’ve been re-watching the movie ‘To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before’ over and over. It’s become my favorite movie to represent my generation. It has all the things I avoid in my movies but still love. It’s like that though because it’s based on a book. It has the best quotes and relatable moments.

The main character talks about love the same way I do, it’s scary to see it mirror myself. It’s like a reflection and I hate looking at myself so its alarming to see someone else portray the same feelings of love. Usually when I see it talked about on my shows and movies it’s like a 30 year old white guy talking about it. But for this movie it’s an Asian teenage girl, so I felt what she said on a spiritual level.

I grew up on Wattpad, AO3, Tumblr, and more(I don’t want to out myself, lol), so I know a good use of a trope when I see it. ‘Fake Dating’ is one of my favorites, it always has a mixture of ‘Forced Proximity', ‘Enemies/Rivals to Lovers’, and ‘Love at First Sight’ my favorite mixture and all set in a high school setting with an Asian teen perspective. Sign me up!

When I watched this the first time, I graduated high school already and got accepted into a film school in Chicago. So big things were happening for me, at this time. I can recall, I was dog-sitting my sisters new puppies. I was by myself, including the puppies(obviously), and some underage smoking/drinking so I felt it, HARD. I went to an IB school and if anyone knows what that means it’s just a focus on STEM and International teachings. NO SPORTS and NO ARTS. We had no way to express ourselves externally, so I never got that high school experience you could say.

This encapsulates an average girls experience in an average school, grand but real.

It’s not Shakespeare but something as close to in this modern age. And for a girl that’s everything. I needed this, this sendoff to my high school life, what could’ve been, should’ve been, and would’ve been. So I watched and cried over, over, and over again. Saying goodbye to a love story I wanted in a pivotal moment in my life.

As I watch it as a now college graduate, that has now experienced their quintessential school love arc. I can say it does still feel good to watch, the same way as any other older Rom-Com would. That’s because it encapsulated it’s generation. The same way as ‘10 Thing I hate About You’, ’You’ve Got Mail’, ‘Clueless’, the list could go on. It feels TIMELESS, how love should feel.

We all remember how it feels to be in love, you don’t have to be 16 to feel that…

And maybe, just maybe I’ll watch the sequels but for now this is where I’m at.