Isabel Conklin - Tumblr Posts
The magic of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1 was how it started and I was rooting for the FMC and a random male character i knew nothing about and then by the end of the season they kiss and all I could think was NO.
I love breaking down hunger games and analyzing it, and I've thought a lot about the love triangle. Particularly how there isn't really one. How the love triangle was really just marketing, but it was always peeta and katniss. And also, Gale was always borderline toxic and possessive. If I compare that to TSITP...gale becomes Conrad imo, the way gale assumes that there is some attachment due to his care/protection/ whatever from the past, having issues that make the FMC feel needed and responsible to help, (I actual started writing this in June of 2023 and just stumbled upon it in my drafts so I'll try to finish what I was talking about) saying things to make the FMC feel guilty about choosing the other guy (even in small things, not even dating the other guy, but like talking to him), letting/making the FMC feel as though she's the only one who knows him/what's going on for him.
The thing about The Hunger Games for me is that Suzanne Collins was pointing out how powerful people are (and have always) pointing attention towards entertainment, and especially romance, to distract from serious issues. In the books, the love triangle is hardly present (again, IMO) but the movies proved the point by drawing out the relationships and marketing the movies for the love triangle, which led many people to believe it was just a dumb storyline about a teenage girl who can't choose between two guys uwu, when in reality it was a social critique, told from a teenage girl without criticizing or belittling girls in any respect, and taught a generation about activism.
That is the crucial different between the two, to me. Hunger Games was meant as a social commentary in ya fiction form, which got marketed as a love triangle. Summer I Turned Pretty really is about the love triangle.
Belly in the first episode is reading the Hunger Games, in the 4th episode in the flashback we see she's watching the movie, do you think there's a connection with TSITP love triangle?
Wow , great question. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the hunger games… it wouldn’t be fair for me to make an analysis, but I’d like to think that Jenny never does anything unintentional. In season 1, Cam and Belly went to watch Sabrina at the drive in and the plot of the movie represents the triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. There’s connections everywhere. My sister has seen Hunger Games and she said that there’s not even a love triangle that present. I know that Jere loves Belly, but it’s not as present and deep like I think Conrad’s love is. From what I heard, it seems like Katniss and Peeta’s relationship had the main focus and the third person of the triangle was there to spark things up between them. Same goes for TSITP, Belly and Conrad are beyond teenage love. They’re represented as a love that will always find their way back, no matter the obstacles, they’re meant for one another. The gravitational pull between Conrad and Belly is infinite, the light shines most on them. Jeremiah and Belly’s love is platonic, as teenagers and young adults that can get confused with being in love, but when it doesn’t feel right—you’ll just know. I’d love to hear your theories and connections.