The Summer I Turned Pretty Fandom

    The fans in this fandom actively engage with the book trilogy written by Jenny Han titled The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You and We'll Always Have Summer. As a young adult I was particularly fond of Jenny Han and this series, I have reread all of the books at least five times. Although this was one of her first and my favorite trilogy of her books, it did not gain nearly as much publicity as her other series of novels beginning with To All The Boys I've Ever Loved. This was a three-part trilogy that was even turned into three movies that have gained significant popularity on Netflix. 

Belly and Conrad on their wedding day. 

    This fandom is defined by the specific fascination with The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy. The fandom website delves into the world of Isabela Conklin,  and Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher. The website gives detailed biographies about each of the main characters while also including smaller bios listing what the readers know about every character mentioned in the books. The fandom page is interactive so it allows you to go in and add links about the novels or make corrections or additions to character biographies. Because the books are about a teenage girl and her two love interests that she has known forever, there is of course a tab that details the history of Belly's relationship with each of the two brothers. 

Belly

    I think because I consider myself a part of this fandom it's safe to make the observation that most people who are enjoying these books are hopeless romantics. Conrad and Belly's love story was exciting from the beginning. It's one of those long-time coming relationships where she ends up marrying her first crush who happens to be her mom's best friend's son. I think the fans of these books are mostly teenage girls who are still in a phase where they feel like "the little sister" or feel like they haven't 'blossomed.' That's how I felt when I first read these books so being able to identify with Belly when everyone started looking at me as a woman instead of a little girl was exciting but also weird and uncomfortable at times, but better when you have a fictional character to feel it with. 

Belly and Jeremiah at the movie theater. 

    I found out through exploring this fandom that Amazon is on track to film an eight-episode series about these novels that will be co-produced by the author Jenny Han. This was just approved on February 8th, 2021 so I am really looking forward to seeing Belly's story come to life. Another neat part about this fandom is the art created that captures specific moments crucial to the text. There are a few contributing artists to this part of the fandom that I will link here that illustrate many of the characters.

    This fandom does not really interact on an academic level considering the core audience is young adult fiction readers. Although I think it would be neat to see some scholarly articles about the novels I was unable to retrieve any.

    I think what is really meaningful to this fan base is trying to illustrate and visualize the characters we feel we know so well. The first novel of the trilogy was released in 2009 so it feels pretty nice to know I was one of Jenny Han's original readers. After seeing her second trilogy blow up on Netflix as a movie, having read that series too, I felt passionately inclined to let everyone know it wasn't even her best work! I'm really looking forward to Belly Conklin's character and the portrayal of her and Conrad's complicated romance through a tv adaption. One last cool thing I found through researching this fandom was a video put together that is referred to as the 'books trailer' in which once again, fans are using visual techniques to illustrate what is in Jenny Han's beloved first trilogy. I'm sure fans in this fandom are relieved to see that the better trilogy of Han's work is finally having its time to shine. 

                                           The Summer I Turned Pretty Trailer

Works Cited

Andiree (username). "Belly and Conrad on their wedding day." Found, Fan Art, Fandom.com. 24 February 2021, https://thesummeriturnedprettytrilogy.fandom.com/wiki/Fan_Art

Ayestephxx (username). "Belly" Found, Fan Art, Fandom.com. 24 February 2021, https://thesummeriturnedprettytrilogy.fandom.com/wiki/Fan_Art

Tuyetdinhsinhvat (username). "Belly and Jeremiah at the Movie Theatre." Found,  Fan Art, Fandom.com. 24 February 2021, https://thesummeriturnedprettytrilogy.fandom.com/wiki/Fan_Art

Vanessafvo (username). "The Summer I Turned Pretty Trailer." Found, youtube.com, 24 February 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1_shaQstsE