Since I was 5 years old, I have known two things about my identity: that I am Chinese via my father, and white—mostly Norwegian, if we want to get technical—via my mother. Rather than being confused about my blood percentages as a kid, I was on cloud nine about the mix because my whole neighborhood was Chinese and my school was primarily white. So, I felt like I had an “in” everywhere.
But I soon learned my inherent “in” with everyone meant an automatic “out,” too. My social life was filled with different versions of the same questions over and over, and thanks to my self-doubtful nature, I’m not the best at learning from the past and standing firm in what I know to be true. These comments weren’t just from easily ignored strangers. Whenever Asian friends and family pointed out ways in which my perspectives “didn’t count” because of my whiteness, or white people looked at my family like we were some kind of spectacle—which frequently happened in my midwestern hometown—I would have to crawl up a steep hill of self-assurance, regardless of how many times I’d made it to the top before.
In the new series “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” from “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” author Jenny Han, protagonist Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung) is mixed Korean and white. But she doesn’t have to deal with these soul-draining queries about her identity. In fact, throughout the entirety of the seven-episode first season, Belly’s most significant challenge regarding teenage identity is all about which guy she like likes.
If that sounds small or frivolous, well, that’s because it is. But as someone who felt they had to weigh hefty questions about heritage in adolescence rather than caring about crushes and summer flings, I’ve learned these allegedly petty dramas hold a comforting significance.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” is first and foremost a story about…
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