Since its release on Netflix last month, it's safe to say that To All The Boys I've Loved Before, the teen romantic comedy based on the young adult novel of the same name, has become a legit cultural phenomenon, turning star Lana Condor into an adored leading lady and even boosting sales of Yakult.
Author Jenny Han appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah the other night to talk about the adaptation of her book, explaining why she insisted on having an Asian American actor play the lead character -- an insistence that actually delayed the film, because producers couldn't understand why it was so important.
"I've never seen a teen movie, very few romantic comedies even, where the lead was Asian," she explains. "So, to me, I wanted teenage girls to have that experience that I never got to have."
Han wrote more about this in a New York Times op-ed when the film was released last month.
"Because when you see someone who looks like you, it reveals what is possible. It's not just maybe I could be an actress. It's maybe I could be an astronaut, a fighter, a president. A writer. This is why it matters who is visible. It matters a lot. And for the girls of 2018, I want more. I want the whole world."
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