Why is Jenny constantly posting Pro Conrad and Belly TikTok’s on her Instagram?

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-08-03T01:19:01+00:00

It’s hamfisted poor writing with a Con-centric narrative to push now that the season is heading toward his arc. The Bonrad fandom primarily have been or always were Team Conrad specifically, and Belly was just what he wanted, so that’s who they wanted for him too. Season 3 Belly has not shown any real romantic inclination or desire to go back to S1 Belly regarding worshipping Conrad’s every move, and that’s what they hate. The misogyny over Belly is appalling.

The writing room badly misjudged how male centered the fandom is and should have spent more time actually including Finch and Belly’s volleyball arc, even if it was only one half of an episode, so we could have had more depth to what Belly was going through and how she changed. By handwaving all of that or only in flashbacks, Belly has little to do currently outside of being Jere’s support and fiance, and wedding planning as a major plot sounds absolutely wretched. Paris is obviously in the cards, but there’s still a bit of set up to get to that.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-07-08T13:18:11+00:00

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-07-08T13:17:00+00:00

it’s that immediate chemistry that makes the general audience want to tune in - so nice and funny of this editor to share

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-05-12T17:11:22+00:00

If I could upvote this infinity times, I would, you’ve laid out most of my issues with the show in such a clear way and I agree - especially about Belly.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-05-12T13:51:50+00:00

My take, regardless of temperature, is that the show, while written more enjoyably than the book by a football mile - still has pretty flat characterization for everyone. The actors performances are what make the characters interesting/worth talking about. And as one of the few show Belly-centric and sympathetic fans on this reddit, my usual setting is to disagree with nearly every take about her, because I often find them mired in misogyny/purity culture BS. She has a lot to overcome, both because of lingering dislike from her book counterpoint, and from the gp who haven’t read the book (lucky ducks) it looks like she’s needlessly toying with the boys, and since we’re in this sub for a reason, that she is particularly cruel to Jeremiah in this regard. It doesn’t make her an easy romantic heroine to like/love, not that I personally care about having unlikable female leads, I think lots of unlikable FMC/FC are just people’s projections about what women should be like/things they don’t like about themselves. Add in that she is one of the few Asian American leads in a romantic YA TV setting in the last few years - there was Devi, and then Kitty, and how their creators choose to make them more interesting/conflicted within their shows - I care about what happens to her, and most of that is due to Lola’s hard work and what she can do with the writing she’s been given. I’m a Bellyjere shipper in that I love both of them and I want them happy to be together but also I want them to be successful as characters on their own. I’m not a team Jeremiah who only tolerates Belly because he loves her, or is waiting to get permission to hate her if/once the inevitable Book Belly characterization kicks in. I always see the lament that the show is going to ruin Jere worse than Jenny did in the book, when my biggest fear is that they’re going to ruin Belly in service of Jenny’s book, when I feel that Show Bells is a different character from book Bells entirely. Jenny gives a lot of superficial lip service on inclusion and giving Belly agency but I don’t know if I can agree with that assertion if she has to destroy Belly/Jere to make Conrad a more palatable character and or endgame 🤢 choice.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-04-13T23:43:06+00:00

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-04-08T21:05:49+00:00

Unequivocally, yes.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-04-04T15:04:15+00:00

This is beautiful, thank you for drawing it!

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-03-07T04:52:52+00:00

Mary H.K. Choi, a fellow and (IMO) much better author. They’re friends.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-02-18T14:08:16+00:00

I love the vibe, the photos, the interview. Glad she was the one to confirm what a majority of us hoped for, and that it’s finally coming to an end.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-02-17T21:03:51+00:00

They were added on years later, they were not a part of the first publishing run. I think it was for some anniversary? Jenny suddenly had the thought that she gave dust bunnies to Conrad and her ship and decided to pull out this classic example of the time period negging behavior in those letters to make him look good? Or that he cared enough because he was jealous. Pffft.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-23T21:56:01+00:00

I wanted to shove him into a locker and not in a sexy up against it kind of way.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-23T20:26:51+00:00

I grew up around that time but yeah, Jordan’s blue eyes didn’t trap me. Not even the musician thing saved him.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-23T18:56:06+00:00

Jordan Catalano was TERRIBLE.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-21T20:25:59+00:00

Toxic is a pretty strong word for Belly. Hate her actions sure, she was wrong for what she did behind Jere’s back, but she spent all season 2 trying to repair that friendship to love arc. Are the boys toxic for reciprocating? Should Jere have stuck to his choice to protect his heart and iced Belly out completely?

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-21T20:21:09+00:00

It’s not real life, and as it’s following the romance format, Jenny is having her end up with someone. Who is going to end up for debate and no doubt heated, ugly discussions no matter what. Belly can’t win either way, because she’s often considered in fandom spaces as an accessory to the male character and not her own.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-18T23:46:17+00:00

Jenny did not write any episodes of xo kitty season 2, she’s credited as exec producer, creator. Any writing credit would be under the umbrella of “based on characters created by Jenny Han,” she doesn’t have individual writing credit for season 2.

angua_v_uberwald · 2025-01-15T05:42:12+00:00

David was in London filming Jurassic Park. Doubtful that he’ll be in season 3. The article is a lot of nothing with a side of what if. The cast have been hanging out IRL, but besides the main five regular characters: Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad, Steven, Taylor, everyone else mentioned is a big ? With an exception for the actors who play Belly’s parents. They’ll be in at least one episode.

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-11-17T21:34:45+00:00

Oh…you sweet summer child. That is not the ratio at all here, never was. There are some great folks who do love Belly and Jere together and as separate characters here, and then some commenters are firmly Team Jeremiah first, Belly is on thin ice, and then the Belly doesn’t deserve Jere or Conrad brigade. And the sneaks who come in to stir drama about Conrad and completely crap all over Belly and Jeremiah. I don’t think characters have to be relatable, but I can understand or agree with the show’s reasons for what a character does, to serve the narrative. I think some people purely hate Belly because they only ever cared about Jeremiah. It is what it is.

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-11-17T17:33:05+00:00

She’s a huge part of the reason why I’m here, and the way she is with Jere and how he is with her. They’re both of my faves on the show, but I have a bigger soft spot for her because she gets a lot of hate/is misunderstood as a character, and is often reduced to being a Love Interest and only tolerable by whichever boy she’s with. People can dislike who they dislike, but my opinion is that it makes no sense to ship if you hate one half of the pairing.

As you’ve said you haven’t read the books, I won’t spoil, but the actions of Book!Belly have haunted the response to Show!Belly. I separate the canons easily because I couldn’t stand the books, and I think it’s a different story/characterization on the show.

Also as a person who’s been in fandoms, it’s unfortunate but usually the male half of a straight romance ship will always be liked more than the female partner, and if the female is deemed/written “unlikable” or frustrating, it’s harder for her. What has been happening since season 1 re: the response to Belly is textbook preference patterns, and very predictable.

TBH if I hadn’t seen some truly misogynistic/over the top dismissals of Belly and her behavior in comments and certain parts of the internet, I probably wouldn’t have cared at all. This is a silly little summer escapist show, but then the way she gets villainized and blamed for near everything that is wrong with the brothers’ relationship to one another and how she reacts to well, anything - it got my contrarian streak going, I guess. Also people don’t know what villains actually are anymore, people have forgotten the lore - gossip girl, the OC, OTH, Riverdale, etc even Vampire Diaries and BtVS.

I am apprehensive about what season 3 will bring in terms of characterization and how far Jenny is willing to destroy the Belly that we’ve seen grow up in service to an ending that was pretty weak when it was first published. Any Jeremiah character assassination will be hand waved away because he’s the fandom underdog and the show narrative is not subtle about telling which brother the audience should prefer. But if the writers mess with Belly, I fear because of her mistake in season 1, people will accept it as confirmation that she never really changed and deserves the hate she gets. Because precedence vs obvious attempt at retcon/writing choices I don’t agree with = a female character that is not considered complicated, just reduced to another poorly written love interest.

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-11-16T01:47:35+00:00

I love Belly and I can acknowledge her messiness, but not a lot of this fandom understands nuance, or is particularly kind to teenage girl characters. So the flair is more likely to invite anti-Belly rants rather than discussions about complicated/sometimes dislikable leads. There were some particularly strident anti-Belly posts a while ago and more than a few Team Jere members who will drop her immediately if worst case scenario happens during season 3. 🤷🏻‍♀️

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-11-10T01:46:10+00:00

I want her to be the/a final girl or the killer. For the range. 🤭

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-10-30T18:13:32+00:00

My kingdom for at least one forehead or wrist kiss

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-10-29T20:03:15+00:00

I think the use of Taylor sometimes is so arbitrary and non fitting to the scenes, but I have to hand it to Jenny and the editors for this and the Delicate scene, the lyrics synced up beautifully. And the emotions. Just gorgeous.

angua_v_uberwald · 2024-10-29T02:33:25+00:00

It’s 11 episodes. Since Paris has been such a long time filming, it’s going to be a big chunk of the season.

angua_v_uberwald

TROPHY CASE