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Like a brightly colored, sun-soaked tornado, The Kissing Booth burst onto the Netflix scene in May 2018. With its sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, garnering 66 million viewers in just four weeks, this franchise isn’t just a splashy number amidst the dozens of teen rom coms in Netflix’s catalog. These films have cemented their place in the streaming service’s hall of fame, with the release of a third film burning brightly on the horizon.
The first film follows a teenage girl named Elle, portrayed by Joey King, who falls for her best friend’s older brother, Noah, portrayed by Jacob Elordi. Dating your friend’s sibling is against one of the many friendship rules created by Elle and Lee, portrayed by Joel Courtney when they were kids. Lee and Elle decide to host a kissing booth at their school’s carnival to raise money, and the booth becomes not only a smash hit, but also a pathway into Elle and Noah’s star-crossed, or in this case, star-cursed, romance.
The sequel focuses on Elle and Noah’s long-distance woes, as she finishes senior year in California while he wanders Harvard’s campus. Concerns about another girl getting a little too cozy with Noah, winning an upcoming “Dance, Dance Revolution” tournament with the help of new kid Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez), and Elle’s wars with herself about where she should go to college, should she be with Marco or Noah, and if she’s being a bad friend or not help pad the bloated run time.
At first glance, these movies’ plots, particularly the sequels, don’t make any red flags pop out. After all, rom coms focusing on forbidden or unlucky romances have been around since the genre’s genesis. The issue with these specific ones, specifically The Kissing Booth 2, lies in the red flags that bury themselves under the bright colors and loud music of the movie. The Kissing Booth 2 overflows with harmful messages about romance and teenagerhood, and none of these messages are ever challenged or condemned by the narrative.
Always Stay With Your First Love-Even If They Hurt You
Throughout the film, Noah and Elle’s behavior towards one another is anything but romantic. Their lack of communication and trust in one another aren’t a fluke or a mere product of teen immaturity. Both prove to be a pattern. During a trip to Boston to see Noah, Elle finds an earring under his bed and proceeds to read his text messages without him knowing before leaving Boston without even a goodbye. Both the earring and messages belong to Chloe — a pretty girl Noah’s befriended at Harvard who he’s very, erm, touchy and flirty with.
Elle has every right to be upset about what she uncovered, but she waits days until she finally asks Noah about the earring, which he denies knowing anything about. But after some Instagram-stalking, Elle sees a picture of Chloe wearing the earring, starting the cycle of miscommunication all over again. Sure, not every teenager is always the most communicative. But by having this be a recurring issue throughout the movie, all the lack of communication between Noah and Elle does is show how unsuited to be a couple they are — and make audiences wonder why she chooses to stay with him in the end when she can’t even bring herself to tell him any worries she’s having, big or small.
In fact, Elle decides the best time to confront Noah about Chloe’s earring is at Thanksgiving dinner, with both their families and Chloe in attendance. The only time this couple talks about serious issues of harder topics is to advance the plot, not because they want to or feel like they should. Elle does this for a ‘gotcha’ moment to hurt Noah, as he’s done nothing but emotionally wound her throughout the whole film. But two wrongs don’t make a right and trying to hurt your partner because they hurt you is a blazing red flag snapping wildly in the breeze. Speaking of red flags, Noah’s flirty behavior with other girls and his lack of communication makes Elle emotionally and visibly upset and anxious.
When she’s with Marco, however, she’s more relaxed, happy, and content. Her decision should be obvious, right? And yet, she still chooses to be with Noah. All because he got to her first. The message of staying with a romantic partner solely because you got with them first isn’t healthy, and Elle even tells Marco that he’s “not the one,” implying that Noah is her one true love. But this sequel provides no evidence to back up Elle’s claim, minus her tangled feelings. Noah does nothing to earn Elle’s love, but she, too, offers no tangible reasoning for the audience to see why he would still want to be with her– especially after she cheats on him.
Cheating Has No Repercussions
At about the film’s halfway point, Elle cheats on Noah—on a national public Livestream, no less. With Noah in the crowd watching. During her and Marco’s performance at the knockoff “Dance, Dance Revolution” competition, she ends their routine by kissing Marco. And yet Lee never confronts her about it, never has anything to say to his best friend who cheated on his brother in such a public way. Marco attempts to talk to her about it after, only to be met with Elle running away, and not again until the end of the movie when he confesses his feelings for her since that kiss only amplifies said feelings. Noah doesn’t say anything about it until there are nine minutes left in the film, and he only brings it up to see if Elle has feelings for Marco.
Noah is clearly a less-than-stellar boyfriend. That doesn’t give Elle a pass to cheat on him with the first guy who shows her any crumbs of basic respect. The film doesn’t set out to take a stance on what is or isn’t moral to do in a relationship, but by rewarding Elle with the guy she wants and never having her apologize for cheating on him (in such a public way, no less), the film never sends the message of cheating being bad, actually. In fact, after Elle kisses Marco, she only feels guilt when she visibly sees Noah a mere 20 feet away. Would she have felt any shame at all had she not seen her boyfriend’s face in the crowd?
Besides her and Noah’s relationship temporarily being in turmoil, Elle never faces any repercussions for this egregious action. Both boys still want to be with her. Her friendship with Lee fractures for reasons unconnected to her hurting his brother. No one at school calls her out for this, not even her own father. By not having Elle face any lasting consequences for her mistake, the film implies that love can overcome anything, even cheating, which isn’t an idea worth listening to. If someone wants to stay with a partner who cheats on them, that’s their choice. But cheating shatters the very foundation of a relationship, and it’s, rightfully, a dealbreaker for many. If you cheat on your partner, you should be called out for it, teenager or adult, but the film refuses to lecture our leading lady.
Female Characters Don’t Need Personality, Actually
Prior to Noah planting the idea of applying in her head, Elle expresses no interest or curiosity about Harvard. If you’re wondering what Elle wants to major in, or if she’s still trying to figure it out, the film’s guess is as good as yours. Besides planning a kissing booth and playing a knockoff “Dance, Dance Revolution” game at the local arcade, Elle Evans has no discernible interests. Her personality leaves much to be desired. For her college essay, of which the topic is where she wants to be in five years, she writes how she wants to be like the best traits of other people in her life, traits she herself and the film must believe she doesn’t already possess.
The only personality trait Elle seems to possess is hypocrisy. She spends so much of the film thinking Noah’s cheating on her with the first girl she sees him interact with at school (although Noah’s flirty behavior towards Chloe isn’t exactly nonchalant). But, shockingly, Noah never actually does the cheating. The former player with a long trail of broken hearts behind him isn’t the one who kisses someone else. It’s Elle, the one terrified of Noah interacting with college girls, who break the very foundation of their relationship, who takes the last scraps of trust and loyalty her and Noah’s relationship has and tears them apart in one fell swoop.
The narrative doesn’t allow her any agency outside of her choices in doing a dance completion, kissing Marco, and choosing to be with Noah at the end. The majority of the few choices she does make all revolve around boys. Heck, she graduates high school without having chosen a college yet! Normally, I’m all for teen-centered media showing it’s okay not to have your whole future planned out at 18. But repeatedly showing a female character only able to make decisions about the boys in her life is both shallow and, frankly, insulting.
Elle Evans is a blank canvas, and there’s no hint of paint or anything coming along to make her personality more colorful. The Kissing Booth 2 had a chance to further develop the leading lady of this franchise, but it simply didn’t. Elle’s character growth is stagnant at best and nonexistent at worst. Unless she’s caught up in relationship drama, romantic or platonic, Elle doesn’t have enough individuality to capture the audience’s attention. This is no fault of Joey King, who tries to make the best of the material she works with and a talented actress. But even a star can’t make this character shine.
We Need To Talk About Marco
While every other character’s entire personality revolves around their significant other and the drama unfolding with them, Marco Peña provides a steady presence in the film. He’s a talented musician, dancer, and athlete. He’s conversational, friendly, and thoughtful. Marco proves to be more interesting than our heroine and love interest combined, even with his smaller screen time. He’s also a Hispanic love interest amidst a sea of white faces in the rom-com genre. Having a Hispanic main character is a step in the right direction for representation in the film industry.
Still, Marco losing out to the white boy Noah, despite the former being kinder, warmer, and more attentive to Elle, isn’t a message worth receiving. Elle’s feelings for Marco just aren’t stronger than her feelings for Noah, despite him being twice the guy Noah ever will be. Elle deserves to have her own agency in her romantic choice. The film, for all its faults, does allow her that. But when that agency is spent choosing a toxic partner without it being a critique of unhealthy relationships, why bother including it at all?
Marco’s less than ideal introduction to the story sets a worrisome tone for how his character will be treated. Elle chats with another girl in the principal’s office, and the girl shows Elle a video of Marco working out, complete with zoom-ins on his abs, back, arms, and backside. While Zakhar Perez is an adult, his character is a high schooler. Dedicating an entire scene to the objectification and sexualization of his body, coupled with close-up shots of different parts of said body, continues the alarming trend of Hollywood’s hyper-sexualization of teenage characters. If a character is underage, their body shouldn’t be picked apart and focused on the way Marco’s is. Period.
The cherry on top of this-frankly disgusting-scene is Elle accidentally turning on the school’s intercom and speaking about Marco and his body to the entire school. While teens talking about how they find another teen attractive is common and normal, Marco’s blatant objectification never gets condemned by the narrative. It’s treated as a joke instead of as something Elle should apologize for. Sure, Marco never explicitly states that what happened makes him uncomfortable, but that doesn’t make what Elle did okay.
If the roles were reversed and Marco was the one speaking like this about Elle, I’d bet a lot more audience members would’ve spoken out about this scene. Teen characters of all genders can be objectified and be the ones objectifying someone else, but that will never make this kind of scenario okay in media or real life.
But Why Does It Matter?
The Kissing Booth 2 will never sweep at The Golden Globes or earn a spot in The Academy’s Museum. It may not transcend decades the way classic ’80s and ’90s rom-coms have. However, the high viewership of this film proves how popular and well-watched The Kissing Booth 2 was. While there’s no concrete data to show how many people of a certain age group watched the movie, it can be inferred that teen girls make up the target demographic. The bright colors, upbeat pop tunes, and focus on high school relationship drama are staples of the average teen flick.
There is nothing wrong with young girls consuming feminine-targeted media and even enjoying that media. The issue lies with the messages those pieces of media sell to them. When a 12-year-old, for example, watches film after film of a girl choosing a romantic partner who treats her as poorly as Noah treats Elle, then it becomes normalized to that young girl. Don’t pick Marco, the boy you communicate with better, who listens to you, encourages you in your pursuits, and helps you work through issues. Pick Noah, someone you can’t even bring yourself to trust even the slightest bit. Pick Noah, who dismisses your feelings, who won’t sit down with you and say, ‘let’s talk about this.’ Pick Noah because he’s attractive, because he’s your first, because he’s, well, Noah.
The messages conveyed in this film are dangerous to young viewers of any gender. Cheating is normalized and unchallenged. Objectification gets treated as some quirky joke. College decisions take a backseat to relationship drama. The heroine chooses a toxic white boy who can’t even do the bare minimum for her instead of the kinder and overall better Hispanic boy. These takeaways may make older audiences roll their eyes, but they can leave lasting impressions on the young, impressionable teens the movie markets itself towards.
With the third film slated for release in 2021, new trailers, promotion, and the movie itself are soon to flood social media timelines. With those comes the resurgence of the past films and the plethora of examples of what not to do in a relationship. Choosing to watch, and even enjoying, these films don’t make you a bad person. But keeping a critical eye open during any piece of media, especially one aimed at younger audiences, is vital and may help when pressing play on the conclusion to this trilogy.