How The Summer I Turned Pretty Reframes 

ate into The Summer I Turned Pretty, Isabel "Belly" Conklin, played by newcomer Lola Tung, comes to a realisation. Surrounded by other giddy teens doing their makeup and immersed in the somewhat patriarchal but changing world of debutante balls

Belly gazes at herself in the mirror and says in a voiceover: “Girls aren’t supposed to know if we’re pretty or not. We’re supposed to wait for other people to tell us before we’re allowed to feel it about ourselves. But isn’t that bullshit? Because, we’re all beautiful in our own ways.”

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The moment comes near the end of Prime Video's adaptation of the popular YA book, which premiered on Friday, and the end of Belly’s summer at Cousins Beach, where she’s been coming for years alongside brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher — but this summer is different. Belly has a glow-up. At 16, she looks different and, more importantly

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feels different, and those around her notice too. After a summer-long back-and-forth love triangle with Conrad and Jeremiah, and months of Belly seemingly hinging her value on the opinions and views of those around her, it’s a monumental realisation that echoes the message of the show

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that beauty is personal, and ultimately, how we view ourselves needs to be dictated, and embraced, by us. In a way, Belly is reclaiming the idea of beauty and glowing up — specifically, the idea that hers is for anyone but herself.

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“I love that line,” Tung tells Refinery29. “I loved saying that line, and I love that Belly gets to say it at the end of this journey that she's had. Because I think it's the perfect way to sum up [the] message of the show.”

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“I love that line,” Tung tells Refinery29. “I loved saying that line, and I love that Belly gets to say it at the end of this journey that she's had. Because I think it's the perfect way to sum up [the] message of the show.”

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