We don’t usually watch Chick Lit on Netflix, but To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before got so much hype in the media that we wanted to see it.  The movie was supposed to be  a “charming, sweet love story,” that ”paints a beautiful picture of diverse congruity.” Which means, it has the standard, cliché characters that you expect.  Asian girls. A   gay black boy. And then, of course, the white  boy with a single mom.  If you live in a small midwestern town, these might  be relatable characters.  However, in this mythical town somewhere  in Oregon, all the characters appear to be rich.  The Korean girl with an American name (Sara Jean) has a Daddy who’s an obstetrician probably making at least $400,000 a year. Oddly enough, all of the kids  in the entire high school have no problem applying to expensive  private  colleges  like Stanford or  New York University.  No one’s going to Oregon State or Ivy Tech..

If you live in a small midwestern town where the average income is around $53,000 a year, it’s difficult to feel much empathy for these characters.  Most middle class  college students are working their way through  school  with part time jobs and student loans.  I daresay none of them would be  deciding  between New York University and Stanford University, at $70,000 a year.  They feel fortunate to be attending a state university, and even that’s often a stretch, financially.

Back to the Netflix series.  The upper class Asian girl wants to attend Stanford so that she can live with her white  boyfriend.  There’s never a discussion about part time jobs, scholarships or student loans.  Money is no object.   They  just  want to cohabitate their way through four years of college and maybe get married and live happily ever after.  It doesn’t matter what they’re majoring in, because whatever they do, they won’t have to  worry about the size of their paychecks after graduation, or paying off student loans.

It’s bothersome that this movie  doesn’t  depict  the real world,  where only wealthy kids manage to rise above racial discrimination.  As an example, do the Obama girls  feel shunned by mainstream society?  Are their romantic partners limited to men of their own race? Of course not. Their father is rich and famous.   However, the black janitor’s daughter in Podunk, NE   is probably not going to prom with a blond doctor’s son.  The reality is that people usually end up marrying within their own socio-economic  class.

I’m not sure how this film depicts  diverse congruity—whatever that  means.  In fact, it’s a story about privileged rich kids.   Money trumps diversity in “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”