Chapter 1: What is the cultural significance of 'Love Story' about JFK Jr.?
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From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily on Sunday. Here in Manhattan, downtown in the East Village, there's this tiny Indian restaurant called Panna 2. It's a bit of a hole in the wall, but like any restaurant that survives, it has its charms. For Panitou, one of those charms is that it is filled with Christmas lights. Absolutely covered.
Like imagine the most Christmas lights you could fit into a restaurant and then double or triple that. That's how many lights are in Panitou.
I wonder whether your lights are good.
Panitou has been a novelty for New Yorkers for decades.
We lived in the area for like a couple years, but we've never been in here before.
But lately, it's been drawing a different kind of crowd.
I was asking my mom, like, where should we go for dinner? And she was like, you should try, like, you know, the place that was in Love Story.
Love Story, the fictionalized retelling of the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr., son of a president, one of the most famous New Yorkers of the 1990s.
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Chapter 2: Why does America have an enduring fascination with the Kennedys?
This your go-to date spot?
Yeah, I'm a sucker for a laminated menu.
The show, which ended this week, has been ascending into a real cultural moment. Even if you haven't heard of Love Story, you might still be aware of it or at least know about the kind of phenomenon it's become.
It's like a huge thing on TikTok.
It's what people are texting about, posting about, criticizing, loving.
It's impacting fashion. It's impacting people's memories, a lot of people's parents.
And suddenly, and this is according to Hulu, it is the most streamed limited series in its history.
And the Cravens are the closest thing to royalty we've ever had in America. So I think this is very impactful in the...
It's got its own center of gravity, so much so that a single scene in a single episode could bring a fresh wave of business to a small Indian restaurant in Manhattan.
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Chapter 3: What themes does 'Love Story' explore in its portrayal of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette?
Any show that breaks through these days when our attention is so divided, there's so much competing for it, feels really noteworthy. Do we know how many people are actually watching Love Story?
Hulu is saying this is the most streamed limited series they've ever had. I think 40 million viewing hours. Not only is it streamed, people are interacting with it in real time. They are making their own content on Instagram and other online platforms. You can see on retail websites that demand is up for vintage Calvin Klein, vintage Prada. C.O.
Bigelow, the famous apothecary in Manhattan's West Village, has been stormed by women and probably some men. seeking tortoiseshell headbands such as Carolyn Bessette wore. There'd been JFK Jr. lookalike contests in multiple cities. And so, you know, it's not just a show.
It's a phenomenon. You mentioned Calvin Klein. I saw that they had even done their own, like, 90s edit. They and others are really capitalizing on this moment to sell Carolyn Bessette-inspired fashion. Everybody is trying to sell me, like, here are the pieces that you could wear so that you can
It's quite extraordinary. It's the best thing that happened to Calvin Klein since Brooke Shields in the jeans. In the jeans.
A famous jeans ad. That's right. That's right. Which also makes a cameo on the show. That's right. And speaking of the show, this is a series that is executive produced by Ryan Murphy. Tell us about the kinds of shows he is known for and where this fits into those.
Ryan Murphy is one of the most successful producers in Hollywood. You know, I go back to Nip Tuck and Glee. Glee, by the way, another big cultural phenomenon we should know. Yes, that's right. However, you know, in recent years, he's become known for these types of things like American Crime Story about the O.J.
Simpson case and the Clinton impeachment and Monster, which spotlighted Jeffrey Dahmer. And Love Story, it's not true crime, but it has an element of kind of... Ripped from the headlines, true story TV drama. Yeah, and the Kennedys might say it's a crime. Right. But, right, it has that feeling of, like, we're going to reenact something you remember.
I mean, that's what I think is extraordinary about it. It's not that far away. I see you got a new bike.
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Chapter 4: How has social media influenced the reception of 'Love Story'?
I hated it and I watched it. I watched it for the same reason I watched not only Dynasty when it first came out in the 80s, but I watched the remake of Dynasty, you know, even though I found it far inferior. I mean, there's certainly something escapist about watching depictions of rich people, you know.
I was intrigued to see how these real-life characters were portrayed, and some of them are portrayed very well, but... I think also it's that kind of thing where I'm as fascinated with the discourse around the show as I am with the show itself.
Well, then let us discourse. We're going to take a quick break.
Chapter 5: What criticisms have been leveled against the show 'Love Story'?
And when we come back, we are going to take a deep dive into some of the reasons that the show is as big of a hit as it is.
We might be in a new era of it's so bad it's bingeable. Right. Right.
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Alexandra Jacobs, why do you think the show has been so popular?
Well, one thing is it's a classic Cinderella story, and those always resonate. Typically, our clients make appointments.
I'm a 33 waist, I know that.
Carolyn Bessette was not sweeping out the Garrett. You know, she was not from a poor family, but she wasn't a Kennedy or a celebrity. She was not famous. Yeah, she was not famous.
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Chapter 6: How does the portrayal of Carolyn Bessette differ from reality?
Well, I think that's partly because of the continued participation of the Kennedys in public life. They carry themselves as standard bearers for certain American values. They seem to embody a time of America, rightly or wrongly, where there was sort of a sense of promise and expansion and dream, American dream.
I think they, for years, they embodied a realization of the American dream, which is that you could come from an ethnic group that was frowned upon and Marginalized. Yeah, marginalized, exactly. And achieve the highest office of the land and sort of like the ultimate glamour and success, business success, romantic success.
Well, yes, also having tragic elements that give it that Shakespearean quality.
I can't help but sometimes wonder how I'd be remembered if I hadn't, if I wasn't. What?
America's Widow. Right. The family's tragedies have very much become part of their public story.
Well, also, don't forget they were running in parallel with the development of the media, of which this show is only the latest iteration. So you have, you know, Joe Kennedy's exploits were covered in newspapers. And Jacqueline Bouvier met John Kennedy when she was a photographer. And then when he's shot, when John Kennedy is shot, there's the Zapruder film and it's covered on television.
You know, then you get to this generation we're talking about, and you have print magazines and tabloid television and tabloid newspapers, and now you've got the internet. So, you know, the Kennedys of today are creatures of the internet and of social media, like RFK Jr., Jack Schlossberg.
When we're watching the Ryan Murphy show, we are looking at a couple that was very much a creature of, they were creatures of glossy magazines.
Okay, so that's the Kennedys. I want to turn to Carolyn Bessette. There's a lot of big stuff we have to talk about before we can get married.
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Chapter 7: What role does nostalgia play in the show's popularity?
We all made fun of it. That book was sort of a dating guide for women that was instructing them to let men chase them, which in the 90s was a very retrograde thing. It seems to be, you know, coming back again. But there was a phrase in that book, be a creature like no other. And I think that Carolyn Bessette seems to have embodied the idea of being a creature like no other.
I have no idea if she ever read The Rules or this was just who she was. I think it probably was just who she was. But she seems very self-assured and... You know, John Kennedy Jr. was besieged not only, I mean, he had women throwing themselves at him all the time. You know, what we know about her and as depicted on the show, she did not seem particularly wowed by him.
No, you had to deny the engagement because you couldn't handle the world knowing there was a woman on planet Earth who might not want to marry you.
Who's looking for the escape hatch now, huh? Right. So the fact that we know relatively little about her might have given the show's creators this feeling of license to kind of fill in the gaps in the way that was the most dramatic, would make the most entertainment, would make it the most watchable.
And the character that they created is glamorous and mysterious and most importantly, perhaps, seemingly immune and maybe even put off by JFK Jr. 's fame and spotlight.
She's basically portrayed in opposition to all the other women in the universe of this show as being the only woman, perhaps, who is able to resist the sexiest man alive, which almost certainly flattens the real-world experience of these two people, but nevertheless makes for extremely watchable television. Right.
Okay, let's talk about another major element of the show here, and this has been talked about a lot, which is the style and fashion of the 90s, and specifically also Carolyn Bessette's style and fashion.
Hey, what is that that you're wearing? It's really kind of terrific.
Oh, I just threw it on this morning. It feels like, as I mentioned, every clothing retailer, everything on Instagram is trying to sell me some version of her style. How would you describe the way that she dresses in the series?
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Chapter 8: How does the controversy surrounding 'Love Story' affect its viewership?
Ah, the 90s in New York City.
I never expected to see this era romanticized in the way that it has been. I think that there is tremendous nostalgia for a time before iPhones. Certainly a time before 9-11. A time when creative people could afford to live in Manhattan, perhaps with...
But, you know, still still knock out a living there, a time when creative industries were unthreatened by artificial intelligence and, you know, writing for magazines or or working for a fashion designer seemed like a viable career path. You had a phone on your desk. You might have had a cell phone, but it didn't contain... You weren't ordering your lunch.
You know, you weren't, like, ordering your lunch from an app. You were maybe wandering down the street. You were anonymous.
You were anonymous. And you were not documented. Not every single moment... of your life was under the microscope? There were no location services, not that I was aware of anyway. So you think people are looking at this and feeling either nostalgic for it or pining for it if they never got to experience it? Honestly, as someone who lived through it, I'm not nostalgic for it.
But I think there's a great curiosity about it.
But you can understand why, actually. You're bringing up a good point because if you didn't live through it, it's this idealized version of the 90s that maybe you're fascinated by.
It's the same way I was nostalgic for the 70s and the 90s. I looked at those 70s fashions, which, by the way, the 90s recycled. I mean, every 20 years it all gets recycled. And, yeah, I mean, I just think young people can't – digital natives can't imagine a time when – Their phones didn't dictate every aspect of their life.
I feel like the appeal of Love Story in terms of the era that it portrays and how it could appeal to an entirely new generation is so similar to Sex and the City. Sex and the City, the city was a character. The fashion was a character. And even if you didn't live through that time, you look at that and I think that brought an entire generation of women to New York City.
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