![]() The time delay worked to her advantage, making England’s one-minute confessionals appear to follow the arc of a romantic novel, a genre which requires a happily ever after (or HEA). While some people wanted the mystery of both England and the audience not knowing what was going to happen, others felt comforted that England wasn’t telling us her story day-by-day. There was a hubbub when we, those who weren’t necessarily following along since the beginning, realized that the events of the saga actually took place in 2021-22, many months before England began the series in the spring of ’23. If England didn’t show up on my feed first thing, I sought her out, desperate to hear the next twist in the love story.Īt first, followers thought England was telling us these stories as they were happening to her in real time. Somewhere along this gripping adventure, I became obsessed. Since she didn’t want to try long distance, they either would have to break up, or she’d have to ask him to stay in her small town. The story had enough conflict to keep the stakes high, because England claimed that the neighbor (who remains nameless throughout the adventure) was slated to move back to New York at the end of the year after his current acting contract was up. Following that first video, which she later said she initially filmed a year earlier, England stitched together highlights from previous videos (“ that neighbor saw my boobs ” “ So I did kiss my neighbor”) before sharing the next segment of the romance, which took place mostly in her small-town Virginia neighborhood. It’s a great set up for an enemies-to-lovers story, one she’s reupped for each installment: They get to know each other, realize they’re both actors, and begin to have a relationship. On March 27, England began the “saga” with a video of herself knitting while complaining about her neighbor bringing home a new girl every night. As viewers come to learn in the videos–and as I did in a recent interview with her-there’s far more to her than the presentation. Or, at least, that’s the character she’s presented us with. ![]() She dresses, as she says in one video, like a Hobbit, and she loves all things cozy. Her rom-com has all the pieces of a Meg Ryan-starring classic: England herself is in her twenties, blonde, and has a huge smile. The serialized video rom-com is not a new thing, having previously found popularity via the 2012 YouTube series, “ The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” But England’s “The Neighbor Saga,” as she calls it, appears to be the first of its kind on the clock app. TikTok knows me better than anyone: It helps me manage mental health conditions I’m not even diagnosed with (yet), shows me all the musical theater clips I crave ( see: “Roxanne opt up”), and somehow knew that I’d like to watch the story of a single mom (like me) who talks really fast (like me) and is a theater person (like me) who takes us along on her journey toward self-love via romantic love (like-maybe someday-me). ![]() Summer England’s videos found me via the uber-powerful TikTok algorithm. I didn’t find Summer England on the clock app, nor did I seek out this kind of serialized content. Instead, the popularity of something is the best measure of success. Packaged for Gen Z with short bursts of plot and character development, England’s form of storytelling-which is composed of tiny morsels of a bigger story told in two-to-three minute sections-increases suspense and buy-in in a world where there’s so much content, it’s hard to stand out. What seems like a simple storytelling experiment on TikTok, an app known for its honest confessionals, might signal a trend of how best to keep an audience engaged in romance. ![]() And recently, she started dating her neighbor and telling us all the deets, which has left thousands of viewers like me rapt, craving her parceled-out updates. A woman named Summer England, who has amassed more than 285,000 followers on TikTok, has the cottagecore aesthetic of a young librarian, the verbal acuity of a Gilmore Girl, and the wide-eyed, innocent face of a romantic comedy heroine. ![]() A fast-talking single mom has won me over again. ![]()
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