There’s something in the air of late. A desperation and desire so deeply embedded, and what we call yearning, as portrayed ever so adequately by Conrad Fisher—who’s enroute to Paris at this moment to shoot his last shot with his first love, Belly Conklin. As The Summer I Turned Pretty gears up for its highly anticipated finale episode, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter are drowning with edits of Conrad’s signature brooding stares, quiet longing, and the restrained ache of a boy who feels too much but says too little.
Cue his sad-boy eyes, finger twitches, first-person narratives, preferably playing out against a Taylor Swift song. So what is it about a man who yearns that has got the whole internet so hooked? Why do we swoon over fictional men who yearn with an all-consuming intensity?
Perhaps it’s because the lack of real connection seems common in today’s culture of dating apps and online profiles. That fantasy of being pursued and longed for by an attractive and intelligent man, or even simply someone who can come up with something better than ‘wyd’. People are obsessed because Conrad represents a kind of vulnerability rarely seen in modern dating scenarios. He doesn’t just love Belly. He physically aches for her. He loves her from afar, often in quiet, tortured ways, without always chasing instant gratification in an era where situationships, ghosting, and swipe culture reign supreme.
So in a fictional world, the more men yearn, the better.
Conrad wasn’t the first, and he most certainly wouldn’t be the last. Below, Vogue Singapore spotlights the greatest yearners in television and film.
