It Ends With Us was first released in 2016 and proved to be a success. But during the pandemic it became a BookTok darling, turning into a blockbuster. Blake Lively stars in the film adaption - and it has come under fire from some fans.
The highly anticipated adaptation of the blockbuster novel It Ends With Us has finally arrived on the big screen, but not all fans are happy. The movie, which stars Blake Lively, has unexpectedly faced a bit of a backlash on TikTok. It is quite the surprise, especially since BookTok played a huge role in the resurgent success of the book in the first place.
But social media users have flocked to their preferred platforms to raise the alarm over the release of the movie. You might be wondering what is going on and what It Ends With Us is all about? Here’s all you need to know: What is It Ends With Us about? Both the book and the film follow aspiring florist Lily Blossom Bloom (no I haven’t made that up) and her relationship with the charming, handsome older neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (also not made up) and the sudden reappearance of her childhood sweetheart Atlas. Inspired by the relationship between Colleen Hoover’s own mother and father, it explores themes such as emotional abuse and abusive relationships.
The heart wrenching story is part of the appeal which has powered the book to blockbuster success. A sequel titled It Starts With Us was released in 2022, with the author describing it as a “thank you” to fans who supported the prior novel. Why is there a backlash to It Ends With Us on TikTok? The Blake Lively starring adaption of the mega-popular Colleen Hoover book has been a box office hit, but has surprisingly seen a bit of a backlash on TikTok.
The original novel - also titled It Ends With Us - blew up on BookTok (the reading community on the social media app) in 2021 and that powered it to chart-topping success through much of the 2020s so far. So it seems like a bit of a surprise that the highly anticipated adaptation has faced pushback on the same platform. A large part of the criticism is actually for the way the film is being promoted and marketed.
It Ends With Us deals with extremely weighty topics including domestic and emotional abuse. However some fans have taken issue with the way that the film’s star, Lively, has taken the opportunity to promote her new hair care line - as well as her husband’s hit movie Deadpool & Wolverine. TikTok user Katie Howell said in a video: “I have never been more disgusted, disappointed, angry and upset over a PR nightmare.
It really just shows her true colours.” Others have made parody clips poking fun at the way Lively has promoted the movie. Following the backlash, Lively appeared to address it in a post on her Instagram story on 13 August.
She wrote: “One in 4 women aged 18 and older in the US alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. “Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States. Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence.
” Lively also shared a link to the National Domestic Violence Helpline as a resource. How did It Ends With Us blow up on TikTok? Released in 2016, It Ends With Us was a success long before it became a TikTok sensation. It had sold over one million copies by 2019 and had been translated into more than 20 different languages.
It was already quite the success story for an author who started out self-publishing her works. But then came along the pandemic and the spike in popularity of BookTok, a community for book lovers on TikTok to share reviews and recommendations. Hoover - and It Ends With Us - in particular started to see huge success after becoming a BookTok favourite.
The novel was powered to top sales charts in 2022 and 2023 due to its viral success on the social media app. The kinds of videos that powered the book to blockbuster popularity included clips of readers sharing themselves crying after finishing it. This is also similar to the phenomenon that saw A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara hit it big on BookTok.
Has the book faced any controversy? Despite being super popular on BookTok, It Ends With Us and Colleen Hoover’s other works have faced some backlash on the platform (and beyond). The hit novel in particular has been accused by some of glamourising abuse, in a piece for the website Bookstr last year about the backlash, one writer wrote: “Hoover has curated an audience of young, impressionable minds, and the last thing they need to learn is that abusive relationships are okay and to be expected.” However in a report by Newsweek around the release of the film, domestic violence experts weighed in.
Professor Jacquelyn Campbell of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing called it “constructive” and added: “It does not minimise the severity of the issue.” Hoover herself, in an interview with TIME in 2022 , added: ““I’ve heard from readers who left terrible situations that my books inspired them to do so—that’s the most amazing thing I could ever hope to happen. That just sharing stories could really help change another person’s life—the weight of that is immense, but if I’ve helped one person in any way, that’s something really special.
” Hoover and her publisher came under fire in 2023 after announcing an It Ends With Us colouring book. Fans and critics alike lambasted the announcement, which given the serious subject matter of the book was labelled as tone deaf at best, and the idea was scrapped a day after being announced. In response, Colleen Hoover said: “The colouring book was developed with Lily's strength in mind, but I can absolutely see how this was tone-deaf.
” Have you read It Ends With Us, what do you think of the backlash to the film’s promotion on TikTok? Share your thoughts with our tech writer by emailing: [email protected] ..
