Judy Blume’s 1975 novel Forever… got the Netflix treatment, and showrunner Mara Brock Akil has brought the timeless teenage romance into the modern day.
In the bingeable, eight-episode series, starring Michael Cooper Jr. and Lovie Simone as two young adults in 2018 Los Angeles, Forever explores themes of sex, sexuality, social media, family and having the courage to follow your dreams.
“Why Forever…? Because I remember the visceral reaction I had to Forever…,” Brock Akil exclusively tells Parade. “It was the thing we were passing around. Pages were falling out of my book. We paper-clipped the book. That's what we were interested in — that book sparked such a conversation back in the '80s for me. I wanted to spark that kind of conversation [now].”
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Blume’s novel, which landed on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 to 2000, is set in the ‘70s and focuses on Katherine and Michael, who meet and quickly fall for each other. Katherine grapples with the idea of losing her virginity to Michael and eventually getting on birth control, a radical plotline for teens to devour in the ‘70s.
This time, in Brock Akil’s updated version, Katherine (now named Keisha Clark) has already lost her virginity and is dealing with another teenage crisis, which (spoiler alert!) involves a sex tape. And Michael (now named Justin Edwards) is actually holding off on sex until the timing is right and is dealing with how he’s perceived as a young Black man exploring his feelings. According to Brock Akil, Keisha mirrors Blume's male character, and vice versa.
Lovie Simone as Keisha Clark in 'Forever.'Courtesy of Netflix
“I actually think Black boys are the most vulnerable because, as parents, we often have to prepare before they're even thinking about sex, before they're thinking about girls,” explains Brock Akil. “Sometimes you have to remind them about how society is viewing them as early as fourth and fifth grade. So when you decide to think about [your child having] a relationship with a girl, as a parent in a Black household, one of the heartbreaking conversations you have to have is about the perception of you being violent. You have to talk about very uncomfortable things.”
In Netflix’s Forever, the character of Justin (played by Cooper Jr.) is just trying to navigate his way through high school and figure out the best path forward. After meeting Keisha at a New Year’s Eve party, he wants to pursue a relationship but is sidelined by his parents, his grades and basketball. He’s also figuring out what exactly he wants to do when he grows up, even if that means disappointing his parents.
“I wanted to give a portrait to young black Boys the way they really are,” says Brock Akil. “They're confident one day, awkward as heck the next day, confused, excited and emotional. And there's a lot of conversation going on right now about young men — men to boys. Where is the space for them to have real human emotions and vulnerability and not keep posturing themselves as uber-macho or hyper-masculine? Where is their ability to have feelings?”
As for Keisha (played by Lovie Simone), “I wanted to make room for the smart girl,” says Brock Akil. She created Keisha to be at the top of her class, yet she faced the same teenage issues as her peers. “The smart girl can make mistakes.”
Michael Cooper Jr. as Justin Edwards in 'Forever.'ELIZABETH MORRIS/Netflix
With Brock Akil’s modern-day Forever, “I'm changing race, I'm changing place, I'm changing times,” she explains. “A lot of new narrative had to happen.” That’s where the series’s showrunner got the idea to incorporate just how big of a deal social media and a cell phone play in teenagers’ lives.
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“The phone is an extension of sexuality,” Brock Akil explains, referencing how it’s so commonplace for young adults to send explicit pictures or text messages back and forth these days. “They make one mistake, and they can ruin their futures,” she says, pointing out how teens explore “their sexuality with this device.”
What remains the same between the novel and the new Netflix series is that teenagers will continue to be teenagers. They will make mistakes, fall in love, explore their sexuality and dream of a big, bright future.
“Every relationship has a gift,” Brock Akil says. “Ultimately, I just wanted a love story — an epic, intimate love story — within a love letter to Los Angeles that really [you feel like] you just want to hug all of our children, of every race and background. They belong to us, and we need to make room for them.”
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