Flipped



When second-graders Bryce and Juli first meet, Juli knows it's love. But Bryce isn't so sure. Girl-phobic and easily embarrassed, young Bryce does everything he can to keep his outspoken wannabe girlfriend at arm's length... for the next six years, which isn't easy since they go to the same school and live across the street from each other. But if Juli finally looks away, will it be Bryce's turn to be dazzled? Flipped takes Bryce and Juli from grade school to junior high, through triumph and disaster, family drama and first love, as they make the discoveries that will define who they are - and who they are to each other.

Flipped is a young adult novel, written by Wendelin Van Draanen and published in 2001. It was made into a movie by Rob Reiner; the movie was released in 2010.


 * Abhorrent Admirer: How Bryce views Juli.
 * Abusive Dad: Mr. Loski borders on this in the movie, going so far as to hit Bryce's sister. In fairness to him, it happens one time, and as such he's not a full-on example of the trope.
 * Also somewhat mollifying the situation, he was under stress from trying to shift his views on Juli's family, it was pointed out to him earlier that night that he'd lost a vital part of himself when he quit his band, he'd been drinking fairly steadily, and it was after she called him an asshole, which was much more of an issue at the time when the film was set.
 * Alpha Bitch: Sherry to hear Juli tell it. Not according to Bryce, or anything we see her do onscreen.
 * Bachelor Auction: Bryce is put through this and is sold to the most popular girl in school, Shelly. He is not happy about this however because he wanted to be bid on by Juli who bid on the boy before him.
 * He also lampshades the Double Standard of the trope, noting that if they were auctioning off the girls, no one would think it was cute.
 * Betty and Veronica: Juli and Shelly/Sherry (and later Miranda) for Bryce. Subverted in that Bryce has no interest in Shelly; he only uses her to annoy Juli.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mr. Loski in the book, who hides a lot of petty hatred under a smooth exterior; he's a bit more obvious about it in the movie, where he borders on Abusive Dad. Juli thinks Shelly is an example, but while she's a little shallow and catty, she's hardly evil.
 * Character Development: Bryce in particular gets quite a bit, moving from a deliberately shallow Stepford Smiler to a genuinely nice, if very confused, kid. Juli, conversely, starts learning to see past people's surfaces and look at what's underneath. This proves problematic when it comes to Bryce.
 * Childhood Friend Romance: Both of them almost end up as Unlucky Childhood Friends to one another, but after much growing up on both their parts they go the victorious route instead.
 * Cool Old Guy: Bryce's grandfather, Chet Duncan.
 * Courtly Love: Bryce and Julie never even kiss although they are only in seventh grade when the story ends.
 * Everything's Better with Chickens: Juli's pet chickens.
 * First Kiss: Juli is convinced that Bryce is carrying her first kiss. Bryce would beg to differ...then.
 * Genki Girl: Arguably, Juli during a couple of scenes in their second grade. By the time the main story starts she's grown up.
 * Girl Next Door: Juli is such a friendly neighbor that she regularly gives Bryce her chicken's eggs for his family.
 * Growing Up Sucks / Freudian Excuse: During the awkward family dinner, it's implied that Bryce's father is so mean-spirited in part because he feels trapped in his role as a suburban bread-winner and that he regrets having given up his early dreams as a saxophone player in a band.
 * Jerkass:
 * Bryce's father, Rick/Steven (his name was changed for the film) is a petty jerk completely caught up with surface appearances.
 * Bryce's friend Garrett, who has no problems betraying Bryce, or ditching him when he becomes a social pariah. Not surprisingly, Garrett and Bryce's father ended up shaping Bryce's views on Juli, which is why he's initially so cold towards her.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bryce. On the surface he's detached, paranoid, and at times, outright manipulative of others. But he's a product of his environment, and at the core of it, really isn't that bad.
 * Kidanova: Played with. Bryce has lots of girl's pining after him and he's very aware of it. He's also more or less completely uninterested, and only uses Shelly/Sherry to keep Juli at bay.
 * Also justified, at least within the film, where we see that Bryce is in very good shape for a teenager, and is a known sports player in school, along with being cleancut and good-looking.
 * Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Bryce moves in right across the street from Julie. She sees him and decides that he's walking around with her first kiss.
 * Love At First Sight: For Juli anyway.
 * No Social Skills: Juli early on, what with barging into the Loskis' moving van, following Bryce everywhere, ambushing him at school, and sniffing his hair in class, the girl does not have the best grasp on social niceties.
 * Puppy Love: The basic premise.
 * Rashomon Style: Shows the events in the movie and book from the perspectives of both Bryce and Juli, which are quite different, especially at the start.
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Bryce and Julie, with the addendum that Bryce is pretty messed up.
 * The Sixties: The film moves the setting to 1963.
 * Shallow Love Interest: Subverted. Bryce comes off this way from the perspective of Juli's parents and friends. In reality he's got lots of depth; he just also happens to be a raging Stepford Smiler and is deliberately repressing it. Just as she's finally giving up on him, he starts to show it...
 * Actually also played straight. After getting over her pining for Bryce, Juli actually comes to learn that she really knows little to nothing about Bryce as the two never had a real conversation. It wasn't until Bryce attempted to make amends for his previous callousness that the two actually started to bond.
 * Stepford Smiler: Bryce. He's obsessed with blending at school, making sure that no one realizes how bad the situation at home is, and remaining completely under the radar, all while covering how badly repressed he is. An interesting variation as he looks like a Type B to the outside world, but is actually far more of a Type A. There's a lot going on there; he just doesn't like to show it.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Juli acts a lot like one early on. She later starts to grow out of it; unfortunately, Bryce still remembers her this way.
 * Stalking Is Love: Juli's following of Bryce is never portrayed as anything other than cute; then again, she was in the second grade.
 * Tomboy: Julie will climb a tree, own chickens and tame her yard.
 * Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Juli loves Bryce first but then starts to fall out of love just as Bryce realizes that he is in love with her.
 * Verbed Title
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: What Juli was first attracted to in Bryce.