I turn on my computer. I waited impatiently for it to launch. I went online and my breath hitched in my chest — until I heard three little words: “Meg Ryan Fall.”
As true followers of the Meg movement Ryan Fall will surely take note, this is a play on a line of words by Nora Ephron Friend‘Got Mail. Along When did Harry meet Sally? and Sleepless in Seattle, Friend‘Got Mail one of the three of Ephron Meg Ryan The rom-com inspired the annual trend we now call the “Nora Ephron Season” or more commonly Meg Ryan Fall.
I like to think that I was one of the earliest adopters of Meg Ryan Fall. I have vivid memories of the fall of 2012: I put on my favorite wool coat, plugged my headphones into my iPod Nano, and daydreamed about walking around my college campus as the uplifting tunes of “” Dreams” by The Cranberries lulls me into fantasies, like Meg, I too live in The Playful Version of Ephron on the Upper West Side. The world is full of possibilities: Maybe I’ll get a freshly made bagel from the friendly neighborhood bagel shop. Maybe I’ll fill my tote bag with fresh veggies from the outdoor market. Maybe I’ll catch the love of my life standing in line at the local coffee shop. Naturally, I chose to ignore the unsightly placement of Starbucks products in Ephron’s film.
Fast-forward a decade and there’s a new version of Meg Ryan Fall — and it’s everywhere. And everywhere, I mean all on social media. Over the past few September, my Twitter timeline has turned into a sea of Picture are from Movie about Meg Ryan by Ephron: warm-Meg, wrapped in chunky knitwearerrands-Meg holding a pumpkin and a tote bagstyle-Meg stroll through Central Park in golden autumn. On TikTok, hashtag has more than 600 million views and has hundreds video of the girls show off their best Meg Ryan looks, each with a fun Harry Connick Jr. or her iconic movie lines.
This year promises to be no different. “I can smell it,” a woman tweeted along with a picture of Meg wearing a turtleneck When did Harry meet Sally?. “It’s almost Nora season.”
Now viewed as an extension of the anointed Megan Thee Stallion Summer hot girl, Meg Ryan Fall revolves around the aesthetic of Ephron’s late ’80s, early ’90s rom-coms. All wool tailored trousers, structured jackets, leather Oxfords and oversized knitwear are set against the blurred backdrop of the burnt orange and reds of New York autumn. Visual cues are crucial to this contemporary iteration of Meg Ryan Fall; It’s all about having a perfect look for social media.
In theory, I like the idea of Meg Ryan Fall becoming a trend. In theory, I wholeheartedly support every video of a girl wearing a turtleneck and speaking after Sally’s New Year’s Eve speech, and every single tweet along with four pictures of Meg in the fall. But this year, as a few more months of Meg Ryan Fall quickly approach, I can’t help but feel that my beloved season-inspired trend has come to an end.
As is the case with most online trends, Meg Ryan Fall has begun to lose her uncanny appeal. Thanks to the internet, it has been reduced to another quirky aesthetic. “It’s simply the most recent iteration of the same phenomenon the Internet loves to discuss every year: white people uncomfortably obsessed with autumn,” one reader read. Vox piece from last year. In the end, I argue, Meg Ryan Fall only plays a role in driving consumption. Wanting to look like this very specific version of Meg Ryan, you need more khaki pants! More fall-themed decorations! More Pumpkin Spice Coffee!
But in focusing on completely recreating the aesthetic sentiment in Ephron’s Meg Ryan rom-com, the emotional significance is lost. Of course, this doesn’t mean singing a Cranberries and Harry Connick Jr soundtrack every fall. is a deeply meaningful endeavor; I have no such illusions. However, for me, the concept of Meg Ryan Fall still means anything else apart from looking a certain way. For me, evoking the spirit of Meg Ryan every fall isn’t just about repeating her best knitwear and flared pants or tucking a turtleneck into my high-waisted jeans. It’s about capturing the feeling that Ephron’s movies leave me with.
As Rachel Syme noted in a recent one New Yorkers Regarding the director’s legacy, the real appeal of the romantic comedy trilogy starring Ryan lies not only in the visuals, but also in the excellence of the writing and the puns themselves. “Makes Ephron a lovable heroine,” writes Syme, “a character whose mood and atmosphere obscures the artist whose concern is, above all else, in verbal accuracy. ” In other words, Nora Ephron is more than just a vibe — Meg Ryan Fall is starting to turn her into one.
I’m not trying to sound snobby: I get it. I was motivated to dive headfirst into Ephron’s gaze. I have done, and will probably continue to do, myself. After all, Ephron makes the fall look divine. Aside from all the simple shirts and wide-leg pants and neutrals, her fall is one of local fall fairs, quaint roadside markets and businesses. friendly in the neighborhood.
“I live a small life — well, valuable, but small,” Ryan’s character, Kathleen, says in Friend‘Got Mail, with a sad sigh. Today, however, it is this small, valuable life that so many of us are missing out on. And so, we thought, maybe wearing a thicker sweater and filming our own styling for TikTok would help us feel closer to the glamorous, exotic world captured by Ephron.
The irony, of course, is that this goes against what makes her films so captivating and pleasurable. They influence us the way they do precisely because they exist in a universe completely separate from our own — of TikTok and Twitter and Hot Girl Summer.
In When did Harry meet Sally? and Sleepless in Seattle, the internet is just a vague, far-fetched idea. Via Friend‘Got Mail, we find ourselves in the final years of the digital age. It’s an internet of dial-up sounds, noisy desktops, AOL inboxes, and pixelated icons. It’s a world where the biggest online threat is Solitaire addiction; online dating is an unusual thing that happens only in chat rooms; the characters ask each other without any irony, “Are you online?”
In the Ephron movies, Meg Ryan spends a hopeful, friendly, and perhaps most important, happy fall offline. And while the world’s version of Ephron-Ryan may be a nostalgic, rose-tinted novel, I can’t help but embrace it every fall. But this year? I can try to avoid posting about it.
