“Soda attracted girls like honey draws flies”: The Outsiders, the Boy Band Formula, and Adolescent Sexuality

Abstract

This article examines The Outsiders against the backdrop of all-male pop singing groups during the 1960s such The Beatles and The Monkees. More specifically, it makes a case that S. E. Hinton’s classic text incorporates a variety of elements from the emerging formula for boy bands. Understanding this point not only places the 1967 narrative in fuller dialogue with its original historical era, but also adds a previously overlooked facet to the book’s initial attraction and ongoing appeal. The Outsiders certainly caters to adolescent desires for literary realism, but it doesn’t hurt that the novel also caters to readers’ budding sexuality.