500 Days of Summer is a romantic comedy that was released in 2009. The film centers around Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a hopeless romantic and greeting card writer, who falls in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel), who doesn’t believe in love. He tries to figure out what happened in their relationship during the 500 days they spent together.
According to a movie review by Caroline Siede for AV Club, she states, “500 Days Of Summer is all about challenging expectations. It lulls its audience with comfortable romantic comedy beats only to upend the expected endpoint. And it challenges the entitlement of a misguided young male protagonist who’s so busy idealizing the woman he’s dating that he’s never able to see her full humanity.”
Another movie review by A.O Scott for The New York Times describes the movie as, “a fairly pointed response to the sorry state of romantic comedy in Hollywood, which runs the gamut from gauzily implausible fantasy to blatant and fatuous dishonesty, with an occasional detour into raunchy humor.”
Instead of showing a relationship that ends with a happily ever after, viewers get to see the imperfect side of a relationship that romantic comedies fail to show.
An example of this is one of the most iconic scenes in the film, which is the “expectations vs. reality” moment. The scene shows Tom running into Summer at a party after their break up. While standing alone, Tom imagines an evening where he gets back together with Summer. She walks toward him, and they stand side by side, sharing a laugh. But in reality, Tom is standing alone, and they don’t talk for the entire night.
One aspect of the film that makes it different from other romance films is the story being told from a male’s perspective. In a lot of romance movies, we always see the story told from the female’s perspective. The entire movie focuses on Tom and his expectations of Summer in their relationship. He tries so hard to get Summer to love him the way he loves her. This shows how an individual can’t force a person to love them the same amount.
According to a video essay produced by Alex Meyers, he explains why 500 Days of Summer has a unique take on the classic love story that is commonly shown in romance movies. He states: “The idea of ‘The One’ is inherently a selfish way of thinking. It puts an unfair amount on the other person to fill the emotional shoes you made for them, without much say on their part.”
He also said, “At the very beginning of their relationship, Summer clearly lets him know that she’s not looking for anything serious. But, Tom decided that he and Summer are meant to be.”
Another concept in the film is that a relationship will go through ups and downs. In the beginning, Tom and Summer’s relationship has good moments. They have similar interests and have fun together. The relationship is enjoyable to watch on screen, being that they both get along well. But as the days go on, viewers get to see the imperfect side of their relationship. This shows that every relationship will have not so good moments. That’s what makes it a relationship.
The film teaches viewers that there are two sides to every relationship. The main point of 500 Days of Summer is that we are seeing everything through Tom’s eyes. Summer is seen as a bad person for breaking his heart. When the two reunite at the end of the film, we get to hear Summer’s side.
On day 488, Summer is waiting for Tom at his favorite spot in the city. He expresses his surprise on Summer’s engagement, being that she never wanted to be someone’s girlfriend. She says that she got married because she felt sure about her husband, which is something she didn’t feel toward Tom. When Tom states that he was wrong to assume true love exists, Summer reassures him that it is real, but she wasn’t the one for him.
Toward the end of the film, Tom embraced the idea of being single and independent. According to an article published by Screen Rant, it states, “Ultimately, you cannot be in a relationship that is healthy and positive if you don’t know how to be comfortable on your own. Sure, it can be lonely at times, but you need to learn that it's okay to be in your own company without somebody else there to make you feel happy.”
As Tom grieves his failed relationship, he moves on with life sooner or later. His heart was broken by Summer. But, he does start to feel better. Eventually, he meets another woman that he is open to pursuing another relationship with.
This teaches us that every break up is hard. It is ok to grieve and go through a period where your heart needs to recuperate. However, life does go on.
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