(500) Days of Summer: Breaking Genre Conventions

(500) Days of Summer is a Romantic-Dramedy written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. It is the story of Tom, who is revisiting his failed relationship with Summer, who he believed to be the love of his life. It is unbelievably well acted and beautifully directed. The stand-out performance, however, is that of the screen writers’. With an original and exceptional screenplay, the movie masterfully side-steps all clichés and character tropes on its journey to becoming one of the most memorable films of its genre. (Spoiler warning ahead.)

“This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know upfront that this is not a love story.”

In the opening monologue itself, the writer makes the incredibly wise decision of informing the audience about the nature of the story. It is no surprise that Tom and Summer do not end up together as the ending of the film is in the title itself. Yet, viewers eagerly anticipate a cliché-ridden dramatic portrayal of love like countless others we have seen before and find themselves taken aback at the end of the movie. In their defense, it’s not entirely the viewers’ fault to expect a stereotypical take on love filled with dramatic declarations, grand gestures, and of course, a happy ending- which traditionally consists of the two protagonists ending up together.

(500) Days of Summer is a breath of fresh air in the increasingly stale and repetitive atmosphere of Romantic-Comedies today. This is how (500) Days of Summer breaks over a dozen genre conventions and proves itself to be a modern-day masterpiece:

Part I: Perspective

One of the most praiseworthy aspects of the movie is the fact that the story is told from the point of view of the male protagonist. Typically, romantic-comedies are aimed at a female audience and are even dismissed by men as ‘chick-flicks’. By making the smart choice of having the guy tell the story, the film offers a sense of relatability among the male audience and provides a refreshing take on love. That being said, as stated in the opening monologue, ‘love’ is not the central theme of the movie. I believe the story to be more about relationships rather than love.

Part II: Realism

Falling in love is easy. Getting together is also usually not as dramatic and difficult as depicted in movies. The real struggle lies in the hard work that goes into crafting and maintaining a loving and healthy relationship. Owing to its unique narrative style, the film is able to showcase smaller moments in relationships that generally never make it to the big screen. During a flashback sequence, Rachel, Tom’s half-sister, reminds Tom that he has only been looking back at the positive parts of his relationship with Summer and suggests looking again. When he does, we witness some of the painfully real low points in their relationship, ones other movies of this genre would shy away from sharing with the audience. The story skillfully weaves in elements of realism into its characters as well as their situations, allowing us, viewers, to relate to them in a more authentic way.

Part III: Shattering the Illusion of “The One”:

“Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately, she’s who he has been searching for.”

The beginning of the movie presents itself as a classic love-at-first-sight situation. Tom, an employee at a greeting card company, falls fast and hard for Summer, his boss’s new Personal Assistant. Or so we think. Whereas in reality, he falls in love with the idea of Summer. Based on the most insignificant facts, he believes that Summer is ‘the one’. Admittedly, he does get to know her better after prematurely initiating a relationship with her, despite her views against serious relationships. But his strong belief of her perfection blinds him to really see how flawed she is. This takes the form of his biggest flaw- his borderline obsession with Summer. His illusion of Summer’s perfection is shattered on multiple occasions by his half-sister, Rachel, allowing him to slowly comprehend why his relationship with Summer failed and come to terms with them not being together.

“Just because she likes the same bizarro crap you do, doesn’t mean she is your soulmate.”

Part IV: Effective Use of Contrast:

Expectations vs. Reality

One of the most critically-acclaimed sequences in the movie is the infamous Expectations vs. Reality scene. The essence of the film lies entirely in this one scene as it works spectacularly on more than one level. It is not just Tom’s expectations and reality that are presented to us, but quite ingeniously also our own. On one side of the screen, we see not only what Tom wants, but also what we, as viewers, want for him and quite frankly for ourselves too. On the other side is the disappointing reality of the situation; once again for both, Tom and us. For us, not just because of what we want for Tom, but also because of what we want from the movie- a traditional happy ending. This scene also serves as a means to comment on the absurdly high expectations of cinematic love stories and how reality pales in comparison.

Part V: True Love and what it Really Means:

“It’s these cards and the movies and the pop songs, they’re to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything.”

Before quitting, Tom delivers a gut-wrenching speech about how love is glorified in movies and songs, about how deceiving the pseudo-perfect picture of love is, and how reality always fails to match its ridiculously high expectations. Amid his heartbreak, Tom is finally confronted with reality. And when even that fails him, he resorts to cynicism. The movie, however, does not encourage the viewers to be cynical at any given point. On the contrary, it repeatedly hands us examples of true love and what it really means. With Paul (Tom’s best friend) and Robyn, it is seen in the form of a short video clip about the definition of love. First, Paul describes his dream girl but then goes on to explain that Robyn is better than the girl of his dreams because she is real. Or even with Summer and her husband towards the end of the film when she tells Tom how he was right about finding true love all along. The only thing he was wrong about was her. We fail to notice these references as we are busy being bitter with Tom. That is until we are introduced to Autumn, who brings with her, hope and the promise of new beginnings.

(500) Days of Summer successfully breaks stereotype after stereotype and the end result is a sharp, witty and realistic story about the implications of relationships. In today’s day and age, we need more movies like this, with flawed, well-developed, three-dimensional characters. Throughout the movie, we sympathize with Tom. We feel for him and want him to truly find happiness. We watch his character grow and it goes without saying, that we grow as viewers, too. And over the duration of 97 minutes, Tom transitions effortlessly from a hopeless romantic, to a depressed cynic, and finally to a hopeful romantic; and with him, so do we.

- Sana Oswal