The Villainization of Summer: Movies Where We Missed the Point
collage by Mikayla Alpert
The film 500 Days of Summer (Webb, 2009) is often referred to as an “unconventional” or “accurate” rom-com. Starring Zoe Deschanel, as Summer, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as Tom, the non-linear film follows their relationship from start to finish over the course of 500 days. Summer enters Tom’s life when she becomes an assistant at the greeting card company where he works. Tom pursues her and they begin an unofficial relationship which is soon ended by Summer, much to Tom’s dismay. Fans of the film have long discussed whether their breakup was justified or if Summer is simply cold-hearted. The debate got so big that even Joseph had to step in and explain his take on the failed relationship.
One of the first misconceptions of the film is that many audiences see it only as a romantic comedy. However, at the beginning of the film, the narrator states: “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.” The screenwriter of the film, Scott Neustadter, explained in an interview that he wants the audience to see the film as a coming-of-age story, not just a romance. The main plot focuses on Tom and Summer’s relationship, but since the narrative is told from Tom’s point of view, the film is more about how Summer affected his life and outlook on love. The film’s ending solidifies it from being considered a romantic comedy, as Tom does not get the girl.
500 Days of Summer is narrated by an unknown male voice, but the story follows Tom’s journey and adopts his perspective. Tom is a self-proclaimed “nice guy” and hopeless romantic. He thrives on the idea of soul mates, true love, and destiny. The narrator explains how Tom grew up obsessing over romantic comedies and “sad, British pop music” (aka The Smiths). Tom’s deep-rooted connection to this type of media is important to remember when evaluating his character, as it was extremely influential on his personality and opinions on romance. Rom-com films are typically full of superficial characters and happy endings. After extreme persistence and dozens of romantic gestures, the guy always wins the girl in the end. The characters, especially the women, are typically one-dimensional. The women usually share similar, obscure interests with the male protagonist and are extremely attractive, of course, only after they go through a big makeover sequence. All of these factors affect how Tom sees the world, and as the story is told through his point of view, the film’s audience only sees people and situations from his unreliable perspective.
Summer is introduced by the narrator as a cynic, whose outlook on love has been tainted ever since her parent’s divorce. When Tom first sees Summer, he is immediately infatuated with her and invents an unrealistic idea of her in his mind before actually speaking to her, causing him to fall in love with a false version of Summer. Even when Tom finally meets her, he only focuses on her physical qualities and similar interests. He is fascinated by her quirkiness, spontaneity, and most importantly her love for The Smiths (which is apparently uncommon). She’s “different from other girls” in Tom’s eyes, but this mindset and obsession, romanticized in many films, should be seen as major red flags. Tom is so focused on how Summer fits into his world that he completely disregards her true personality and life outside of him. This indifference also hurts the viewer’s experience of Summer’s character, as we never get to truly know or understand Summer.
Tom’s infatuation for Summer only grows as the movie progresses. In one scene, Tom raves about his love for Summer, mentioning her smile, her hair, her birthmark, and her body while the camera zooms in on each specific trait. Of course, being physically attracted to one’s partner is important in relationships, yet he only compliments her physical attributes. As Tom and Summer spend more time together, he starts to praise himself for being such a great boyfriend. He believes that giving Summer attention, and “listening” to her equates to him being all that Summer could ever want. However, he never actually listens to Summer. A clear example of this can be seen in a scene where Summer starts to open up to Tom while in bed. Summer begins to speak but her voice is drowned out by the narrator who reveals Tom’s inner thoughts: “As he listened, Tom began to realize that these stories weren't routinely told. These were stories one had to earn. He could feel the wall coming down. He wondered if anyone else had made it this far.” Tom was so focused on how Summer’s personal stories had to be earned by someone special that he didn’t even pay attention to what Summer reveals. His failure to listen also affects the audience, as the camera zooms in on Tom and we miss out on the important, character-developing stories Summer shares. Tom does not recognize how his actions and lack of attention affects Summer and her perspective of him. He believes that since he spends time with her and is nice to her (aka the bare minimum) he deserves Summer. However, as previously stated, he never actually gets to know her for more than just her beauty and basic interests.
Tom’s attachment to romance films may be seen as harmless, however, in truth, he is unable to separate love in films from love in real life. In most romance films, the boy goes to extreme lengths to win over the girl. Persistence and dedication are romanticized, even in extreme circumstances (i.e. stalking, crimes of passion). From the start, Summer is clear about her intentions with Tom and her cynical opinions on love. She says, “there’s no such thing as love, it’s a fantasy.” Despite her firm beliefs on relationships and love, Tom continues to pursue her. When they become an “unofficial couple” she reminds Tom again exactly how she feels about relationships. Tom tells her that he needs consistency, saying, “I need to know you’re not gonna wake up in the morning and feel differently” and she replies by saying, “And I can’t give you that. No one can.” Summer has a strong sense of realism that counters Tom’s fantasies. Tom hoped that Summer would eventually change her mind about relationships because he convinced himself that they were soul mates. As a result, when they split, he blames their breakup on her and on the falsity of love, when in reality, the red flags were all around him and he chose to ignore them. I can’t blame him, we’ve all turned a blind eye to warning signs we see in a partner because our desire for them is so strong. Additionally, the audience feels betrayed by Summer as well, since we’ve been rooting for Tom and have also fed off his unrealistic expectations. However, Summer’s intent with Tom was clear from the beginning, and the end of his relationship with Summer should not have been that big of a surprise.
After the first watch, you may be sympathizing with Tom, even I was. Seeing Tom totally gutted after his messy breakup with Summer and his attempt to win her back is heartbreaking. One of my favorite scenes in the movie (and of all film history) is when Tom goes to a party hosted by Summer and discovers that she is engaged. Tom had hoped that they would reunite. Webb edits the film so the audience views Tom’s expectation of the party and the reality simultaneously. This side-by-side viewing experience heightens our sympathy for Tom, as we watch how the events actually play out in reality. This tactic was also used to show the audience Tom’s inner thoughts and biases. He went to the party expecting to win Summer back, he would never have imagined that she would be with someone else. As an audience, we take on those same biases and expectations, and again feel betrayed by Summer. However, we never get to hear or see Summer’s side of the story.
The scene made me question how accurate all Tom and Summer’s other interactions had been. This is Tom’s story, strictly from his perspective. As the film unfolds, it is clear that he is an unreliable narrator; he has a bias towards himself and wants situations to correspond with his idealized vision of life. Audiences easily fall into this trap and are convinced by Tom’s perspective because it is the only one we see. In order to actually understand the real relationship, we have to recognize that Tom may be lying about how things actually occurred.
One of my favorite quotes from the film is said by Tom after his split with Summer: “It’s these cards and the movies and the pop songs, they’re to blame for all lies, and the heartache, everything.” The creators of this film used it to comment on how the tropes instilled in romantic comedies have become toxic to our perception of love. The creators show how the way love is portrayed in the media does not typically happen in real life. They demonstrate how taxing it can be to believe in the fairytales and fantasies of “happily ever after”. Instead, the film portrays a more accurate version of a relationship, branching into the real-life difficulties that can occur when dating someone.
500 Days of Summer is not supposed to be comforting and happy. It grounds the audience and separates romance from fantasy. For people who typically turn to romantic comedies for relief or distraction, this won’t be for you. However, as someone who watched an insane amount of rom-coms, this film’s realistic take is refreshing. If you have seen it, I encourage you to rewatch the film, this time focusing specifically on how Tom manipulates the story.