I've noticed two general stages of commentary around this movie:First, initial reactions to a first watch tend to side heavily with Tom, the hopeless romantic whom was scorned by the heartless villain, Summer.Second, a reaction to the initial reaction, and upon rewatch, people have widely recognized that this sympathy for Tom is entirely misplaced. Tom had movie-inspired fairy tale ideas about love and romance that he projected onto Summer, despite her telling him from the start that she wasn't interested in anything serious. You aren't supposed to "side" with Tom. You're supposed to learn from his character's misguided, albeit mostly innocent, attitude towards romance.I mostly agree with this analysis of the film as it relates to Tom.BUTAlmost invariably when I watch this commentary play out, people come full circle to ignoring the analysis as it relates to Summer. And this mostly comes through in the insistence that "Summer told him she wasn't interested in anything serious! It was unreasonable of him to ignore that out of sheer romantic optimism!"That argument works to an extent, but only up until a critical scene about halfway through the movie. Tom punches a guy at the bar in a childish, misguided attempt to romantically "defend Summer's honor." The guy knocks Tom out. Later, Summer rightfully calls hims out on this, saying that she never asked him to do that and somewhat implying that he was doing it more for himself than for her, both of which are very true.But what happens next is critical. Tom lays it all out. He tells her straight up that he's not interested in continuing the relationship as anything less than serious. He basically tells her that if all she wants is something casual, then this has got to be over. And he leaves.Now, if Summer really wasn't looking for anything serious, then obviously there is only one thing that should have happened at this moment. They break up. It's done. It's over. Tom got foolishly over-invested because he watched too many Disney movies. Pack it up. Nothing more to analyze.But of course that's not what happens. Summer goes back to him and essentially tells him she's ready to start treating this more seriously.Obviously, this doesn't necessarily absolve Tom for everything that happens afterward, let alone anything that had already happened up to that point. But it does mean that any analysis reducing Summer's character arc to "she always said she wasn't interested in anything serious" just isn't accurate. I'm honestly not sure how that idea got so much traction anyways, considering how she gets engaged just months after breaking up with Tom. It's not like she went from "not interested in anything serious" to "I want to get married" in that short span of time.Rather, Summer didn't know what she wanted, because she didn't know what love is supposed to really feel like – i.e. the exact same emotional conflict that defines Tom's character arc. We're even given explicit analogs for these parallel conflicts in how both characters take their cues from movies. Tom obviously has the famous Disney musical scene after he just had sex. But Summer also has a moment like this. Her decision to take the plunge and breakup with Tom is triggered by seeing the end of The Graduate, watching the protagonists in that movie come to the awkward, disconcerting realization that what was passionate, romantic fun just moments ago is now just charmless, cold reality.The biggest knock against Summer's character that actually is justified is the whole wedding scene. Even without delving into it too critically, it's pretty cold to have what is, objectively, a romantic night reconnecting with your ex at a wedding, whom you then invite to a party without telling them at any point that you are not only in another serious relationship, but engaged! That's not cool any way you slice it. Doesn't make Summer evil by any means, but it's not cool, especially since nobody reasonably disputes that Summer wasn't aware of what impression this may have had on Tom. She's not stupid, and she knows Tom over-romanticizes things.Additionally, while this is just my interpretation, it's heavily implied here that Summer was kind of doing that thing that many people tend to do right before they get married - talk to or meet up with the ex one last time to see for sure that the way you feel about the other person really is different, that you're making the right decision. Later when she's talking on the bench with Tom, and he's like "why did you do that?" all she says is "because I wanted to". Not a great answer regardless, but I think the true answer also came out in that same conversation. She explains that she just didn't feel that "spark" with Tom, but she felt it with her fiance. She couldn't help that (which is perfectly fair and true - it just also reinforces the idea that she was double-checking what that "spark" really felt like).And all of that rambling brings me to the point about (500) Days of Summer that people missed because they ironically focused too much on Tom.Tom won. Romanticism won. Tom's whole ideology founded on the cliche "true love at first sight" was proven true in the end, in the spark that Summer felt for the other guy. The great irony of Tom's arc is that he spent all that time brooding over how Summer basically destroyed his childlike sense of wonder and faith in love, when really she proved it true...she just didn't love you, man. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/3enBhmr
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