(500) Days of Summer

I went and saw (500) Days of Summer today with a couple of friends. A number of things interested me about the film.

Firstly, it's suffering from the Juno effect. About once every two years a movie creates such a buzz in the States and garners such amazing reviews that I am positively humming with excitement to see it. Then I see it, and it falls below expectations. This is one of those films.

That's not to say it wasn't good - it's wonderfully crafted, says some interesting things about relationships and the simple fact that it is essentially an anti-romantic comedy is a comment in itself on romantic comedies and their effects on our general belief systems - something which does interest me greatly.

I just wish I'd gone in off my own volition, and not because I'd bought into the hype.

But forgetting about what I expected and looking instead at what the film actually was, it's about a relationship that doesn't end with a 'happily ever after'. The male protagonist, Tom, is a hopeless romantic who carries with him notions of fate, love and soul mates. The film credits this to "an early exposure to sad British pop music and a total misreading of the movie, The Graduate". Right from the early set-up of the movie, we are aware of how Tom has been shaped by his culture to yearn for his soul mate.

The female antagonist (Summer) however has been shaped by her life-events - her parent's divorce - to hold essentially the opposite belief system to Tom. She doesn't believe in love, or soul mates - and this is how their relationship begins. A man who wants love, and a woman who doesn't, beginning a relationship which is never actually named as a relationship.

There are so many ways to read this film - you can look at the way culture has shaped us and our attitudes towards love, and equally how this film acts to break away from these traditions in order to make a statement about the genre it itself is a part of. You can consider the gender roles presented - as a generalisation, Summer's insistence on a casual arrangement and Tom's intent to give it relationship status is a complete reversal on the social norm.

You can look specifically at Summer as a character - as my friends seem to be doing - some people like her, and others hate her and I'm finding it fascinating to see who falls on which side of the divide because (and again, I'm generalising here), it seems to come down on how you personally feel about casual sex.

I for one am not too fussed either way these days. Casual is fun so long as all parties are aware of the boundaries and are open to discussing any problems that may arise from it, but a more serious relationship is also fun if it develops naturally and organically. That said, I'm not entirely sure what Summer and Tom had could really be considered 'casual' by most people's lines.

To me it's Tom who is the more interesting character because of the way he has been programmed to think about love - a way that I was also programmed to think about it. The problem I see for Tom, and myself, is that in limiting our view of who is worth getting involved with, we lose out on a lot of valuable relationships, friendships and experiences.

Some critics have focused on the (excellent) soundtrack of the film, others on the characters, but for me the criticism of the popular portrayal of The Great Romance (made famous by Jane Austen and popular with females everywhere) was far and away the most interesting part.

Four Gopher Guys