I chose to analyze 500 Days of Summer (2009). The movie
follows the relationship between Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey
Deschanel). It tells their story in a non-chronological order, jumping between
the first day they meet and the day Tom moves on from her. Tom works at a
greeting card company and there he meets the new intern Summer and immediately
falls in love. However, Summer is someone who doesn't believe in the idea of
love and this severely complicates their relationship.
Excerpt
1: “Living at Ikea”
The scene begins with
some role playing between Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey
Deschanel). The two are goofing off in the home goods section of Ikea.
Pretending they are husband and wife, Summer pretends to serve Tom dinner from
the oven. They continue the marriage role play and end up making their way to a
bed where they end up being interrupted by a Chinese family. The scene’s
romantic nature is also interrupted when Summer states, out of the blue, that
she’s not looking for anything serious.
It’s seems quite obvious
that Summer is acting like the stereotypical housewife and Tom is the
hardworking man, waiting for his dinner to be set before him. Summer and Tom
are acting this way sarcastically calling attention to the gender standards set
by earlier society. Summer speaks in a way that demeans herself and knowing how
strong of a character she is there’s no way she would speak like this in a
literal sense. She points out that the sink is broken in their kitchen and Tom
then reminds her (as they walk into another kitchen display) that they bought a
house with two kitchens. After, she says in a sultry voice that he’s so smart
and they should race to the bedroom. This type of gendered difference
correlates with the findings by Holz Ivory, Gibson, and Ivory (2009). In the
heterosexual couples they examined on mainstream television, there was always
one partner who would be more dominant and one who is more submissive.
While
they portray these masculine and feminine stereotypes, they do so in a way that
contradicts them. Based on the rest of the movie, it is clear that this scene
was meant as a comedic device using their established characteristics. By
laughing at this portrayal of a “normal” marriage, audiences can realize how
these rules don’t apply to everyone. This is also reinforced when Summer breaks
the romantic tension by saying she’s not looking for anything serious.
Excerpt
2: “No Such Thing as Love”
The
co-workers decide to go to a bar and sing karaoke after work. Tom, Summer, and
McKenzie (Tom’s friend) begin a discussion about love. The conversation starts
when McKenzie asks Summer if she wants a boyfriend. Summer refuses and asks
them way she can’t just be independent and enjoy herself. Tom asks what she
would do if she falls in love, but Summer says that she ddoesn'tbelieve in
love. Tom argues but in the end they agree to disagree.
This
seems to go against the typical thoughts one would have about girls’ views on
love and guys’ views on love. Women are supposed to be the romantic ones and
men are supposed to be the stoic ones. The movie itself even makes fun of this
fact when McKenzie calls Summer a dude after she expresses her opinion on love
and relationships. However, the study by Lippman, Ward, and Seabrook (2014)
showed that men actually have higher endorsement in the romantic beliefs: “Love
Finds a Way, Idealization, and Love at First Sight” (Lippman et al, pg 133). So
this scene actually represents the real world findings. Summer says that she
doesn't want to believe that she has be anyone’s anything and that love isn't real. Tom defends his point by saying that love isn't something made up like
Santa Claus and that you just know it when you feel it.
While
the scene doesn't go on to show it. The movie as a whole only really supports
the idea of “Love at First Sight”. Tom and Summer don’t end up together, but
they both end up learning and finding someone else that fits their ideal
relationship partner. This goes against the typical cultivation findings that
Lippman, Ward, and Seabrook found. They found that those who watched more
romantic themed or sub themed movies have usually higher endorsement of the
idea “Love Finds a Way.”
Excerpt
3: “Expectations vs. Reality”
Summer
invites Tom to a party at her place after they see each other at a wedding. Tom
is hoping that his expectations will finally align with reality on this night. Two
scenes of Summer’s party (one portraying Tom’s reality and one portraying his
expectations) play side by side. In his expectation, Tom hopes to spend the
entire evening with Summer alone, but in reality he is a stranger at the party
and Summer pays little attention to him and treats him like any other friend.
While the scene doesn't explicitly
link any images or interactions to sexual scripts, it’s interesting seeing how
Tom’s expectations play out. He’s greeted at the door by Summer, who then
kisses him and brings him into the party. By the end of the night, he imagines
that he will be in bed with Summer. It’s interesting because Tom believes that
he is entitled to this ending. That because Summer initiated the invite to her
party that he will end up with her in the end. Though this scene does show some
of Summer’s independence, she really defied the typical script of the girl in
the movie. It reminds me of Markle’s analysis (2008) of Sex and the City and
Carrie’s experience of “having sex like a man.” Summer’s first kiss with Tom
was in the printer room at work and she walks off without giving Tom a chance
to register what had just happened. This also goes against the previous
masculine-feminine roles discussed before. Summer is usually shown as the more
dominant one in the relationship and the expectation and reality scene also
supports this. Holz Ivory, Gibson, and Ivory (2009) used categories like
obeying orders, submitting to sexual advances, and being overly committed in a
relationship to describe the submissive partner. While submissive and feminine
usually go hand in hand, these coding categories actually describe Tom much
more than Summer. This reality and expectations scene was a great example of
Tom being much more committed to the relationship than Summer. Summer is also
the one who makes sexual advances and is much more confident which are signs of
the dominant (masculine) partner. This once again goes against the findings of
Holz Ivory, Gibson, and Ivory (2008), that in heterosexual couples the male was
more likely to be the dominant figure in the relationship.
Overall
Narration:
It’s really hard to talk
about this movie in terms of smaller scenes because you have to relate them to
the whole movie (which is also hard to follow at times itself because it’s not
chronological). 500 Days of Summer is
clearly not a typical romantic movie. While it is the story of a man struggling
to win a girl, the moral isn’t the usual “Love Finds a Way” narrative. Tom doesn't end up with Summer even though the entire movie seems to lead that way.
Summer actually seems to go through the most character development. She starts
out as a label-hating, independent, loveless girl, but in the end she winds up
getting married to someone else. I think that because of this the overall
narrative is that there isn’t a way a man or a woman is supposed to act in a
relationship. Love definitely exists in 500
Days of Summer, but aren’t any set rules or expectations for it. Holz
Ivory, Gibson, and Ivory (2009) had an in-depth look at how relationships are
portrayed in TV and but I feel that this relationships was different than
those. Tom and Summer’s relationship had swapped gender relations than those
examined in the study. Also compared to Lippman, Ward, and Seabrook’s romantic
belief scale, it seemed that there was a mix of endorsement throughout the
movie. Tom fell in love with Summer at first sight, but it took Summer awhile
to warm up to Tom. Love didn't find a way for Tom because Summer ended up with
someone else (though Tom ends up finding Autumn in the end). There were moments
when their relationship was seen as ideal, but many times it wasn't. The “One
and Only” trope was the only one that seemed to be completely denied as Summer
and Tom both end up finding new partners. 500
Days of Summer was an interesting movie to analyze because of its unique
story structure and characters. It also might just be my personal opinion
coming through, but I believe that this movie shows that there aren't set rules
in a relationship. Every relationship is unique because the people in it are
unique, so it’s not fair to judge based on a supposed set of rules.
Works
Cited
Lippman, J., Ward, L., & Seabrook, R. (2014). Isn’t It Romantic?
Differential Associations Between Romantic Screen Media Genres and Romantic
Beliefs. Psychology of Popular
Media Culture, 3(3),
128-140.
Markle, G. (2008). “Can Women Have Sex Like A Man?”: Sexual Scripts In
Sex And The City.Sexuality & Culture, 12, 45-57.
Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. (2009).
Gendered Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual
Couples. Mass Communication
and Society, 12,
170-192.
