Movie Analysis: 500 Days of Summer

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.