500 Days of Summer shows the reality of modern day relationships; sometimes prince charming isn’t very charming at all. Barbie may not be looking for her Ken, and surely none of them have permanent smiles stamped on their faces.
The main point of this movie is to analyze about love being a mind and will of its own and to captures an honest depiction of the rise and fall of what is seemingly a perfect relationship. It also emphasizes the importance of distinguishing the difference between the reality and expectation of a relationship. In the beginning of the movie, the scene reveal how Summer is not looking for a boyfriend and believes that love is a myth, like Santa Claus. Meanwhile, Tom builds up this ridiculously romantic situation between the pair as he pressures Summer to fall in love with him. Often times, one can be overwhelmed by the unwritten rules and regulation of dating. This can be visible when Tom was able to fall madly and hopelessly in love with her so quickly. Tom’s blinding devotion to seeing Summer as “the one” prevented him from seeing the reality of their relationship. He also did not recognize her complexity or the fact that she was not the “perfect” person that he had perceived her to be. It was his inability to relate to her sentiments on a deeper level that doomed their relationship from the moment they first laid eyes on each other.
This movie mainly focuses on helping viewers understand the differences between the reality and expectations of a relationship. In one of the scenes, the screen is split in half to show both the reality and expectation of the current situation and how Summer’s actions towards Tom may be misinterpreted. From the beginning, Summer did say that she had been completely honest with him about her expectations and intentions. However, Tom did have very high expectations. This is made apparent when Summer asks Tom to dance at the end, then he gets upset when he finds out