Character Analysis: (500) Days of Summer.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blogs. On a recent flight, I decided to watch (500) Days of Summer due to its popularity online and some influence from a few friends. I hate to say this because I love the music in the film, but the characters were so insufferable. 

Tom

Tom, while at first, I sympathized with him, by the end, I realized just how entitled, pretentious, and self-sabotaging he really was. At the beginning of the film, the first time Tom hears something about Summer, it is negative, and he takes that and pushes that narrative onto her until the elevator scene. He only changes his mind after she mentions that she liked The Smiths, his favorite band, and his entire personality. After that, it was all downhill. From the first mention of relationships, Summer had made it clear that she was not wanting to commit to something serious. In fact, she had stated that out-right to Tom multiple times throughout the film, but he, in his swayed perception of her, decided to keep going with it until she finally gets to the point she told him she would get to, and then blames her for the heartache he caused himself.

Summer

While my analysis of Tom was pretty harsh, I can’t make myself enjoy Summer anymore so. She reminds me of the widely-known concept of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Her only role in the movie is to be the dysfunctional indie character that is chased after, only to be lost at the end and painted to be a terrible person for marrying someone and, in turn, ruining the main character’s life. I hate the way the writers treated her character. It was as if she really didn’t have any true purpose in the film other than to drive the plot forward with no life of her own behind her. The tiny peaks we do get into her life all revolve around the main character’s interests that he has in common with her. I watched this movie maybe two weeks ago and there is nothing about her that is significant enough for me to remember, and I think that is really sad because her character had so much potential. 

 

Thank you all for reading this month’s blog. I will see you all after Christmas break!

 

 

Author: Locklyn Wilchynski

Locklyn Wilchynski (She/Her) is a poet, writer, and musician. She is also a senior literary arts student at Mississippi School of the Arts. Her writing has been published in Co-Lin Refractions Literary & Art Magazine and The Phoenix Literary Journal. She won two gold keys, a silver key, and two honorable mentions in the 2021 Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. She has also won an honorable mention in the 2021 Ephemera Prize. She is a lover of all things crafted in darkness and finding the beauty within that. She believes that storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of communication to open up new conversations and ideas.