Representation

    My representation blog post discusses the film, 500 days of summer. The film centers around Tom and Summer's relationship and how it ultimately ends because they both had differing expectations. The story is told in Tom's perspective, creating a sort of bias and leading the audience to empathize and side with him after the end of their relationship. Throughout the film, Tom idealizes Summer which leads to an internal crisis as he becomes disillusioned by her rejection when she is not the person he projects her as. Because the film is in his perspective, Summer is constructed as elusive and distant through his eyes which causes the audience to relate to him and take his side.

    Through Tom's character the film constructs the narrative around the "hopeless romantic" stereotype, portraying him as someone who believes in soulmates and idealizes love. Tom projects his fantasies onto Summer the moment he finds out they have common interests and becomes obsessed with the idea of her. He focuses on the aspects of her personality that fit his dream girl archetype while ignoring the others that contradict it, often to a fault.

    Summer, on the other hand, is shown as a character who resists the traditional romantic female lead role. Her character is shown through Tom's lens as an independent free-spirited woman who states that she is not interested in a serious romantic relationship. Her role however leans into the element of the "manic pixie dream girl" trope, with her independence being exoticized as her refusal to conform is seen as intriguing and mysterious in a way that makes her desirable to Tom. The film both deconstructs and reinforces certain stereotypes in the romance and drama genre by making her elusiveness and unobtainability a central part of her character, othering her from Tom because her ideals don't line up with his projection of her.

Ultimately, the film plays with the usual tropes in romance by subverting expectations by having the two main leads not end up together. 500 Days of Summer critiques the stereotypes of romantic stories and the "hopeless romantic" trope by revealing how Tom's selective and idealized view of Summer prevents him from seeing her as a fully realized person, leading to the end of their relationship. The films de-centered portrayal, however, leaves room for critique in the aspect of representation. The story being told entirely from his perspective limits Summer's character development to what is relevant to Tom's character and his arc, making her more of a narrative device than a fully realized protagonist of her own.