(500) Days of Summer: The Anti-Romantic Comedy (Part One)

In my last semester of college, I completed a writing portfolio entitled "Exploring Modern American Culture through Contemporary Cinema." It contained four essays dissecting four recent films. The second of those essays discussed Marc Webb's 2009 romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer. The first part of that essay is below. I will post a new portfolio excerpt every day.  Previous posts: The Dark Knight - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.
 

(500) Days of Summer: The Anti-Romantic Comedy

Introduction

Love – a short, simple word. Its meaning? That is a mystery infinitely more complicated, one that has confounded humanity for eons. Definitions of love vary, numbering as many people as there are on earth. The perceived importance of love also varies, from era to era and culture to culture. In the Western world, there is a reverence for love that “has not been shared by all cultures in all times” (Owens 266). In the West, romantic love is seen as the ideal basis for courtship and marriage. One country with a particularly strong love culture is the United States, where the attainment of romantic love is treated as a necessity for living a happy life (Wherry 1).

This kind of love culture is often exemplified by Hollywood films, especially romantic comedies. The meet-cute, love at first sight, the breakup, the happily-ever-after reunion – these are all familiar elements of one of film’s favorite genres (Gleiberman). Most rom-coms stick to these conventions, and the public seems drawn to this type of film. According to one box office analysis, romantic comedies grossed more than $10 billion between 1995 and 2010, making the genre the sixth-highest grossing in that time span (Nash). Some argue people seek romantic comedies – and other similar media – “to see relationships that appear to work despite all obstacles” (Hefner and Wilson 151). Unfortunately, many scholars also argue that romantic comedies – or any type of Hollywood romance, for that matter – present unrealistic views of love, filled with whirlwind romances and happy endings that seem almost fantastical. There are concerns about what effects these fanciful stories have on audience members.

Marc Webb’s 2009 film, (500) Days of Summer, is the rare romantic comedy that departs from the typical Hollywood scheme. The film follows greeting card writer Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) through his head-over-heels infatuation and doomed relationship with his co-worker Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). As a deep-voiced narrator says just moments into the film, “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know up front, this is not a love story” (Webb). Instead, it is a coming-of-age story about the different views people have on dating, relationships, and love. Tom, an unabashed romantic, and Summer, an independent skeptic, could not be more dissimilar in their perceptions of these matters. This causes tension between the two and ultimately hurts their relationship, making (500) Days of Summer an important contribution to the romantic comedy genre. Unlike so many of its contemporaries, it is somewhat realistic. Rather than inventing ridiculous, cartoonish scenarios in which the characters fall in love and live happily ever after, (500) Days of Summer focuses on relatable issues like the simple ups and downs of relationships and how it feels to have your heart broken. Furthermore, it does not rely on stereotypical characters to get its point across; indeed, the film defies rom-com character conventions, particularly when it comes to gender. (500) Days of Summer plays with and inverts genre expectations through gender role reversals. In doing so, it highlights two common, contradictory attitudes toward love that permeate contemporary American culture: idealism and cynicism.

Sources

Gleiberman, Owen. "(500) Days of Summer." Entertainment Weekly. 24 Jul 2009. Print.

Hefner, Veronica, and Barbara J. Wilson. "From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate: The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People's Beliefs about Relationships." Communication Monographs. 80.2 (2013): 150-75. Print.

Owens, Erica. "The Sociology of Love, Courtship, and Dating." 21^st Century Sociology. Ed. Clifton D. Bryant and Dennis L. Peck. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2007. 266-71. Print.

Nash, B. "Top-grossing genres 1995 to 2010." The Numbers: Box office data, movie stars, idle speculation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct 2013. .

Webb, Marc, dir. (500) Days of Summer. Perf. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dir. Zooey Deschanel, Scott Neustadter, and Michael H. Weber. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009. Film. 20 Oct 2013.

Wherry, Maryan. "Introduction: Love and Romance in American Culture." Journal of American Culture. 36. 1 (2013): 1-5. Print.