(500) Days of Summer
(2009) directed by Marc Webb is one of the best examples of non-linear story
telling. This film is perhaps considered an anti-love story film as it tells the
tale of how Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets and falls in love with
Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and their relationship starts off great once
Summer decides to go out with Tom, but as in all love stories the relationship
speed bump occurs, but unlike any other love story this couple does not recover
from it.
The story is told non-linearly as it hops around from time frame to time frame. In one scene we could be experiencing the events that transpired in day 290 and all of the sudden the next scene takes place on day 1, which is the day that Tom meets Summer. Summer Finn is pessimistic and believes that she will never find true love and later she meets Tom, the man who falls madly in love with her. This film is also a good example of the Hero’s Journey. The hero of this film is Tom who is living in the ordinary world until he comes across the call to adventure when he meets Summer. When he meets Summer that is when he becomes attracted to her and starts pursuing a relationship with her and then on day 22 he misinterprets what Summer said on the elevator ride and decides to back off. Tom’s sister Rachel (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the mentor in this film always giving advice to her older brother, telling him that “there’s plenty of fish in the sea”, basically stating that there will be other women in his life besides Summer and that he needs to move on from her.
This film not only
has all the aspects of the hero’s journey, but it’s also a great example of
Expecation vs. Reality. During the scene where Tom goes to a party at Summer’s
apartment, Tom expects to reunite with Summer and in reality Summer is
introducing everyone to her fiancée. Tom’s expectation of getting back together
with Summer is cut short and he storms off. In the end Summer is happily
married and Tom is following his dream of being an architect, and at a job
interview Tom meets a new girl by the name of Autumn who he asks out on a date
and she accepts thus making Rachel’s statement about plenty of fish in the sea
true.
The story is told non-linearly as it hops around from time frame to time frame. In one scene we could be experiencing the events that transpired in day 290 and all of the sudden the next scene takes place on day 1, which is the day that Tom meets Summer. Summer Finn is pessimistic and believes that she will never find true love and later she meets Tom, the man who falls madly in love with her. This film is also a good example of the Hero’s Journey. The hero of this film is Tom who is living in the ordinary world until he comes across the call to adventure when he meets Summer. When he meets Summer that is when he becomes attracted to her and starts pursuing a relationship with her and then on day 22 he misinterprets what Summer said on the elevator ride and decides to back off. Tom’s sister Rachel (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the mentor in this film always giving advice to her older brother, telling him that “there’s plenty of fish in the sea”, basically stating that there will be other women in his life besides Summer and that he needs to move on from her.
This film not only
has all the aspects of the hero’s journey, but it’s also a great example of
Expecation vs. Reality. During the scene where Tom goes to a party at Summer’s
apartment, Tom expects to reunite with Summer and in reality Summer is
introducing everyone to her fiancée. Tom’s expectation of getting back together
with Summer is cut short and he storms off. In the end Summer is happily
married and Tom is following his dream of being an architect, and at a job
interview Tom meets a new girl by the name of Autumn who he asks out on a date
and she accepts thus making Rachel’s statement about plenty of fish in the sea
true.
(500) Days of Summer is
an excellent example of non-linear storytelling, this film sort of reminds me
of Following (1998) by Christopher
Nolan. (500) Days of Summer is one of my favorite films and I would recommend it
to anyone. If I had to give it a score, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.
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