On July 17th, 2009 a sweet little film titled 500 Days of Summer was released.
If you haven’t seen it yet (ya really should), the movie follows the backwards love story of Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (played by Zooey Deschanel).
Tom falls very quickly for fabulous babe Summer and is blind-sighted when his dream girl dumps him (seemingly) out of the blue.
The film is deservedly quite popular – even ten years on – but interestingly, it seems a lot of fans (myself included) have long missed the point of the story.
Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures
You see, watching Tom have his heart stomped on by Summer is a little difficult to handle. Partly because he is portrayed by literal sweetheart Gordon-Levitt, but also because Tom is so infatuated with Summer that he seems like a sad puppy when she leaves him.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of people became staunchly #TeamTom after seeing him weather such a tough sitch. As a consequence, Summer became the bad guy for a lot of fans (yep, I definitely felt this way).
But the thing is, if you watch carefully, Tom ain’t all that great. It just took me ten bloody years to see this.
From the beginning of his interaction with Summer, Tom is insanely entitled and doesn’t really look at her as a person with her own wants and needs.
Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures
He doesn’t listen to her when she explains where she’s at emotionally.
He is incredibly jealous and takes his insecurities out on her.
He decides Summer is the perfect girl for him, without really knowing her, and when she doesn’t live up to the picture he created in his mind, he lashes out.
Even Gordon-Levitt has stated that he wasn’t the biggest fan of his character.
Once you look at this film with the cold, hard truth in mind, it completely changes the experience. Tom is not an adorable, sad puppy. Rather an entitled, self-indulgent, boy.
Sorry I misjudged you, Summer. It only took me a decade to see my error.