4 May 2012
Whilst channel flicking yesterday evening I stumbled upon one of my favourite movies '500 days of Summer', and, despite owning this film already, I decided to settle down and watch it. One of the principle reasons I love this film so much is the realism, the situation between the lead characters is one that all of us have experienced at some point or other, and that's what makes it so easily relate able. Both the characters are deeply flawed; Summer is selfish and Tom is borderline obsessive in his quest to 'fix' Summer's aversion to love, but in the real world people don't always act in the best interests of others; that doesn't make them inherently bad. Tom's idealistic approach to love clashes with Summer's conviction that true love is 'just a fantasy', and the film focuses on the mismatched 'relationship' that ensues between the pair.
What I find surprising about this film is people's reactions to it. After watching it last night my facebook news feed was flooded with people denouncing Summer as 'an evil bitch', just because she doesn't feel the same for Tom as he does about her. It just seemed a tad hypocritical? I'm sure at some point in our lives we have all been in Summer's position: you start seeing someone, realise you like them a lot and enjoy their company, so you carry on seeing them, because you want them to be a part of your life and you're not sure if things might develop. You tell them straight how it is, that you're not looking for anything serious, and you hope that they will listen and not get too attached. Unfortunately there comes a point where you just know nothing is going to come of it, you realise that the other person is in too deep and it's not fair on them anymore, and you have to end things. It's not a pleasant situation for anyone involved. I've been there, I've lived this movie from Tom's perspective and from Summer's, and both sides of it were wonderful and eventually torturous, but I don't regret a second.
For people to say that Summer was somehow in the wrong just for giving Tom a chance is ridiculous, would you rather never to have relationships like that at all? The people you are involved with affect you in one way or another; they may make you more open, more adventurous, they might discover in you a passion for art or literature that you never realised you possessed, they could teach you about their beliefs and convictions, make you see things from a different perspective and, of course, possibly they will give you a hard lesson in being less trusting and naive. I personally would rather have experienced all of that, than lived my life with one person who is happy just to 'plod along' by my side. I want passion, lust, and jealousy, and if I'm lucky; love, but I want to feel like I've earned it.
She's Just Not That Into You - This Was Written Back In January, But I Thought Id Share Anyway • Opuss № I