(500) Days of Summer is one of my FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME.
But the common critique of the movie is that Zooey Deshanel's character, summer, is a "manic pixie dream girl" character.
That trope, if you haven't heard, means a female character is ridiculously perfect always and forever and makes the main character live life more fully and take risks and is basically Margo from Paper Towns.
But Summer isn't a manic pixie dream girl; the whole movie is one long, incredibly smart story about how everyone falls for someone and puts them on a pedestal at least once in their life. The writing makes it clear that Summer isn't perfect: she drags Tom along, she can be cold, and she never really sees him as any more than a friend despite her acting like they're in a relationship.
But, when you hear Tom talk about her and see the movie the way he sees it, Summer is perfect. He declares it about fifteen minutes into the movie, after just meeting her. The movie is brilliant because anyone who watches it can connect to Tom. The way he hates his job but only goes to see Summer, the way he instantly falls for her due to her looks but convinces himself it's due to her personality (it happens at first when she says "I love The Smiths" and he stares at her and whispers "Holy shit," which is amazing because THAT EXACT ELEVATOR SCENE HAS HAPPENED TO ME).
The movie isn't meant to make Summer seem amazing. It's about the stupid and petty ways people fall in love, and how it's still pretty beautiful while it lasts. It's FUCKING AMAZING OKAY IT JUMPS THROUGH TIME AND IT'S FUNNY AND THEY SING THE PIXIES AND AND THE ACTING IS GREAT AND IT'S CUTE AND I LOVE IT A LOT I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
I mean.
YOU ARE READING
Mental Beatdown
RandomA book about the stuff I hate and why I hate it. And whatever else I want to throw in there because I don't follow your rules. NOTE: Seriously if you read any of this and get offended just shhhh because I really don't feel like hearing it at all.
