My Take on 500 Days of Summer

Tom and Summer (500 Days of Summer)

When people talk about 500 Days of Summer, the conversation almost always circles back to Tom’s heartbreak. He loved her, she left him, and suddenly Summer Finn is framed as the villain—the cold, detached girl who refused to give the hopeless romantic the ending he thought he deserved.

However, when I first watched the movie, I had a different take: Summer was not the bad guy. Summer was honest, Summer was passionate, and Summer knew what she wanted. From the start, Tom knew Summer wasn’t looking for a relationship. Summer set her boundaries before pursuing anything real with Tom, something only someone emotionally intelligent and cautious would do. If Summer wanted to manipulate Tom, why would she tell him exactly what she wanted? 

That being said, I in no way mean to suggest that Tom was in the wrong. Tom was lost and blinded by his infatuation with Summer. Not love, infatuation. Obsession, even. According to the poet Atticus, love forms from a place of wholeness, while obsession stems from personal lack. Obsession is especially strong when one tries to complete oneself through others. We know that Summer didn’t give herself to Tom in the way that Tom had hoped. And so she may have given him all she was able to; he couldn't see her fullness, all he could see was the space in himself. Tom was dissatisfied with his job, feeling that while it did serve as an outlet for some of his creativity, he had so much passion and potential that were being wasted. He viewed Summer in a similar light. While she did allow him to express his harbored romantic feelings, he felt the relationship was unfulfilling. The similarity between these two parts of his life suggests that Tom may not have actually been looking for a relationship, but something to define his life and give it elevated meaning. 

In addition, let's not forget that the whole movie is primarily seen from Tom's perspective. Unreliable narrators are common, and this idea is reinforced by the fact that Scott Neustradter was the writer. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Paper Towns, where we see another example of an unreliable narrator, as Quentin idealizes Margot and his perception of her is flawed. 500 Days of Summer has a non-linear format that mirrors the way Tom remembers his and Summer's relationship. The selective memory shows Tom's warped perception of their time together.

Charles Schulz was the one who suggested that the heaviest burden is unfulfilled potential, an idea that holds great significance here. It was the potential that drove Tom crazy. The wasted potential of his architectural career, the wasted potential of a meaningful relationship with his dream girl, and overall, the wasted potential of Tom’s growth. He couldn't move on and heal because the potential kept him waiting and hoping. On the other hand, Summer was bursting with potential. She was confident; she wasn’t afraid to say what she wanted, and she took action. She was basically everything Tom was too scared to become.