The Favourites
(500) Days of Summer
(500) Days of Summer is the anti-romantic comedy. A film built on the torn-down remains of various tropes, writer-director Marc Webb’s carefully crafted insight into the mind of a man promised something the real world could never deliver is harsh and unforgiving in its portrayal of unrequited love. An insightful take on what the world of Hollywood has presented and how that is nothing but an illusion, the film is often miscategorized as a film engaging in cliche when instead it’s commenting on the false facade of them. Whether it’s the manic pixy dream girl, the meet-cute, or the post-break-up revelation, this film sets up every trope found in the romantic comedy only to show their toxic underpinnings.
The character of Tom is the epitome of the romantic comedy protagonist—a straight, white man in his mid-twenties who has a boring job and a generally dull life. Nothing is exciting about Joe, nothing that would turn heads if he was not the protagonist of this story. He is an everyman in every sense. Yet he holds this belief that the world stops and starts with him. He has the long-held belief that not only has love been promised to him but that he is owed it unconditionally. And while he blames the romantic comedies and romances of the world, the twisting of these stories into the narcissistic views he holds are all his own. Tom is someone who believes love to be a guarantee, not the gift it actually is.
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