(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer

In 20th Century Fox film “(500) Days of Summer” the director uses overt narration to tell the ironic story of Tom Hansen and Summer Finn through the showing of unorthodox un-chronological scenic storytelling. One of the first statements by this narrator is that “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story”. The narrator makes it clear that he would rather let his audience face the fact that there may not be a stereotypical happy ending than to give them a false sense of hope and love just to be let down due to the lack of said love story.

Beginning the film by showing the audience the two characters’ views of love, the narrator gives the us a preview of the two’s childhood- how Tom had always whole heartedly believed in the eternal gift of soul mates, though due to the lyrics of puerile European singers, and how subsequent to her parents’ divorce, Summer refused to consider anything she was not able to see nor touch. The narrator follows this with a post-breakup scene with Tom in a state of depression, smashing his plates. Throughout the film, the narrator goes back and forth, from pre-breakup to post. He does this to show us the beginning of the couple’s relationship (day one), and the ending of the relationship (day 290), followed by the causes, the aftermath (Tom’s depressive state and Summer’s marriage) and the final ending of day 500. This selection of events is used in this way to provide his audience with an untraditional way of showing cause and effect- rather effect and cause.

Through his storytelling, the narrator wishes us to question the sides of the stories he is presenting- Tom’s lovey-dovey everything is perfect side versus Summer’s love isn’t real not everything is okay perspective. The narrator clearly shows us the story of the two in a way that is not objective, for each happy moment he presents his audience follows with an ill-fated account of Tom sulking day by day, noting the...