After watching 500 Days with Summer, I thought the word "non-mainstream" was a good fit for the film. As a non-mainstream love movie, "500 Days with Summer" begins with a clear meaning: "This is the story of a man and a woman meeting, but it is not a love story." "Some friends have a deep feeling after watching the movie, and some people think that the movie is average. This time, let's talk about "500 Days with Summer".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (i) non-mainstream narrative art</h1>
The narrative sequence of 500 Days with Summer is not linear and logical, which is quite different from the common love story. The beginning of the film begins directly from the 290th day, on this day, the female protagonist proposes to the male protagonist to break up. In the subsequent story, the sequence of the films is as follows: day 1, day 3, day 154, day 11... Day 31, Day 282, Day 34... It can be seen that the narrative of "500 Days with Summer" is quite fragmented, and it is difficult for the audience to grasp the ins and outs of the changes in the relationship between the two when they first watch it.
In fact, when I rearrange the number of days, I still find it difficult to sort out where the inflection point of the two love relationships is. This is intentionally done by the film, so that it can form a narrative effect of "personal memoir". What happens in the movie is pieced together according to the memory of the male protagonist, and there are almost no scenes with the female protagonist as the main perspective. You can compare it to "Heartbeat", the narrative of that movie is to look at the same thing from the perspective of the male and female protagonists respectively. In "500 Days with Summer", you never know what the heroine is thinking, and the perspective of the movie is limited to the male protagonist. This is to fulfill the metaphor of life, which we will talk about later.
Although the story structure may seem a bit fragmented at first glance, 500 Days with Summer is actually carefully sequenced. Especially when you look at it a second time, you can find the causal connection. In order to show the development process of the relationship between the two, the film carefully selected the 1st, 3rd, 11th, 22nd, 28th and 31st days to show the male protagonist's good feelings for the female protagonist and the entanglement before the confession.
In addition to this common choice of days, there are also days that are put together for comparison. For example, the 282nd and 34th days are IKEA shopping, but they show a change in the relationship between the two. On the 282nd day, that is, on the eve of the heroine's proposal to break up, she no longer interacted with the male owner when shopping at IKEA. And on the 34th day, three days after their first kiss, they walked around IKEA and imagined the two living together, from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom, and no one imagined and talked. This scene is quite distinctively designed, which shows the rapid heating up of the relationship between the two and their yearning for future life.
The 282nd day of apathy
Harmony on the 34th day
After that, on the 191st day, the two watched the movie together, and on the 314th day, the male protagonist watched the movie alone, and the two theater scenes were also compared together, highlighting the loneliness after the male protagonist broke up. Subsequently, the unintentional work of the male protagonist on the 321st day compared with the work performance of the male protagonist on the 167th day, showing the impact of the change of the relationship between the two on the working state of the male protagonist. Of course, this is only a direct comparison of specific days, and "500 Days with Summer" also has rich comparisons on other levels, which we will talk about later.
The number of days cut and selected is not the only highlight of the narrative art of "500 Days with Summer". In fact, there are a lot of shots that are very distinctive. At the beginning of the film, the camera is divided into two, showing the childhood experiences of the male and female protagonists at similar ages. At the same moment, the shots of the two perspectives of the male and female protagonists also took place between the 456th and 476th days. At that time, the male protagonist had come out of the trough of love, cheered up, and worked hard to become an architect; on the other hand, the female protagonist held a wedding. Such a lens contrast not only increases the amount of information, but also has a reverie from the perspective of the male protagonist - "When you are doing XX things, what is she doing?" ”
Another impressive shot appears at the rooftop party on the 408th day. With the narration, the left lens is labeled "Expected" and the right lens is labeled "Reality". This paragraph has a lot of information, and the male protagonist expects to rekindle love after the two reunite, but in fact, he is somewhat marginalized and lonely. The expectations of the male protagonist's imagination completely stopped after seeing the wedding ring on the female protagonist's hand. This means that the male protagonist is no longer expected. This realistic comparison with the expected shot is really a wonderful design.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (ii) non-mainstream love themes</h1>
If the narrative art of "500 Days with Summer" is eye-catching, then its love theme is catches people off guard. Although it was pointed out at the beginning of the movie that this was not a love story, I was thinking in my heart: "Want to get away with it? Must be lying to me again about dog food. However, after seeing the movie, I found out that this movie is really not a love story. On the surface, the film is about the division and union of a man and a woman, but all the events combined are satirizing meaningless, fruitless love. In a word, you won't be sweet to this pair of men and women.
As mentioned earlier, the narrative perspective of "500 Days with Summer" is almost limited to the male protagonist. During the movie, I was thinking, why not reveal the heroine's thoughts? The male protagonist does not understand why the female protagonist proposes to break up, because he thinks that the two are very happy in their days together. In fact, he may have just kept good memories and concluded that "the two should not break up if they are happy together". If the heroine's thoughts can be revealed, perhaps the audience can see the full face of the love between the two.
After careful combing, I still can't see when the heroine transferred her affection. When the male protagonist recalls, there is a scene where the two watch the movie "Graduate". This movie is about the story of empathy and love, the heroine is moved to tears, which must be very suitable for her state of mind, at this time she must also fall into love entanglement. In other words, the reason why the heroine broke up with the male protagonist on the 290th day is because she has fallen in love with other men. But when did she fall in love with another man? Why did she fall in love with other men at first sight? What is the status of the male protagonist to her? None of this was answered, and the film deliberately left the audience unaware of the full picture of the story.
However, if you think about the reality, some love relationships break off suddenly, and it is difficult to find the reason. It's not even just love – there's always a part of your life that's blank. Some people may not know for the rest of their lives why this or that happened. If you have experienced the love of "knowing that you have made no mistake, but suddenly being broken up", these people will have a deep resonance with the story of "500 Days with Summer". However, even if you have not experienced such love, you only need to think about the mysteries in your life that can never be solved, and you can understand the metaphor of life in "500 Days with Summer".
The irony of this life is not only reflected in the big reverse of the story, "500 Days with Summer" also further increases the irony of the film through many methods. The more layered contrast mentioned above is closely related to irony. Looking back at the experiences of the male and female protagonists, the conceptual changes of the two are almost opposite. After experiencing this love, the male protagonist believes that there is no so-called destiny; however, after the female protagonist fell in love with other men at first sight, she completely understood the fate of the male protagonist at the beginning. Comparing the changes in the two people's concepts, I have to say that it is quite ironic. Moreover, this design also leads to an open-ended discussion, is love destined? There is almost no answer to what is right and wrong in this story, leaving only the audience to think for themselves.
The line comparison of "500 Days with Summer" is also very subtle. The same line, spoken by the male and female protagonists in different situations, further increases the irony of the film. On the 290th day, the male protagonist did not want to break up, he asked the female protagonist: "Aren't you happy with me?" And a similar line appeared after the 109th day, when the male protagonist wanted to determine the relationship between the two, the female protagonist asked the male protagonist in the car: "I am very happy, aren't you happy?" ”
Another interesting line contrast is the male protagonist's opposite feelings about the same thing. On the 154th day, the male protagonist said that he liked the so-and-so characteristics of the female protagonist; and on the 322nd day, the male protagonist said that he hated the so-and-so characteristics of the female protagonist he once liked. These contrasting lines always enhance the irony of the film, and further show the "impermanence of the world", which complements the theme of the film.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
The idea of "500 Days with Summer" is quite unique. Friends who have similar experiences especially like it, but some friends think that the story is very plain and the plot development is absurd. If you still have to pick faults, the lack of flat characters, weak contradictions and conflicts, and slow progress of the story are obvious. These evaluations have nothing to do with right or wrong, but only as a result of differences in positions and experiences. If you put your personal preferences aside, I have to say that "500 Days with Summer" is still a rather distinctive non-mainstream love story.