500 Days of Summer Analysis | Reversing Gender Roles in Film

500 Days of summertime Analysis Reversing informal urge Roles in FilmNarrator This is a level of boy meets girlYou should hold up up front, this is not a distinguish fable. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009) as Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith, 1997), Eternal cheer of the clear Mind (Michael Gondry, 2004) is some other of these revelations full of originality which differs from the amative comedy patterns. The hold is presented as an alternative wild-eyed comedy in the first place because of three main reasons. To begin with, it anticipates to the spectator that the two main mentions atomic number 18 not going to finish together, which as we train previously seen breaks the wreak of the wild-eyedististicist comedy genre. Then, it introduces to the viewer that the happy ending matchless ordinarily deduces from romantic comedies it is not going to be seen. Finally there is a variation of the representation of the traditional gender roles of heterosexual family rela tionships.As the film starts by the omniscient narrator commenting This is not a love story The yarn of the film hinges on the central protagonist gobbler (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is introduced show the several flashbacks and flash-forwards of the story of his 500 days with Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Presenting a analogous structure to High Fidelity (Stepthen Frears, 2000) or to the already analysed Michel Gondrys Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind the film has the same nonlinear narrative showing forwards and backwards in the story of the relationship suggesting the send off of a puzzle with a few pieces missing. Like Kaufmans film, this nonlinear story ab come to the fore a romance is told after the couples failure however it lacks a component present in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind it does not present a attainable second portion for Tom and Summer.Reversing gender role of romantic comedy stereotypes. Romantic love (Tom) versus Giddens Confluent Love (Summer).Roman tic comedy is a genre that is commonly labelled as being a womens genre. Although there are exceptions in the genre, there is usually a heroine who a female viewer spate identify and empathise with (Claire Mortimer, 20).In contrast to Mortimers quote alternative romantic comedies frequently focus on gender role substitutions setting out to prove the male hero can be as nociceptive and desperate for love as the female consultations are as happens in films such as Pagafantas, (Borja Cobeaga, 2009) where Chema (Gorka Otxoa) is madly in love with Claudia (Sabrina Garcianera) but she sees him plainly as a friend. In (500) Days of Summer gender reversal is represented through the portrayal of the characters Tom and Summer. In the case of Tom, he has more in common with the heroines of romantic comedies that are hopelessly romantic and desperate to find the one, they cannot imagine themselves being happy without a man, excessively caught up in their obsession with romance to notice the men who could summate it into their lives. Tom totally represents the hopeless and perhaps foolish romantic who believes in love and wants that one great person in his lifeTom I love how she makes me feel, like anythings possible, or like life is expense it.In relation to this gender role reversal Giddens believes that today, women have a utmost greater degree of equality In the current era, ideals of romantic love tend to fragment under the pressure of female sexual emancipation and autonomy (Giddens, 1992 61). It is because of this, that romantic gender roles and expectations in todays society have changed. This change Giddens refers to is represented in the character of Summer. As it was previously mentioned in the typical romantic comedy women are portrayed as obsessional as the relationship-desperate characters as happens in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) where during the Civil warfare Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh) is desperately in love with Ashley Wilkes (Le slie Howard) who is going to get marry to another woman or as it also occurs in My Best Friends wedlock (P.J. Hogan, 1997) where Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) acts as an obsessive and desperate character trying to repress Michaels wedding. Summer plays the opposite role to Scarlet and Julianne she acts as a character that rejects commitment, emotionally withdrawn wrong man usually presented in romantic comedies and looking for a romance with no commitment moving outside(a) from the role of the stereotypical heroine in the romantic comedyTom What happens if you give in love?Summer Well, you dont believe that, do you?Tom Its love. Its not Santa Claus.Tom acts under the influence of romantic pop songs and romantic comedies considering that it is possible for love to exist. Men, like women, fall in love and have through so throughout the recorded past (Giddens, 199258). Tom is represented as the character who believes in this forever lasting love (romantic love). He liquid does n ot realise that love is so much more change than his concept of it, and that requires, among other things, the understanding of Summer. In contrast to romantic love, Giddens introduces the term of confluent love. He claims that confluent love is active, contingent love, and therefore jars with the for-ever, one-and-only qualities of the romantic love complex (Giddens, 1992 61). In relation to this concept Summer is the character that portrays the notion of confluent love. Summer sees the relationship from another perspective far from a traditional model of love till death us do part (Tom) versus to see how it works and whether it is convenient (Summer). Although she accepts to begin the relationship she warns Tom that she does not believe in love when she says Theres no such thing as love, its fantasy and does not want a boyfriend, and no matter how intimate they become she insists that they are merely friendsSummer Summer Were just frTom TomInterruptingTom No Dont tow that with me This is not how you treat your friend Kissing in the copy manner? Holding hands in IKEA? Shower sex? Come on Friends my ballsThis gender role reversal could be identified as one way in which the film breaks with the romantic comedy formula in which the image of Tom is feminized and Summer represents the dominant character of the film adhering self-explanatory conventions (boy meets girl boy and girl face obstacles to their romantic union boy and girl conquer obstacles to find true love) from the romantic comedy formula.