Casey Ryder, Staff Writer |
Are you currently single and looking to get into a relationship? Even if you’re not currently interested in a relationship, do you maybe want something casual? If you answered yes to either of those questions that would make a lot of sense. College, after all, has been the birthplace of a countless number of relationships.
However, before you start swiping right on Tinder or ask the kid who sits next to you in class out on a date, there is a movie you must watch: Five Hundred Days of Summer.
The film starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which was first released in 2009, is a must-watch for any young adult looking to get into a relationship. Unlike most movies about dating, this one keeps it real. As narrator Richard McGonogale says at the start of the film, “This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know upfront, this is not a love story.”
The film depicts a young man named Tom and a young woman named Summer who meet at a job. The couple’s first interaction takes place in an elevator when Tom is blasting a song on his headphones called “There is a light that never goes out” by The Smiths. Summer hears the song playing and tells Tom that she loves The Smiths and that he has a good taste in music. From that moment on, Tom develops a massive crush on Summer and spends the rest of the film trying to make Summer his girlfriend.
Following that interaction, Tom and Summer would continue to see each other and build comradery. Eventually, along with Tom’s friend McKenzie and the rest of the office they work at, they go out to a local bar for karaoke night. Tom, McKenzie, and Summer spend most of the night together and in the end, McKenzie has a giant revelation for Summer.
“He likes you,” McKenzie says stumbling into a taxicab “Why don’t you just tell her Tom?” When McKenzie’s taxicab pulls away, Summer asks the obvious question, “Is that true… Do you like me?” Unfortunately for his sake, Tom, like many people in that situation, is unable to muster up the courage to tell his crush his true feelings about her. Instead, he tells her that he would like for them to be friends. In my opinion, the scene teaches an important lesson about dating which is that when you have the opportunity to reveal your true intentions to someone, it’s better to just be honest and go for it rather than doing what Tom did and be filled with regret later.
Following this interaction, Tom and Summer would continue seeing each other, and eventually, they would sleep together. But the whole time Tom is hell-bent on making Summer his partner but she never budged. Summer was consistent in saying that she did not want a relationship at that time and that she just wanted something casual. Eventually, Summer breaks Tom’s heart and tells him that they should stop seeing each other.
The biggest lesson to be learned from the movie is this; when someone you like tells you that they’re not interested in a relationship or that they’re not interested in you, accept it, and move on. In the film Tom does what so many people, especially guys, do in that situation which is trying to convince their crush that they do in fact want a relationship when in reality that’s just not the case.
The film teaches several important lessons about dating and if you are a young adult looking to get into a relationship, I have one simple instruction; go watch 500 Days of Summer!
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