500 More Days of Summer

I already wrote about this movie, but after watching 500 Days of Summer again, I feel like I finally understand the message. Maybe, it's because I'm no longer wallowing in the angst of (unrequited) love, and, consequently, my vision in this arena is a lot less blurry. Yes, the tone of the movie is still artsy, the scene structure is still crisp, and the clothing styles are still pleasing to me. Now, though, I see this movie as a raw exploration of the deterioration of one's self-worth when one gives himself unconditionally over to the object of his affection. It is a dangerous amount of power to hand over to another person--ultimately one's self-worth and self-possession. But, that seems to be what we do when we surrender our hearts. We are such fools.

What are we supposed to do with this gnawing emotion that we've branded as love? Now, I'm not talking about the healthy kind of love--with all of that mutual admiration and supportive bullshit. No, I'm talking about the down and dirty kind of love--the kind that rips your heart out and pounds the shit out of it. That is the kind of love that Tom experiences in the movie, 500 Days of Summer. What this type of love amounts to is the inevitable self-loathing. Love is a slap in the face as we're looking into the mirror. It tells the truth about us. When we are rejected by a person we have decided to revere and admire, the truth of ourselves is that we are loathsome and lonely and annoying.

Tom falls hard for Summer. And, why not? She's cute enough and she is aloof enough to have guys at her knees. I don't think we are necessarily meant to like Summer. I think that, instead, we are supposed to understand how Tom can begin to loathe himself just by her rejecting him. It's not an all-out assault by Summer. She rejects him with subtlety, and Tom quietly catalogues all of the rejections. Since Summer doesn't laugh at his joke, does that mean he is not funny? Since Summer does not want to label Tom as her boyfriend, does that mean no one ever will? If he thinks that she is the best thing in his life, and she denies him, does that mean all of Tom's talents are really tics?

I certainly do not know the answer to these questions. Could be yes; could be no. The point is that Tom believes in a certain answer, and that is the most tragic answer. Once we give our hearts away, and they break (always, inevitably), the only way to get them back is to allow the organ to regenerate over time. The scar tissue that results is ugly and thick. It takes a lot to penetrate it.