In the film of 500 days of summer
In the film of 500 days of summer, the diegesis is introduced in the opening scene of the movie by giving events, the setting of the film and details on the main characters. For example, at the beginning of the movie Tom Hanson is introduced by “the boy grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met “the one” and the girl Summer introduced as she “only cared about two things, her long dark hair and how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing.” This gives the audience an understanding of the characteristics of the two characters and it introduces the plot of the movie. The voice is only at the introduction of the film which sets the scene and plot of the film. The main narrative plot follows Tom as he meets, falls in love, and then gets his heart broken by Summer. In the opening scene of the movie, it also introduces us with the theme of the movie and that being human dilemma. It is introduced as a romantic comedy when “This is a story where a boy meets a girl” is stated. It is clear to the audience that the film is based on love because of the way the movie starts out. The film continues to refer to the two main characters as “the boy” Tom Hanson, and “the girl” Summer. The film also points out that the movie is not only going to be about romance when “this is not a love story” is included at the beginning, and that there is going to be pieces of humor in the film. Throughout the movie, alternative types of music are played. At the beginning of the film, diegetic music is played, and it gives the audience a sense of reality about what is going on in the film and it is music only the audience can hear. This gives the audience an idea that their will be a relationship between the two characters. Throughout the show, the music gives the audience an understanding of the good and bad times throughout the movie because when the music stops it resembles that there has been conflicts or disagreements between the two. As the middle of the movie arises, the music changes to a more monotone, quieter sound of music. As the end of the movie arises when Tom tries to get Summer back, the music starts out as a hopeful tone, then goes to a more disappointing tone. Throughout films, they are usually planned out in chronological order but within this film, it jumps all over the place. The film first begins on day 488 at the end of the two’s relationship and the effects it has on Tom and then it jumps to Tom’s and Summer’s good times and the back to the reality of their relationship at the end. The opening credits are shown at the beginning of the film as well as childhood videos of both Tom and summer and this is a huge main point of the film. Another sequence shown throughout the movie is Tom on a bus alone, while summer gets married (not to Tom) which gives the audience an idea of what might happen in the end. Tom’s sister plays a huge role within his love for summer and states “he is only remembering the good stuff about summer.” After their breakup, Tom states the opposite of every feature he thought was good about Summer before they broke up. The film’s narration argues the “expectation vs. reality” about love. It expresses how our perceptions of romantic love can alter our understanding. As the end of the movie arises, he meets a girl named Autumn at a job interview and asks her on a date and his whole perception changes. He realized that he only saw the good characteristics and even though he will remember the good and bad times, Summer impacted him in a way that he will never lose hope and that this will change his perception of love and relationships.
