Tom Hansen: The Real Villain of (500) Days of Summer
The film 500 Days of Summer is a movie told from a man’s perspective. Since the movie revolves around Tom Hansen’s point of view, it is fairly easy to root for him.
But is his character actually someone people should support? Is he actually a victim of Summer, like how he paints himself to be? Is Summer the real villain in the story? A lot of people believe otherwise, and here’s why.
Summer was not having it
Even though the two of them were doing “couple-y” things, Summer made it very clear that she was not looking for anything serious. This was even more made clear to the viewers when Tom Finally had the epiphany. Finally looking back on everything he overlooked, all the subtle signs Summer showed disinterest in the relationship.
Tom definitely saw Summer in rose-colored glasses, as a result, these signs were noticed late.
Made idealizing a hobby
Speaking of idealizing, Tom made this a hobby the whole time he and Summer were seeing each other. This is quite evident even in the way he describes Summer.
I mean, who talks about their love for a person’s knee? It’s just a knee my dude, chill. He even went as far as telling his friends “This is different because it’s Summer.” when they talk to him about meeting different women.
Summer was only ever different to Tom because he made Summer so. She was his Manic pixie dream girl but Summer was clearly not up for that role.
Won’t take no for an answer
Finally, after the altercation at the bar with some random dude hitting on Summer, they had a conversation about their relationship. Again, Summer was trying to say that she does not perceive whatever they have as something serious, but Tom says otherwise.
Him screaming “I SAY WE’RE A COUPLE, GOD DAMN IT.” is definitely the cherry on top of their argument. It just proves that he does not care about what Summer has to say with what they have, and he chooses to live in his delusion that they are a couple.
There are A TON of other reasons why Tom Hansen is the real villain in the story, care to share one with us?
