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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

!!NAME: Ang Wei Yi

STUDENT ID NO: 0317885

FILMS SELECTED: Dramedy (500 Days of Summer & The Fault in Our Stars)

WORD COUNT: 1293 words

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

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Prewriting Title: Contrast between the 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars

Thesis statement:

The four points of difference between two films that I want to contrast are the main theme,

the character personality, the ending of the love story between two main characters and the

lessons learned from the film.

!1. Major themes

• the contrast of idealism vs. realism

• the realities of terminal cancer

2. Character personalities

• Summer is selfish

• Hazel is selfless

3. The endings of the love story between two main characters

• sad ending

• bittersweet ending

4. Lessons learned from the film

• know the reality from fantasy

• live in the moment

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!Contrast between the 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars

! 500 Days of Summer is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film written by

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, directed by Marc Webb, looking at real life

relationships and how they can breakdown and mean different things to the other person. On

the other hand, The Fault in Our Stars is another romantic drama-comedy film of boy-meets-

girl, for Hazel and Augustus first meet at a cancer support group. Hazel has stage-four thyroid

cancer. A new drug has bought her some time, but her constant companion is an oxygen tank

and the illness is still terminal. Augustus lost a leg to cancer, but at the beginning of the film

he is in remission. Their love story is overshadowed by impending death. I found that there

are huge differences between both of the selected films although they were written by the

same screenwriter, Scott Neustadter. Therefore, the four points of difference between two

films that I want to contrast are the main theme, the character personality, the ending of the

love story between two main characters and the lessons learned from the film.

! The main theme is the biggest difference between these two films. 500 Days of

Summer illustrates the contrast of idealism vs. realism. The example of this theme is Tom and

Summer’s view on Tom’s favourite movie, The Graduate. Tom sees the movie romantically

with the ending that love conquers all, which is why the audience connects with him, it is

what we all have been taught. Although Summer is detached, the only emotional connection

she achieves is while crying at the end of The Graduate, seeing the realism of relationships. I

feel like her crying was her relating to that film. In the end of that film, they had just gotten

married, the adrenaline rush is now over and they stare at each other, like, “Now what?”.

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They didn’t really love each other like that. Besides, Summer leads on Tom by dancing with

him and then sleeping on his shoulder all while she was already seeing her future husband. It

is at this point in the film, where it absolutely looks like they will be getting back together.

While that would have happened in any other romantic comedy, I found it a great little twist

that it went completely the other way with that classic and heartbreaking expectation vs.

reality scene. On the contrary, for The Fault in Our Stars, the realities of terminal cancer

plays a prominent role in this film. This film seeks to downplay the popular idea that battling

cancer is a noble, heroic, and rewarding act, and it does so primarily by showing the realities

of cancer. There is nothing particularly noble for Hazel about struggling to breathe and

knowing her death will hurt others, or anything heroic for Augustus in having had a leg

amputated, or rewarding for Isaac about losing his vision. Instead the audiences see that kids

with cancer are just that: kids. What makes them different from other kids is that they are put

in the terrible position of having to deal with a debilitating and sometimes fatal illness.

Augustus discusses this idea directly when he tells Hazel about his former girlfriend,

Caroline Mathers. He talks about the trope of the cancer victim who heroically fights cancer

until the end, then points out that kids with cancer aren't statistically anymore likely to be

better people than kids without cancer. Caroline, he explains, became increasingly cruel

toward him as her condition worsened. Rather than make her a better person, cancer made her

worse.

! Summer Finn is not mature enough for real relationships and being selfish. She does

not believe in labelling relationships and do not want anything serious but she still

impulsively makes out with Tom. She goes out with him. She shares her most intimate

thoughts and stories with him. Eventually, everything she does makes Tom yells that

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everything they are doing is not a friendship. Besides, they even have a very romantic night

together at the wedding after the break-up. They spend the entire week together happily. Tom

feels hopeful as Summer invites him to a party at her place. However, he ends up seeing

Summer showing off her ring and her fiancé to him. She is selfish. It is immediately obvious

that Hazel is not the typical teenage girl from Indianapolis. By comparison, Hazel is far more

thoughtful and considerate about her actions than Summer, and she is far more analytical.

Hazel is selfless. One of Hazel’s defining characteristics is her wish to tread lightly upon the

world. She desperately wants to mitigate the harm caused by her existence on Earth. For

Hazel, everything is about perspective and everything that consumes her life is a measure of

leaving as little hurt as possible behind when, not if, she dies. She knows her parents have

suffered because of her cancer and that they will grieve when she dies. Besides, she avoids

making new friends because she considers herself a “grenade” and she does not want to

inflict any more damage than necessary. When she first meets the dashing Augustus, she

resists his affection because she does not want him to be another victim when she dies.

! Moreover, I would like to contrast the difference between the endings of the love

story between two main characters of both films. 500 Days of Summer ended up sadly. Tom

confesses that he now realises that all his ideas about love were wrong. The girl who did not

want to be anyone's girlfriend was now someone's wife. She married to a man who she met

him in a deli. Tom did not end up with Summer and he moved on. Compared to the 500 Days

of Summer, The Fault in Our Stars has a bittersweet ending for the relationship between

Hazel and Augustus. Lidewij tells her that Augustus wrote her a eulogy that he sent to Van

Houten. The film ends with Hazel reading the eulogy, which states that you cannot choose

whether or not you will be hurt, but you can choose what hurts you, and that he is happy with

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his choices. He hopes that she is happy with the choices she made. Hazel says that yes, she is

happy.

! Last but not least, the contrast between these two films is the lessons learned from the

film. We learned to know the reality from fantasy from 500 Days of Summer. Sometimes

when we are in a relationship, we project our own expectations onto the other person. We fail

to see the person for who or what they truly are. In 500 Days of Summer, Tom develops a

mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies. On the

other hand, for The Fault in our Stars, the lesson learned is that we should live in the moment

because the future always remains an enigma, we must cherish the time spent with people in

our present. As Hazel beautifully acknowledges, “some infinities are bigger than other

infinities.” Sometimes we are spontaneously given more or less time with people we care

about deeply. Hazel is given a smaller “infinity” with Augustus.

! In conclusion, the main theme, the character personality, the ending of the love story

between two main characters and the lessons learned from the film are the four points of

difference between 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars that I want to contrast. I

strongly suggest that if you prefer a wise, warm, funny and touching romantic drama-comedy

film, The Fault in Our Stars is definitely your first choice as it tells us that "we can and

should have moments of infinite joy within a limited time”. It is your choice!

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References

!1. veemignon. Analysis: (500) Days of Summer. [Website] Retrieved from: https://

veemignon.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/analysis-500-days-of-summer/comment-page-1/

[Accessed: 19 September 2014]

!2. Blake Tan. Character Study: Summer Finn. [Website] Retrieved from: http://

halfblaked.blogspot.com/2010/08/character-study-summer-finn.html [Accessed: 19

September 2014]

!3. Straightedge is Beautiful. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER-THOUGHTS AND ANALYSIS.

[Website] Retrieved from: http://straightedgeisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/500-

days-of-summer-thoughts-and-analysis/ [Accessed: 19 September 2014]

!4. Karen Hua. Voices: 5 life lessons from 'The Fault in Our Stars’. [Website] Retrieved

from: http://college.usatoday.com/2014/06/07/voices-5-life-lessons-from-the-fault-in-our-

stars/ [Accessed: 19 September 2014]

!5. Ann Hornaday. ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ review: A terrific addition to the canon of

doomed young love. [Website] Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

goingoutguide/movies/the-fault-in-our-stars-review-a-terrific-addition-to-the-canon-of-

doomed-young-love/2014/06/04/6e35c38e-ebe8-11e3-b98c-72cef4a00499_story.html

[Accessed: 19 September 2014]

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