Whenever someone asks me the big question “What is your favorite movie?” I used to respond with “Well, I don’t really have a favorite but here are a couple that rank up there.” Being that it has always been one that I absolutely love, a month ago I watched "500 Days of Summer;" the first time I had since last year. With that said, I don’t think a movie has had more of an emotional effect on me than it did that day. The things that I found within this movie a month ago may not have been what other people saw in it. Somehow I just happened to see it at the right time in the right place where it hit me like a ton of bricks, but in the best way possible. I’m sure others would agree but at this age you deal with a lot, and sometimes after you’ve seen and dealt with things, a movie can just come to you at the right time. "500 Days of Summer" was that movie for me. How the movie plays out and what I took from it, especially at this time in my life, is why this movie is more than just a movie, it’s a concept, and many at that.

(If you haven’t seen the movie, there are general spoilers as I go on).

Everyone has their “500 Days.”

Here’s the thing. "500 Days of Summer" is usually tied to being all about relationships, but that’s not where I’m necessarily going with this. The reason it’s more than a movie to me is because the things this film made me realize go beyond just the film’s topic of relationships. Sure it can be tied to the concept of relationships generally but the lessons are much bigger than that and apply to every situation you’re going to go through, which is why it hit me at the right time with a number of things.

As the heading explains, one thing I got from "500 Days of Summer" is that everyone is going to have their “500 Days” no matter what you are going through. What I mean by that is you’re going to have situations in life that vary both in time and scope. Some will last longer than others; maybe it’s 200 days, 98 days, or even just two weeks. Tom and Summer’s time together (whether in a relationship at the time or not) lasted for 500, and throughout the film it takes a look at many of these days; searching back to see what led to certain points in the story or, for example, if there was a turning point on day 12 that led to where he was on say, day 135. Your “500 Days” are going to be all over the place. Some days within it will be more significant and memorable than others. You’re going to go back and forth through them in your mind, seeing the decisions you made and how they might have changed the course of “your timeline,” but in reality they really haven’t, because one of the main concepts the film deals with is fate. And yes, I know everyone has their own opinions on this. Some believe in it while some have a hard time coming to terms with the idea. However, I’m one of those who firmly believes in the concept of “everything is going to work out the way it’s supposed to,” which is why this film affected me the way it did. That being said, from my point of view, you’re never really altering your timeline with the decisions you make because whatever happened was meant to be that way, and something about that is comforting. The point of this was whether it's 500 days, 70 days, or 14 days, you’re going to get through it and arrive back to Day 1 after it’s all over.

Ultimately, everything is going to come from you.

After watching it again last month, this is another thing that I got from the film that I needed and have come to realize between last year when I saw it and now. In the film, Tom is seen in the first scene talking to his friend and little sister about how it is over between him and Summer. His friends are there to listen and try to provide him with advice, telling him what he should do. Although Tom respects their opinions (for the most part), throughout the film he often goes against his friends and sister telling him that Summer doesn’t seem to be “the one” and attempts to get her back anyway, because he feels differently. This is where the above heading come in. Whatever situation you find yourself in, it’s important to remember that ultimately, everything is going to come from you. You’re going to have great friends who are absolutely right about things and want to lead you in the right direction, but if you don’t believe it yourself, it’s not going to work. Others are going to be there to support and guide you through anything, but you need to be the one who fixes things for yourself. It all comes from you. In the film, after spending days, weeks, even months trying to get over Summer, Tom finally realizes that he needs to be the one who makes a change for himself. He takes his energy and uses it to finally go after his goal of designing buildings and working in architecture. All of this leads to Day 500 in the story where he arrives at a job interview and that’s where the film leads into the final concept that has helped me and I’m sure others more than expected.

We all have a destination -- it just might take awhile to get there.

(This paragraph contains specifics regarding the ending, so skip to the last paragraph if you don’t want to know the ending in detail). So, Tom finally arrives at this job interview. He sits on the couch across from a woman. When they both find out they are there to interview for the same position, Tom makes a joke about how she is his competition and hopes she doesn’t get the job in which she replies the same way. She then tells him that he looked familiar and they learn she has seen him sitting at his favorite spot in the park from time to time, but he says he has not seen her in which she replies “You must not have been looking.”

From this entire conversation one can see that there is something about the two of them speaking and being there at that time. Tom is finally called for his interview as he walks away. But at the last second he turns around as the narrator describes how Tom was only “pretty sure” there was no such thing as fate and asks her if she wants to get coffee after the interview. She hesitates saying she has someone to meet after the interview, which causes Tom to accept and walk away. But, you can see on her face she is having second thoughts and blurts out “Sure, why not?” Tom then tell her his name with which she replies, “I’m Autumn.”

The first time I saw this ending, I sat there in silence with so many thoughts in my head. At the time, I had never seen a movie that ended where the girl the guy was chasing after the entire time was not the one he ended up with. That’s when the movie’s central idea finally became clear and even clearer last month. Eventually, you’re going to get where you need to be. There are just going to be a bunch of checkpoints you have to get to or go through that lead you to that one place. Some checkpoints are going to be harder than others. You might think at the time you’ve gotten to a checkpoint that marks “your end” in one aspect of your life but later realize it wasn’t and that you’re still on that track. At the time something rough happens you can’t see the reason behind it and that’s the most difficult part. You can’t see what it will eventually lead to at the time, which is hard, but you have to push through it even though it’s going to be easier some days and hit you on other days. It’s just another situation that's going to push you to “your end” eventually. If Tom did not go through that section of his life with Summer for those 500 days, he probably would have never quit his job to pursue architecture. He would have never been at that job interview and met Autumn. Tom just had to go through that section of his life (some great times and some harder) that was eventually going to push him right where he needed to be at the right time. That’s why this movie is more than a movie to me - it’s shown me more than anybody could ever just tell me through words.

I’ve looked back on things that are both great and hard and realized if those things didn’t happen, this would have never happened or I would have never been here at this time. As a result, I can bet you if you really look back on times in your life that were maybe tough, that you never thought had any purpose but to give you yet another obstacle, I would advise you to really look harder. If you never experienced those “500 days,” would you really be where you are right now? So there you have it. "500 Days of Summer." Forever my favorite movie.