Here are three movies where many people completely missed the film’s point.
500 Days Of Summer is not a love story, and even with some of the opening lines of the film even calling this fact out, many people entirely missed it. 500 Days Of Summer is actually a critique of the romance genre, particularly films that give us unrealistic expectations about love and relationships.
Not only that, Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his incessant idealization of Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is clearly not something to be admired or considered as romantic. However, many people, including myself at my first watch, felt bad for Tom. How could Summer have not liked him? They had so much in common! And there is the point, my friends. (In my defense, I was like 17 the first time I saw it, okay?)
Juno stars Elliot Page as 16-year-old Juno MacGuff, a witty and offbeat teenager who accidentally gets pregnant after sleeping with her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno ends up deciding to keep the pregnancy so she can give up the baby for adoption.
Many people interpreted Juno as being a pro-life message. However, the film was clearly one of choice. Page has even been quoted discussing this: “What I get most frustrated at is when people call it a pro-life movie, which is just absurd,” Page said. “The most important thing is the choice is there, and the film completely demonstrates that.”
Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, was initially thought of as the ultimate bro film, a celebration of the worst, most brutal parts of masculinity, but it is actually the polar opposite. Rather, Fight Club is a critique of masculinity and of capitalism.
