This document is a compare and contrast essay analyzing the films 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars. The essay discusses four key differences between the films: their main themes (idealism vs. realism vs realities of terminal cancer), the personalities of the main characters (Summer is selfish vs Hazel is selfless), the endings of their love stories (sad vs bittersweet), and the lessons learned (knowing reality from fantasy vs living in the moment). The essay provides analysis and examples to support each of the four points of contrast between the two films.

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
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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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2. 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.
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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
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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.
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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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4. 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.
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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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5. 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.
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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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6. his choices. He hopes that she is happy with the choices she made. Hazel says that yes, she is
happy.
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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.
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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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7. References
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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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