Curated and contributed by: Eric Henderson, TESOL, Hawaii Pacific University
“500 Days of Summer” is a film based on the relationship between a man and a woman in their mid-twenties. This scene is of Thomas, the main character, talking to his friends about breaking up with his girlfriend, Summer.
Transcript
[ Buzzes ]
Friend 1: We didn't know who else to call.
Friend 2: It's Amanda Heller all over again.
Rachel: You did the right thing. Now where is he?
[ Plate Shatters ]
Rachel: Thomas.
Thomas: Rachel. What are you doing here?
Rachel: I'm here to help you.
Thomas: Help me how?
Rachel: First, put down the plate. Drink this.
[Rachel hands Thomas a glass]
Friend 2: What is that?
Rachel: Vodka.
Thomas: Um, does Mom know that you're here? Cause it's probably past 1 0:00.
Rachel: [ Sighs ] Don't worry about it.
Rachel: Just start from the beginning, and tell us what happened.
Tom: [Narrating ]Things were going so well.
Rachel: Then what?
[Memories of Summer and Thomas together flash across the screen and end with Summer and Thomas sitting in a dinner together] Names with asterisks* are the memory dialogue
*Summer: I think we should stop seeing each other.
Rachel: Just like that?
Thomas: Just like that.
Friend 1: Did she say why?
*Summer: I mean this thing. what are we doing? I mean, is this normal?
*Thomas: Normal? I, I don't know. I don't care. I'm happy. Aren't you happy?
*Summer: You're happy?
*Thomas: You're not?
*Summer: All we do is argue.
*Thomas: That is bullshit!
Rachel: Maybe she was just in a bad mood.
Friend 1: Yeah, maybe like a a hormonal thing.
Rachel: P.M.S.?
Thomas: What do you know about P.M.S.?
Rachel: More than you Tom.
Friend 2: Then what happened?
*Summer: This can't come as a total surprise to you. I mean, we've been like Sid and Nancy for months now.
*Thomas: Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy...seven times with a kitchen knife. I, I mean, we have some disagreements, but I hardly think I'm Sid Vicious.
*Summer: No. I'm Sid.
*Thomas: Oh, so I'm Nancy?
*Summer: Let's just eat, and we'll talk about it later.
[Summer begins to eat her breakfast] Mmm. That is good.
*Summer: I'm really glad we did this. I love these pancakes.
[Thomas looks at her in disbelief]
*Summer: What?
[Thomas gets up and leaves]
*Summer: Tom, don't go. You're s till my best friend!
Friend 1: Jesus.
Rachel: You've broken up with girls before.
Thomas: Yes.
Rachel: And girls have broken up with you before.
Thomas: This is different.
Rachel: Why?
Thomas: 'Cause it's Summer.
Friend 2: So you'll you'll meet somebody new. Point is, you're the best guy I know. You'll get over her.
Friend 1: I think it's kind of like how they say. There's, uh. There's plenty of other fish in the sea.
Thomas: No.
Friend 1: They, they say that.
Thomas: Well, they're lying. I don't want to get over her. I want to get her back.
The main character of this movie gets cancer and is given a 50/50 chance of survival. In this scene he is about to go into high-risk surgery and speaks to his parents before. His father suffers from Alzheimer's disease which one of the symptoms is difficulty in remembering recent events.
Adam: I'm feeling...
Adam: Listen, I know it's a little hard to follow everything that's going on right now but I just want you to know...I love you, very much.
Art: Ok
Adam: Ok dad
Art: Ok
Dr. Lee: Hello Adam, I'm Dr. Lee. I'm here to administer your anesthesia.
Adam: Okay, hi
Dr. Lee: Now, just relax. I'm going to inject the anesthesia through your IV. It's going to take a few moments before you start to feel the effects.
Adam: You're doing it now?
Nurse: If you guys just want to head over to the waiting room that would be great.
Adam: And how long does it last?
Dr. Lee: That really depends on the individual
Adam: Right, but how do you know it's going to last long enough to...you know...so that I don't wake up in the middle of the surgery...or that you're going to make sure that I wake up after...mom.
Mom: Sweetie, you're going to be just fine.
Dr. Lee: I'm really sorry but we need to get Adam to the operating room.
Mom: Could you just wait a moment, please?
Dr. Lee: Sorry.
Mom: I love you baby.
In the table below write down what characters in the movie clips said in order to express their sympathy to another person and in the next column write down why you think they are expressing sympathy.
Expressions of sympathy Reason/Situation
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2. Have you had to express sympathy in similar situations in your own language? What are some ways you know how to express sympathy to other people?
3. If you were in a similar situation would you have expressed sympathy in a different or similar way in your own language? in English?
4. In one of the clips above an idiom is used to express sympathy. Are there idioms that you use to express sympathy in your own language? in English?
5. What are some reasons or situations where people express sympathy in your culture? What are some situations where you would not express sympathy ?
At the end of each clip we are left wondering what will happen with to the main character. In pairs, or groups, choose an outcome that you think will happen for either of the clips and think of a way to express your sympathy to the main character, his friends, and family, in the new outcome.
500 Days of Summer future outcome
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New expressions of sympathy
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50/50 future outcome
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New expressions of sympathy
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Staying in your same group, create a dialogue with the characters in the clip from the future outcomes that you and your group made in the previous activity. Use the new expressions of sympathy that you and your group created in the last activity in your new dialogues. When your dialogues are completed practice them. Groups will present their dialogues in front of the class.
(Your teacher may play the clip, or the end of the clip, before your group starts your dialogue to help give context to the class that is watching. )