My guilty pleasure has always been romantic comedies and even though a lot of them fall in the girl and guy meet, they fall in love, something goes wrong/ misunderstanding occurs, they separate for a little bit and then they reconcile and live happily ever after, one of them stands out. 500 Days of Summer(spoiler warning even though the story isn’t even linear) is a story about a guy who meets and then falls in love with a girl who likes him back but doesn’t really want a relationship. It goes through a lot of different scenarios where eventually it doesn’t work out and he finds someone new at the very end of the movie. This movie is a perfect example of how the culmination of lived experiences can shape how you view love.
I am absolutely a romantic. I’ve been surrounded by love my entire life, my parents, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles all seemed to be in love and I wanted a piece. My first watch, I completely agreed with the main character. How dare this girl who expressed her feelings of not wanting a relationship with him end up not wanting a relationship with him. The whole point of the movie went over my head and they even tell you at the beginning. After a few more rewatches(I enjoy this movie a lot) and a little bit of growing as a person, I finally start to understand. And the whole reason I was able to understand why what happened wasn’t just one persons fault is because I’ve had more experiences with love since then. Perception of love can be so different from person to person and it’s most likely why love is so difficult.
The opening of the movie is of the main character and the girl’s upbringing, showing how the main characters perception of love was shaped from movies and music, stemming the hopeless romantic mindset while the girl’s perception of love was shaped by how her parents divorced when she was young which stemmed the cynical mindset and we see how their mindsets clash during the movie. It is just so interesting how much experiences and very little or subtle changes in a life can change so much about someone. Always keep a open mind and a open heart.
Unruly Bodies 
I also think it is interesting when these types of movies demonstrate this clash in mindset, but show that eventually the one who most against commitment, changes their mind in order to be with this person forever. One example that comes to mind is the After movie series (which is very bad, but it’s sooo bad that it is actually entertaining). The male character, Hardin falls for Tessa even after making this whole big show about love not being real and it’s easy to turn the “switch” off. But in the progression of the series, we see him not only strongly pursuing only Tessa as partner, he even wants to marry and have children. We also see why Hardin initially does not believe in love due to the trauma surrounding his dad, but it is fascinating like you said how much someone’s life and experiences shapes their idea/approach to love. It also makes you realize how much your concept of love is always changing, even while in a relationship with someone.
As someone who loves rom-coms, I also love this movie! To me, I find it so perfect because it is genuinely realistic to how dating can be. It isn’t cut out and perfect. The movie as you said, also depicted how people of various backgrounds present their love (or don’t) in different ways. I’ve seen so much backlash against Summer but she did state her boundaries and how she isn’t ready to commit to a relationship. Which to me, was very normal. But I also loved how they showed the state it left Tom in too as that was also realistic.
I love rom coms too! There was a TV channel called RomedyNow on Times Network which was a broadcast network. When I would spend my summers in India, I would fight my brother to watch a rom com movie on my grandparents TV.
They just, feel nice! I like predictable imperfect messy characters, I groan at cheesy tropes, I cry at heartfelt confessions. Currently, my roommates and I are sort of binge watching sex and the city (SATC). It’s great for all of the above. But fair warning you will sort of hate Carrie for a lot of the show.
I haven’t watched this movie yet, but I love rom-coms as well. My parents weren’t together growing up and seeing my parents in their separate relationships wasn’t a great representation, so all I had was movies to show me what love was and what to expect. Reality did NOT meet expectations to say the least. It was so hard to accept love being so much more complicated than the conflicts in the movies. Having that hope that things will still work out in the end even when things get bad. I am currently rewatching the show Insecure and it has helped me so much because it’s realistic to the dating scene–things don’t always work out because love/life isn’t a one-way street. I appreciate that.