![]() ![]() Some of the fans I spoke with agreed that the scene would have been better if Tom been listening to a more obscure Smiths song-perhaps "Half a Person," or even "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish"-if they wanted to really show the depth of Summer’s fandom. "A fan or someone who likes The Smiths could be listening to any other song other than 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,' but maybe that's just me," she said. Hidalgo says hearing the "most typical and predictable choice of Smiths song" felt disingenuous to longtime Smiths enthusiasts. But what makes others roll their eyes is that it feels like an obvious choice, as Mitch argues. For Sant, the fact that Summer quotes a line that "cuts right to the core of why we are Smiths believers" is swoon-worthy. ![]() The lyrics Summer sings (“And if a double-decker bus / crashes into us / to die by your side / is such a heavenly way to die ”) epitomize the darkly romantic sensibilities of a Smiths fan. ![]() The issue isn't the quality of the song-it is perhaps one of the best pop songs in modern music history. Just two-dimensional."Įven within The Smiths’ canon, the choice in song is hotly debated "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" is one of their best-known tracks. "But even then, I recall thinking it felt kinda lazy to have liking one band be a signifier of why someone is an appealing romantic partner. "I was less inclined to cringe at things like that and Garden State at the time ," he added. Patrick Rodgers, editor of the alt weekly Nashville Scene and contributor to VICE, says the scene "feels reductive, objectifying, and vaguely sexist." As he sarcastically puts it, “it's like ‘ My god, a woman with the same taste as me?! How can it be!’” Tom's delusional idea that Summer is his soulmate solely by the virtue that they both like the same seminal band captures not just the level of his projection, but perhaps also why the film came off as (to borrow a very 90s expression) poser-ish to some.ĭ. On the other end, there is also a large contingent of Smiths fans who essentially say: Fuck this stupid scene.Īny woman who has had a guy question their music taste (“Oh, you like The Smiths? Name five of their albums ”), or even been marveled at for knowing a certain artist at all-as though it's impossible for a woman to have taste or access to the same records as men-may feel irked by the scenario. "If a girl in an elevator told me she loved The Smiths, my heart would quicken and I would instantly have a crush," he said. “The connection to a 'secret' band not everyone knows, but when someone else does-it's special.”ĭan Sant, creator of the Smiths/Morrissey zine Two Light Ales Please, agrees. Melissa Hidalgo, a Smiths/Morrissey scholar and the author of the book Mozlandia: Morrissey Fans in the Borderlands, has found that more often than not, the first Smiths song discovered by a person is "with a romantic interest, unrequited or otherwise." "So I liked that about the scene,” she said. "You know all those things just by knowing if they're a fan of The Smiths," he added. Tom falls hard for Summer when they meet at work is elated when she reciprocates enough interest to kiss him, sleep with him, and engage in couple-like activities, such as exploring IKEA and arguing about records then spirals when she inevitably breaks up with him after months of refusing to define their relationship, even though she warned him from the get-go that she wasn’t interested in anything serious. The film revolves around the story of the toxically lovelorn Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the object of his infatuation, Summer (played by the queen of indie romance, Zooey Dechanel). The elevator scene encompasses all the film aspired to be, and-depending on their views and level of cynicism-is the point where viewers decide whether it fails or succeeds. Has its merits, it was hard not to feel as though it was concocted in a laboratory that gathered all the twee-est, most consumer-friendly markers of hipsterdom and shoved them into an hour and a half of storytelling. It not-so-secretly tried to emulate the aesthetic, tone, and soundtracks of these movies-arguably to its detriment. ![]() Was at the very tail end of the first wave of films capturing and capitalizing off of the essence of early-aughts hipster culture, following Which turns ten this week, has lived on in infamy, especially with fans of British sadboy indie rock pioneers The Smiths. ![]()
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