STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM - “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”

Jeffrey Tung
Apr 16, 2018
3 min read

Welcome to Toronto, Canada, where indie bands and hipster culture is the norm. And if you get challenged into any kind of fight, don’t be alarmed with the onomatopoeias scattered when someone screams or gets punched hard in the face. That’s part of the norm too.

Directed by Edgar Wright, written by Michael Bacall & Wright, and based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is about bass guitarist Scott Pilgrim who falls in love with Ramona Flowers.

The problem? He has to fight through her seven evil exes (X’s) to win her heart. We’ll get to the misogynistic elements in a bit, but for now, let’s just enjoy the pretty colors and madness.

Director Edgar Wright, at this point, has already demonstrated himself as someone who knows how to establish a world that is very hyper-realistic, and Scott Pilgrim takes it up a notch by making this world the characters live in look like a comic book or a video game. Notice all the sound effect words that surround the characters and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The journey that Scott goes through feels like progressing through a game.

The characters themselves are delightfully quirky and hilarious. They all have some very quotable dialogue, and the delivery of the lines, sometimes bright and sometimes deadpan, is what makes them funny.

The sight gags are subtle and hard to miss because of how much Wright throws at you in less than a second. And no, he does this all the time, but because of the nature of Scott Pilgrim, there’s going to be video game references you can easily miss if you’re not paying attention.

Why is there a light switch so high?

Now the actual story and our title character… yeah, this is where it gets problematic.

Scott Pilgrim himself is a very well-intentioned person, but his character is meant to be a jerk. Not in the overt, villainous sense of the word, but he is a heartbreaker. I mentioned that he is fighting for Ramona’s affections, but I didn’t mention that the film starts off with her dating another girl, and leaving her for Ramona. Sure, he breaks up with her to pursue Ramona, but there is a brief two-timing.

He fights the exes, as Ramona warns him he will have to, but she acts casual about it. She doesn’t mind that Scott is risking harm for her, and she doesn’t react to how the exes are overreacting on the highest degree. Then again, hyper-reality, so maybe this is just normal for everyone.

I was fully aware of Edgar Wright’s most notable film work, at this time it was Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and the trailer for this film instantly won me over. It was nothing I’ve ever seen before as a live action film, nor was it something I thought I would ever see. It’s also a shame nothing this inventive ever appeared again, since it was a box office bomb. It may have been popular for the geek audience, but not the majority.

Regardless, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a film that should be given a chance by everyone. The comedy may not suit you, but there is a level of filmmaking here that deserves notice and respect. Scott Pilgrim may be a jerk, but he does learn that he is one. If you need help with some of the references, get a fan of the film or comic to watch it with you.