Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Review of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), directed by Edgar Wright
For the longest time, I’ve heard so much about this movie. People have recommended for me to watch it, I’ve heard obscure references to it on the Internet, and it has a star-studded cast. When my school’s honors program got tickets for our students to see The Waverly Gallery, quite a few people seeing it had gone to see Michael Cera. So yes, I have seen Michael Cera acting live and in the flesh. Having no idea about what this movie was about, I was so confused compared to the acting I had seen him do on the Broadway show. Like I knew this movie was geeky, but oh man, I was severely unprepared for how geeky it was. And how star-studded its cast was. Captain America? Anna Kendrick? A Culkin brother? I was squinting at the screen being like “Who is that and why do they look familiar” at a good chunk of the characters.
Anyways, this movie is a geek’s dream. And someone who is very into special effects editing, because the work done on this movie is insane on that front. It was actually nominated on the shortlist for the Oscar in Best Visual Effects and I can truly see why. I thought the graphics implemented into the actual movie itself were insanely good and kept me watching the screen—it was like implementing comics into a film, which was so unique since I hadn’t seen this style before.
I’ve said a lot! Let’s dive into this review.
Content
I will admit before going into this review: I am a nerd myself. I cackled at every Zelda sound that was in the movie because I knew exactly what they meant and why they were placed at the intervals they were placed at. They also full-on built the visual effects in a way that made it seem like Scott’s life was a video game. There were these surreal video game fights among characters in the movie, such as between Envy and Ramona, and Scott gains coins and experience for every opponent he defeats. He also meets his version of Dark Link towards the end of the movie and must fend him off with his two girltoys, making a scene in which he has his heroic redemption after being slaughtered and forced to use his one life mushroom to come back from the quote-on-quote dead.
However, I do have some major problems with the plot. On a superficial level, if you don’t actually think about the contents of the movie and just sit back and enjoy it, the movie is perfectly fine and inoffensive. But if you look at the actual movie itself and begin to dig deeper into the character’s motives and dialogue, they all begin to fit archetypes that are a bit sexist for the women. We have the loud, boisterous drummer. The gossiping, slightly conniving sister. The jealous ex. The Asian girl who can’t stand up for herself and is dating an older white man. There’s some slightly racist statements said towards Knives, which are kind of lost in the ensuing chaos, but are still there. And then there’s the fact that Scott straight up cheated on both of the girls for each other and then it’s kind of shrugged off in a “true love, WOO” manner.
The cast is almost completely white, erasing the possibility of geeks. Our diversity is mainly Knives Chau, but the vibes I get from this relationship is a slightly critical one from me, because Scott seems like a gamer and into anime. He’s dating someone underage when he is not, and she’s Asian. She plays the stereotype of agreeable Asian girl who seems innocent and docile until he breaks up with her for Ramona, which then she goes into a slightly murderous rampage to try and get him back. The girl Scott also is dating, Ramona, also seems dismissive of queer identity she once held at one point, and we then have the portrayal of the seven evil exes in her life. Which also is scary from a feminist angle, because all these men (and one girl) view Ramona as an object of lust and desire (she broke up with them) to the point of seeking vengeance on someone looking to date her. Sexualization of the girl with blue hair much, am I right?
This reminded me of Laura Mulvey and the fight for the object of feminine desire. We spend this entire movie watching and waiting for our male character, Scott, to win over the girl and defeat all the trials that are awaiting him. And when he does it we can sit back in our seats and sigh a breath of relief. I, however, was frustrated by all of the women in this movie. They don’t have personalities. They all fit into very specific archetypes that are pretty rigid, dooming them of any creativity and thoughts outside of their stereotype. We had so much potential for nerdy, well-fleshed out women! Instead we get a dream pixie girl being chased after in a way reminiscent of reverse Twilight but for nerds.
Overall Thoughts
I mean I see why this movie has a cult following. It appeals to a very specific sect of people that are very much on the Internet. I totally get that. I was just frustrated at this movie’s depictions of women and how they seem to be filtered through a completely male gaze, one in which they are either desirable or undesirable. And if they are undesirable they are reduced to mere stock characters, while our male lead chases after the newly deemed desirable woman. They could’ve really touched on race and sexuality in a way that’s meaningful for more people, but they don’t. There’s some questionable things about representation that are bothersome (like the Bollywood dance), but, if you don’t want to think about this and enjoy the movie, you’ll have a blast.
