First off, I am beyond jazzed for the latest film from Edgar Wright, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” Based on the comics created by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the universe of Scott Pilgrim is hipster-Canadian-cool, full of garage bands, punk-or-poser profundity and an overwhelming amount of video games-as-reference-and-reality. After seeing the first trailer for the new film, I made it a point to buy and read the original Scott Pilgrim comics as soon as possible. Oddly enough, as soon as possible too forever, but I finished Book 5 a week or so ago and… I don’t like Scott Pilgrim.
WAIT! Put the brick down! I love the comic, I love the world it created and I still cannot wait for Edgar Wright’s cinematic interpretation… but I don’t like the character of Scott Pilgrim, because I think he’s a prick. Which, yeah, that’s one of the running gags of the comic is that he’s clueless and stupid, but not in a “innocent” way, but more like the lack of compassion and awareness a sociopath would exhibit prior to killing a bunch of people. He’s not openly malicious… but he leaves behind a road paved with ex-girlfriends. Why am I rooting for him to find happiness with his current love interest, Ramona? Isn’t it just doomed; neither one of them show any penchant for having positive, lasting relationships. And considering I’m not too fond of the aloof and selfish Ramona either, could a perfect relationship between Scott and Ramona mean the end of the world for the rest of us? Has our Hallmark-infused need for a “happy ending” set us up for a different kind of disappointment!?!
But I’m writing this after having read 5 out of 6 books. The final comic is not released until next week, and the movie not for a couple weeks after that so… I have no idea how this all ends. Perhaps Scott becomes more self-aware, perhaps he finds some sort of redemption or perhaps the final book becomes the first of the Scott’s own troubles with his own League of Evil Exes. I don’t know. But I know, as of this blog entry, that I don’t like Scott Pilgrim.
And that should make for an interesting acting battle for Michael Cera. “What,” you’re thinking, “all Cera ever does is play awkward and oblivious. He won’t even need to act…” but I say that there is more here in Scott Pilgrim than just playing awkward, cutesy and oblivious. Cera may be able to play off the innocence, but he’ll also be inhabiting a character that is clueless more than he is nice. This isn’t as on-point Cera as one would think by watching the trailer.
In the trailer, though, I actually DO like Scott Pilgrim! I am fickle… oh so fickle…
I also approve of the Scott Pilgrim Avatar Creator. Except on Twitter, because it’s been done to death there already. But if you haven’t tried it out yet…
@Thomas E. Reed: Scott Pilgrim is no more a sociopathic punk than Enid Coleslaw (heroine of another comic book about youth), who acts in a far worse manner (to me anyway) than Scott supposedly does. Also, Ferris was trying to help a friend with severe depression who was about to commit suicide. That Rooney views him as a threat to order and you view him as a sociopathic punk says more about you than the film in question.
When I first saw this advertised, I flashed back to Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off, a film about a sociopathic punk who talked to the camera and appeared to rule the world. It pissed me off so much that I embarrassed my girlfriend at the film’s “climax,” where the principal finally cornered the punk and I yelled, “Kill the f****r!”
But maybe, given the crappy state of America 2010, being a sociopath is a desirable life path. After all, the rich and powerful who’ve screwed our country are sociopaths, and they’ve bent our politicians over a dumpster. Isn’t that success? The only kind our country can now imagine?
I ain’t gonna see this one. Don’t want to get thrown out of the theater by standing up and ranting against it when I get pissed off enough.
You’re right, Scott Pilgrim is kind of a prick. But clearly, that’s what Ramona is into. And it’s funny so long as you aren’t the one having to put up with his shenanigans. I can’t wait for this movie. Though I still think Devon Sawa would have been a better choice.
Does that mean they’re setting Scott up to be the next Evil Ex!?! I still think that, together, they’d be far more evil and, therefore, should be stopped. By Knives, perhaps? Guess we’ll know when the new book drops in a week…