Scott is the protagonist but it's not from his point of view. It's not narrated by him, the POV is pretty objective. Everyone witnesses the things that happen, this is just the world they live in. Just about all of it should be taken at face value. There's no indication that the events are not actually happening.
Not true. Scott is the silent narrator and the person whose viewpoint we see everything through is Scotts.
This is expressly stated in the books. All of his memories and the occurrences are from his mind. He's twisting his life.
AVclub said:
That's what I'm saying....WHY is it structured like a video game? If the main character was a game obsessed guy, that would make sense. Instead he's obviously obsessed with music and girls. Why else would he have a temporary fake girlfriend to get over another girl?
I haven't read the comics so I don't have much context for these characters. All I saw is that the movie started with video game stuff right away and kept it going all throughout but they never explained why that is. The guy didn't even have a gaming system at his house. He had a crappy old computer that he barely used.
So why are video games such a prominent theme in the movie?
What? He's totally obsessed with video games. They have games in their apartment. He plays at an arcade every day. Why can't he be obsessed with games and music? And he's not obsessed with girls. Getting a rebound doesn't make him obsessed.
Director's answer: The point is supposed to be that he was a guy who grew up playing videogames and was always the hero of the story, which is what he considers himself to be in his real life - so he's not very considerate of others and imagines grand quests that involve fighting people to the death and collecting coins to eventually rescue a princess or whatever
That's what I'm saying....WHY is it structured like a video game? If the main character was a game obsessed guy, that would make sense. Instead he's obviously obsessed with music and girls. Why else would he have a temporary fake girlfriend to get over another girl?
I haven't read the comics so I don't have much context for these characters. All I saw is that the movie started with video game stuff right away and kept it going all throughout but they never explained why that is. The guy didn't even have a gaming system at his house. He had a crappy old computer that he barely used.
So why are video games such a prominent theme in the movie?
Scott is more obviously into video games in the comic, but that's neither here nor there. It's not necessary for him to be a gamer.
Video games are a metaphor for the premise of the story. Ramona's evil exes are her emotional baggage. Scott has to deal with them. Even if it was a lot more subtle--in that he had to confront them realistically or just help Ramona get over them--the video game metaphor would still be appropriate. It's just presented more overtly because, well, it's interesting and funny and original.
O'Malley (and Wright) are also making a comment here on a generation having grown up on video games, that its tropes are so infused in young peoples' culture that we don't have to really be "hardcore gamers" to view life like this--self-improvement as "leveling up", confrontations as "boss battles", etc.
big ander said:
Not true. Scott is the silent narrator and the person whose viewpoint we see everything through is Scotts.
This is expressly stated in the books. All of his memories and the occurrences are from his mind. He's twisting his life.
Granted, but that's the comic and not the movie, first of all. Second, while it's true that Scott's memories are unreliable, everything that happens in present time in the story is real. It sounded like you were conflating Scott exaggerating things that happened to him with the whole fighting-game premise of the world, which by all evidence in the story is completely real.
Or, as Joe said, it was in the original comic and it's a metaphor for how the generation that's grown up on video games treats obstacles and life in general.
What? He's totally obsessed with video games. They have games in their apartment. He plays at an arcade every day. Why can't he be obsessed with games and music? And he's not obsessed with girls. Getting a rebound doesn't make him obsessed.
I've only seen it once, but I don't remember seeing any games in the apartment.
Though the one scene where they show all the contents went by too fast for me to read everything. They certainly didn't play any video games in his apartment. They spent lots of time in bed, on the phone with girls, and cooking. We see Scott play one game briefly, twice. We see him with his band and trying to hook up with girls all throughout the film. We see him in a record store a bunch of times and at various clubs and concerts.
There's little to indicate more than a passing interest in video games. He had the line about Pac-Man, but that seemed like just small talk.
Generally there's an established reason why a director goes with a certain style to creating the look of a movie. In the Matrix, the world inside always had a greenish tint because it wasn't real. In the original "Hulk" Ang Lee made comic book style transitions because the movie was based on a comic. In Doom, they had a FPS view at one point because the movie was based on an FPS game. Those things, despite what you think of the movie, make sense.
In Scott Pilgrim, it seems there's no real reason for all the video game references. It's just like, "There are young people in this movie. So let's throw in game related stuff, rock, fights, and sarcasm so that the target audience thinks it's cool."
The best part about this movie was the previews before it. The theater was pretty much packed when the previews started. The preview for "Devils" came on and everyone was watching it and then M. Night's name came out and everyone let out a disappointing "aww", followed by epic laughter from everyone. Best. Preview. Ever.
I've only seen it once, but I don't remember seeing any games in the apartment.
Though the one scene where they show all the contents went by too fast for me to read everything. They certainly didn't play any video games in his apartment. They spent lots of time in bed, on the phone with girls, and cooking. We see Scott play one game briefly, twice. We see him with his band and trying to hook up with girls all throughout the film. We see him in a record store a bunch of times and at various clubs and concerts.
There's little to indicate more than a passing interest in video games. He had the line about Pac-Man, but that seemed like just small talk.
Generally there's an established reason why a director goes with a certain style to creating the look of a movie. In the Matrix, the world inside always had a greenish tint because it wasn't real. In the original "Hulk" Ang Lee made comic book style transitions because the movie was based on a comic. In Doom, they had a FPS view at one point because the movie was based on an FPS game. Those things, despite what you think of the movie, make sense.
In Scott Pilgrim, it seems there's no real reason for all the video game references. It's just like, "There are young people in this movie. So let's throw in game related stuff, rock, fights, and sarcasm so that the target audience thinks it's cool."
To be fair, if I was in his position, I could see myself spending a lot of time like that, yet I'd still think of myself as a gamer. There are times where I just go for ages without playing anything, but it doesn't make me any less of one. He was just busy with other stuff.
Granted, but that's the comic and not the movie, first of all. Second, while it's true that Scott's memories are unreliable, everything that happens in present time in the story is real. It sounded like you were conflating Scott exaggerating things that happened to him with the whole fighting-game premise of the world, which by all evidence in the story is completely real.
I seem to remember the comic also suggesting that much of the current events were also Scott's exaggeration. Either way, we both agree that the video game style is a metaphor for the generation, and that's really all that matters.
AVclub said:
I've only seen it once, but I don't remember seeing any games in the apartment.
Though the one scene where they show all the contents went by too fast for me to read everything. They certainly didn't play any video games in his apartment. They spent lots of time in bed, on the phone with girls, and cooking. We see Scott play one game briefly, twice. We see him with his band and trying to hook up with girls all throughout the film. We see him in a record store a bunch of times and at various clubs and concerts.
There's little to indicate more than a passing interest in video games. He had the line about Pac-Man, but that seemed like just small talk.
Generally there's an established reason why a director goes with a certain style to creating the look of a movie. In the Matrix, the world inside always had a greenish tint because it wasn't real. In the original "Hulk" Ang Lee made comic book style transitions because the movie was based on a comic. In Doom, they had a FPS view at one point because the movie was based on an FPS game. Those things, despite what you think of the movie, make sense.
In Scott Pilgrim, it seems there's no real reason for all the video game references. It's just like, "There are young people in this movie. So let's throw in game related stuff, rock, fights, and sarcasm so that the target audience thinks it's cool."
No, the fact that he uses stuff about Pac-Man in pick-up lines is proof that he's a nerd (by the way, you seem to refuse to believe that someone could visit a record store and play video games). Also, he doesn't play a video game twice. It's implied that he plays it every day.
There was definitely a game console in their apartment, too. We don't see them play it because the movie doesn't really have any scenes where the characters are sitting on their asses doing nothing. It's all objective-to-objective-to-objective. But we do see Young Neil playing DS in half of his scenes.
This isn't really a debate thing, the movie heavily features video games, and that's why it has video game stuff :lol
And...hooking up with girls all the time? He goes over a year without dating. He gets one girlfriend who he barely talks with, just plays video games with and eats pizza. He then gets one other girlfriend who he believes is his soulmate. Is that really a "playa" type thing in your opinion?
In Scott Pilgrim, it seems there's no real reason for all the video game references. It's just like, "There are young people in this movie. So let's throw in game related stuff, rock, fights, and sarcasm so that the target audience thinks it's cool."
In Scott Pilgrim, it seems there's no real reason for all the video game references. It's just like, "There are young people in this movie. So let's throw in game related stuff, rock, fights, and sarcasm so that the target audience thinks it's cool."
That's kind of like saying "Speed Racer is a movie about family so let's just throw some races in there to make it interesting" or "The Dark Knight has a rich guy in it so let's make him in to a superhero and add action scenes to make it interesting".
The movie is what it is. There are metaphorical/narrative reasons for the video game references. They may seem a little divorced from the characters, but it's the world they live in the same way musicals don't necessarily have characters that are obsessed with musicals. It's just a narrative choice.
That's kind of like saying "Speed Racer is a movie about family so let's just throw some races in there to make it interesting" or "The Dark Knight has a rich guy in it so let's make him in to a superhero and add action scenes to make it interesting".
The movie is what it is. There are metaphorical/narrative reasons for the video game references. They may seem a little divorced from the characters, but it's the world they live in the same way musicals don't necessarily have characters that are obsessed with musicals. It's just a narrative choice.
It's a meta reference, just like when someone mentiones a video game trapping in a video game. Like in DQIX when someone says "I heard you can use a stylus to control the game, whatever that means."
Or, as Joe said, it was in the original comic and it's a metaphor for how the generation that's grown up on video games treats obstacles and life in general.
That actually makes a lot of sense. I hadn't thought of it as a generalized metaphor for the generation. I was thinking of it as more specific to the character, but it works as a comment on how we view things.
Now I'm wondering how my grandparents would view this movie, not knowing anything about Mario or Zelda references. Would my grandma see it and say, "Why is the music all tinny and how come there's coins everywhere?"
That's kind of like saying "Speed Racer is a movie about family so let's just throw some races in there to make it interesting" or "The Dark Knight has a rich guy in it so let's make him in to a superhero and add action scenes to make it interesting".
The movie is what it is. There are metaphorical/narrative reasons for the video game references. They may seem a little divorced from the characters, but it's the world they live in the same way musicals don't necessarily have characters that are obsessed with musicals. It's just a narrative choice.
Haha. I didn't even notice she was gone in the last few pictures. So many small details in the movie.
To anyone having slight qualms with the movie's relationship between Ramona and Scott, the books need to be read. In the interest of time, a year-long relationship was crammed into what felt like two weeks, and the major reasons for them being together (and living together, in the book) aren't really expressed properly in the film. They have a very paper thin relationship in the movie, but I blame the format on that.
EDIT: When she leaves, a lot of things are green. Scott's eyes go green during the Katayanagi twins concert. Her hair is green. Hinting at jealousy, perhaps?
I took that into consideration when I made my timeline, but she does change her hair on their second date, and then on the final day she changes it again. It's not a week and a half, it's just under a week, but remember
they also broke up at that point so she likely changed it because of Gideon. (Which is why it was green, and she was wearing a green ring, etc.)
Edit: Does anyone have a YouTube link to the Final Fantasy theme he learns bass for? This IV is II in the US thing is confusing and the bass line he was laying down was pretty funky, I wanna hear it!
Edit: Does anyone have a YouTube link to the Final Fantasy theme he learns bass for? This IV is II in the US thing is confusing and the bass line he was laying down was pretty funky, I wanna hear it!
Man, I'm 22. I think this fall I'm going to go to the local High school and look for a Knives Chau lookalike. Im sitting here like a sucker without a cute Asian girlfriend.
Man, I'm 22. I think this fall I'm going to go to the local High school and look for a Knives Chau lookalike. Im sitting here like a sucker without a cute Asian girlfriend.
I'm 25, same age as comic Scott, and I agree that a younger girlfriend who adores me and thinks I have all the answers seems like a pretty good way to go and help get over my Big X.
Man, I'm 22. I think this fall I'm going to go to the local High school and look for a Knives Chau lookalike. Im sitting here like a sucker without a cute Asian girlfriend.
I'm 25, same age as comic Scott, and I agree that a younger girlfriend who adores me and thinks I have all the answers seems like a pretty good way to go and help get over my Big X.
Depending on the state, it could still apply. 16 is the general "age of consent", but it varies by state (take a look here: http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm ). In some states, 17 or 18 would be pedophilia.
Depending on the state, it could still apply. 16 is the general "age of consent", but it varies by state (take a look here: http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm ). In some states, 17 or 18 would be pedophilia.
Depending on the state, it could still apply. 16 is the general "age of consent", but it varies by state (take a look here: http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm ). In some states, 17 or 18 would be pedophilia.
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