Scott Pilgrim vs. The Movies
The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley chronicle the love life of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona flowers and the challenges they both face. The reader is taken on a creative journey through the life of Scott, who’s life somewhat resembles a video game. In 2010 the books were adapted into an all encompassing film directed by Edgar Wright entitled Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The film stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim , Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers , Kieran Kulkin as Wallace Wells, and more.
The story begins with our hero Scott Pilgrim, a bass playing slacker, explaining to his friends about how he has started dating a new girl Knives Chau. Scott enjoys being with Knives because of the simple nature of the relationship. This all changes when meets (literally) the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. Ramona shows up watch Scott’s band Sex-Bob-omb play at a club. During the show Scott is bombarded and attacked by Ramona’s first evil ex boyfriend, Matthew Patel, whom Scott defeats.
Scott soon after learns after that he must defeat Ramona’s seven evil ex boyfriends if he wants to continue dating her. Throughout the six novels we are introduced to the various dastardly ex boyfriend and Scott’s adventures. This includes an action movie star, a vegan rock star, and “The final boss” a club owner. In between the action the concept of relationships and friendship is explored. O’Malley taps into what we all feel during relationships, the obstacles we face, and how we go through them.
I think the biggest challenge in adapting the film was pacing it correctly. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World had the difficulty of containing all six novels into a two hour film. Literally translating the book from panel to panel as a movie as was done with Sin City, would have made for a lengthy movie. Instead, what needed to be done was look at the graphic novels and pick out which parts moved the story the fastest from one scene to another. One of the most important changes from translating the book to the movie was cutting out lengthy dialogue and certain subplots. Some of these subplots, however, are usually lightly touched upon in the film.
One of the things that always kept me reading Scott Pilgrim was the relationships between the characters. With the time constraints and the amount of information contained in the books it was difficult to balance all the relationships. In the comics there is more room to allow Scott and Ramona’s relationship to slowly evolve. The movie seemed to feel rushed building the chemistry between Scott and Ramona. Had the film not had any of the fantastical elements and solely focused on their relationship it could have more time to develop.
One of the most faithful aspects of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was the characterization. Every actor in the film, including very minor characters, seemed to study their characters and give them their respective quirks. Scott is still hesitant about getting a haircut, Julie is still trying to gain Envy’s approval, and young Neil is still Sex Bob-omb’s biggest fan. The actors seemed to have extensively studied the text and consulted with O’Malley about them.
Wrights direction on this film was extremely reminiscent of the style of O’Malley’s artwork in the novels. Like most graphic literature the book is encompassed with onomonopia’s such as “ZWIP” and “SHWAAA” to indicate the action taking place. What the film attempts to do inserting these noises harmoniously with the text, usually fading away with the noise. Another aspect of text that Wright extracts from the comics was introducing each character with a text box. This allows the audience to get the exposition of the characters without taking up screen time.
With all the constraints in adapting Scott Pilgrim into a movie I feel like the cast and crew did a great job translating it. They made a capsulated version of the comics containing many of the elements from the books. I look forward to many more adaptations like this.
WATCH THIS COMPARISON!!!!!!
WATCH THIS COMPARISON!!!!!!
Wrights direction on this film was extremely reminiscent of the style of O’Malley’s artwork in the novels.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear more about this, in particular the way Wright and Co. divide up the screen or stop the action to mimic comics panels. Also, the obvious influence of manga, anime, and videogame imagery on the comic, and therefore, I'm supposing, on the film, would be interesting to hear more about. Some reviewers seemed to find the use of text boxes and visible SFX a bit too cute, while others dug it. I take it you found those techniques interesting and successful?
Scott Pilgrim is a story that seems stenciled from a videogame, what with the multiple "bosses," the fights with special attacks, etc. Did you get that sense? I confess I've only read the first volume of the comic so far, but I got a strong videogaming vibe from it.
A lot of good observations here, Reid. I'd like to see a strong thesis (i.e. a specific focus) to make this hang together as a complete statement.
That mock trailer (video clip) is revealing, thanks!