Yesterday the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs the World hit the internet and people freaked out. For good reason – the trailer is incredible, and it looks like Edgar Wright’s third film is just as much of a knockout as his last two. But even as people were getting psyched over the incredible visuals, many were also scratching their heads about Scott Pilgrim in general. While Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series is very popular, it’s nowhere near as popular as the Marvel or DC comics that have been getting steady adaptations the last decade, so here’s a quick and easy guide to Scott Pilgrim and his world for those intrigued by the trailer but without access to Wikipedia.
Scott Pilgrim is dating a high school girl. When the story opens 22 year old Scott (played by Michael Cera in the movie), a goofy Canadian slacker, is dating a 17 year old high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). His friends don’t approve, but it’s okay, since the relationship doesn’t last long – Scott soon meets the girl of his dreams. Literally.
Ramona Flowers is the girl of Scott’s dreams. Literally. Scott dreams about a girl who he ends up meeting in real life. American, his age, on roller blades and with dyed hair, Ramona Flowers is beautiful and cool and everything Scott wants (and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Ramona in the movie, appears to embody that perfectly). She also uses a subspace highway that runs through Scott’s head to speed up her deliveries for Amazon.ca. Things aren’t perfect with Ramona, though.
Scott must defeat Ramona’s Seven Evil Exes. It turns out that Ramona has a history. She has seven exes, and if Scott wants to date her, he must fight and defeat them all. Each defeated ex gives Scott experience points, and each defeated ex turns into a shower of coins. Each Ex is a Boss battle, leading up to the ultimate Boss of them all, Gideon (played by Jason Schwartzman in the movie). Scott has yet to battle Gideon – the books are only up to volume 5 of 6.
Scott’s in a band. Scott plays bass in Sex Bob-omb, a garage band. Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) is ‘the talent,’ and he plays guitar and sings. Kim Pine (Allison Pill), a witheringly sarcastic redhead who dated Scott in high school, is on drums. And Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) is their fan/roadie. Sex Bob-omb isn’t very good.
Scott sleeps with a guy. Having no job or income, Scott stays with his gay friend Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin). They share the same bed, although nothing gay goes on between them. Wallace is probably the great underrated character of the Scott Pilgrim comics, so I’m excited to see what Culkin does with him.
Scott can fight. Just go with it.
Scott Pilgrim is full of video game, music, comic and movie references. Bryan Lee O’Malley fills the pages of Scott Pilgrim with references to his many favorite things; Scott himself is named after a song by the Canadian girl band. Sex Bob-omb take their name from the walking bombs in the Mario Bros games. Scott wears a jacket with an X-Men X patch. The first Evil Ex, Matthew Patel, engages Scott in a Bollywood song and dance style.
Scott Pilgrim is great. There’s some resistance to Scott Pilgrim from some folks – the series is black and white, and in manga-sized volumes. There’s a feeling that Scott Pilgrim is somehow ‘hipster,’ which I guess means ‘not homoerotic muscle men hitting each other.’ The truth is that the books are smart, funny and often very sweet. O’Malley does very unconventional things with his story, and I’ve found Scott Pilgrim’s arc to be incredibly realistic and mature – especially for a book where battling robots at a party is no big deal.
The books and the movie diverge. Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall were writing their Scott Pilgrim movie while Bryan Lee O’Malley was still at volume 3 of his Scott Pilgrim series. As a result, the movie and the books veer away from each other about halfway through; while O’Malley was able to give Bacall and Wright some of his notes for the future volumes, don’t expect many of your favorite moments from books 4 or 5 to be in the movie. Which leads me to…
The book and the movie have totally different endings. Bryan Lee O’Malley has said that none of his final volume is in the movie, and I suspect that Scott may end up with different girls in the book and in the film. That makes for a very interesting adaptation, as there are two alternate versions of Scott and his story. And this also means that you should pick up the books without worrying about being spoiled. The final volume, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, hits stores July 20th. The movie is out August 13th.
48 comments
Is there anything more tired than using "hipster" to mean "lame"? I don't even know what the word means, specifically, and I doubt many people who employ it as shorthand do either, but it seems to encapsulate a stunning array of genuinely interesting work.
Looking forward to Scott Pilgrim. Never read the comic, but hey, it's Edgar Wright. And the trailer gives off Speed Racer vibes in all the right ways.
It's very strange to me that Devin lived for so long in Brooklyn and doesn't have a better understanding of what the term "hipster" means (Williamsburg is a breeding ground for hipsters). "Scott Pilgrim" is absolutely fantastic, but it is also undeniably set in a "hipster" world, as evidenced by all of the characters' dress, musicial influences, hairstyles, etc.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster&defid=2705928
nice bullet points dev, but just one tiny observation…
you gravitated to the gay kid on glee, and feel that the gay roommate is the "underrated gem" in this series.
in the words of the musical skit in SNL
what up with that?
The Final volume is called "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour", not "Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together"
@an unknown user! I caught that too, but I thought i'd refresh the page before i commented, and sure enough, it was fixed already
I used to think "hipster" when I heard/read about Scott Pilgrim. But after seeing the trailer and reading this I think of another word: "emo." Sorry, I just don't get the hubub. Edgar Wright should be enough for me to grant it the benefit of the doubt, but I just can't do it. I will check it out, though, just to see if I have it all wrong.
Try reading it, stupid. Maybe then you would "get it", you fucking jackass
Have to agree with the majority here this looks like hipster garbage. Not sure why chud is pimping this flick so hard other than the edgar wright factor.
Yowza this flick sounds terrible. I wish Edgar would have picked something else for his third film. Not even sure why Chud is force feeding this flick down our throats 5 months before release date!
The final volume is called "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour", the fourth volume was "Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together".
I agree with everyone else, this flick looks retarded but I still have hope that Edgar can polish a turd!
Scott Pilgrim= Glorifies the hipster lifestyle. Not saying that it is a bad or good thing. Devin, looks like you do not know much about the hipster subcultural. Unfortunately, I know too much about it since I go to college in Berkeley, CA.
I'd heard that the general view of the books was half and half, so I didn't rush to get them. I have now read the first four, though, and I really like the story a lot. It's a great blend of the cool stuff seen in the trailer, and the larger story, which seems to be about that time when you're forced to realize you've been an adolescent for too long. You've got to make the choice of what sort of adulthood you're going to have, and what that means. The fights, again, are a lot of fun, but the dramatic portions of the book are what surprised me, and what I enjoy most.
So, I read most of them, and honestly they never did much for me (I'm not saying it is bad, but just barely mildly entertaining to me), but I will probably see the movie. In my opinion I feel the characters are somewhere in between Hipsters (care free, eccentric, happy attitudes) and Emo (too sensitive, too much ennui, and less sunny dispositions).
@comment #3 just because Devin loves gay stuff and gay characters does not mean he is exclusively into the bear gay lifestyle no matter how much he fits the part!
Four people commenting negatively hardly qualifies as a majority of people when it comes to a general consensus on this movie, no matter how much some people want it to. I've heard some pretty positive buzz around all the other blogs I frequent (although Michael Cera remains a point of contention). This books are a lot of fun, really not "emo" or hipster garbage. I wonder if people are hating as a backlash to all the coverage on this site, as opposed to any of the qualities of the books/movie themselves. Regardless, the trailer looks like a lot of fun.
Ok, so is hipster the new emo now? And by that I mean is it the new prerogative term for any type of film, comic, band or book that doesn't appeal to a massive auidence but still has a young, predominately white, and vocal fanbase?
I think #16 is right about all the negativity coming from chud pimping this flick so hard. Maybe if they waited closer to the release date it would not be so obnoxious. On the other hand most of the hype seems to be mostly coming from our tubby, unkept bearded friend. So maybe it is just him who is super excited about this movie.
Why not fucking wait to make this movie till all of the books were completed??? fucking impatient people!!
I don't need to READ it, they've made a movie DUMBASS!
Doesn't "hipster" just mean "douchebag except he probably votes Democrat?"
If nothing else, this makes me want to check out the books.<br><br>
Although I am a bit turned off by the animation style. Anime has never really been my thing.
Devin doesn't realize he IS a hipster, does he? Wait, hipsters never do. Still, I wanna see the movie though I have no interest in the books (kinda like Kick Ass).
Hipster gets thrown around a lot lately, and if a hipster is someone who doesn't know their a hipster which makes them a hipster, doesn't that make everyone a hipster?
<Brain Explosion>
Please stop using the term Hipster, it's fucking retarded.
Props to it being filmed in Toronto(Tdot for all you hipster kids) saw the TTC bus in the trailer whoo!
Only read a few volumes and looks pretty entertaining.
I can't believe I haven't posted a comment here yet!
I've never read the comic, so there's no hype or turnoff in it for me, but I'm willing to see this on the strength of Edgar Wright's previous directing gigs. I don't think you have to be a part or have an appreciation of a subculture to enjoy a movie with roots in it. Assuming the story and character transcend that setting and connect somehow. The trailer certainly had a lot of energy and I'm still hoping to see a Michael Cera performance that surprises me and prevents him from becoming a Walken or Goldblum. No offense to those actors, but I think many people who read this site know what I mean by that and already firmly hold that opinion of Cera.
I hate to say it but, if anything, the trailer has put me off me movie. Screams "try hard" and the tone seems wonky. I know though that Devin will suck the movie right off as he is clearly shaping up to love it as much as he was to be hater pre Avatar (and I don't even like Avatar that much, just saying you could tell that Devin was all about taking it down). I think the fact that this trailer has landed with a thud is pretty obvious – that's why you have Devin writing pre-emptive support pieces like this one. Scott Pilgrim buzz? Nah, not feeling it.
Hey Devin, are you ever gonna write an article about why you're so miserable and why you aren't in a relationship with anybody?
"Somehow hipster"? I like the books, but they are as hipster as Larry the Cable Guy is fuckin redneck.
Jesus Christ #28, you honestly have nothing better to do with your life?
Jesus sweet Christ, who the fuck gives a shit if it's hipster or not. Who gives a fuck what is hipster. The books are fun, and have a good heart to them. They balance a fuckton of nerd references with a storyline that anyone who is in their twenties can relate to.
Fuck the haters, read the books before your knee-jerk reaction to a 90 second ruins your sense of fun.
Devin, you just ruined a lot of small moments in the movie. Why would people need to know about the subspace or his gay roommate to understand the story?
took notice. thanks for this little article 😉
its weird that i love all the random references to movies and video games in spaced, but all the references in scott pilgrim irritated the shit out of me. hipster nonsense. i wonder which vampire weekend / clap your hands and say yeah / tv on the radio songs will be on the soundtrack to this.
lol 'books'. good one, guys. enjoy your hipster trashpiles.
This whole 'hipster' thing is fascinatng to me. It's not a term we use in Australia – in fact, I'm not sure we have a label for the types of people you folks call hipsters (we probably do, but I don't know what it is). Anyway, what I've noticed is that the people on the internets who whine about 'hipster douches' almost always come across as whining douches themselves. It's almost ironic enough to be hipster.
I take it that hipster is now the new word for 'alternative'. Yeah and hipster seems to include films by Gondry, Kaufman and many other interesting things. It is an annoying tag.
More nerd-empowerment fantasies. Give me a fucking break. Woody Allen never needed to wield a flaming fucking sword. Give it a rest, emo country.
Scoot Pilgrim is definitely a Hipster. Nothing wrong with that. It just goes to show that Devin doesn't do much research…and what's the point of this article? Spoilers for those who haven't read the books and retreads for those who have.
It's totally true – we don't use the term 'hipster' in my part of the world, nor 'emo' really for that matter, but the comments here declaring this movie to be hipster and/or emo read as lazy knee-jerk cynicism, exactly as eye-rollingly inane as, I imagine, they believe 'hipster' must be like.
The people who like the books and trailer simply read as more interesting individuals than those who don't, on the whole. How helpful.
If it wasn't for Edgar Wright doing this, as someone who hasn't read the comic books, that trailer wasn't enough to get me out to the cinema. That said Saturday DVD rental all over it. Hopefully good buzz nearer its release date will convince me otherwise.
Wow, so many retards are hating this thing right now that in august it will probably be "cool" again.
Love what people hate.
Hate what people love.
Gotta love the haters of teh internetz!
Only nerds get all worked up about hipsters. Us badass folks find them too inconsequential to give a shit about either way.
I just like comics. Fuck.
This movie looks like a piece of fucking shit. Michael Cera looks like an androgynous freak, and the female lead looks like a weeaboo. Shitting dick nipples look more interesting then this.
On an upbeat note, fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit
PRETENTIOUS HIPSTER BULLSHIT.
HIPSTERS HIPSTERS HIPSTERS ARRAGGHHH
in any case in the books or movie id rather be scott pilgrim because everybody else is pretty much a crapstorm timebomb of homosexuality.
and being the rich ass kicker who gets 7 trillion from defeating a hipster in mortal combat kicks mithril ass
Why. The. Fuck. is the word "hipster" tossed around with Scott Pilgrim so much? Is it a bad thing? Never mind. I don't care. All I can say is both the movie and the comics are great. People in my class were talking about it, so I checked out the books from my local library. Bryan Lee O'Malley did a great job on all of them. People who just say it's "hipster garbage" and leave have obviously never read it.
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