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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the brand new animated collection primarily based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, is out on Netflix. The eight-episode collection reunites the voice solid of the 2010 live-action film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and is a hilarious mix of the collection’ fast wit and well-measured popular culture references. All of this appears like a recipe for achievement, proper? Effectively, it’s a bit extra difficult.
You may need heard across the web that some followers should not too proud of the brand new anime, however you won’t perceive why. It’s a protracted story that requires us to look at Scott Pilgrim as a textual content, its fandom, and the precise means Scott Pilgrim Takes Off subverts expectations. So seize your big hammers and bass guitars, it’s time to unpack the story of Scott Pilgrim, its fandom, and what it’s wish to reckon with all of that in 2023.
What’s Scott Pilgrim about?
For these simply tuning in, Scott Pilgrim is in regards to the titular 22-year-old who likes video video games, performs bass in his band referred to as Intercourse Bob-Omb, and is relationship a 17-year-old woman named Knives Chau. Put a pin in that final one. In the meantime, he meets a extra age-appropriate woman named Ramona Flowers who simply moved to Toronto and is not too long ago out of a nasty relationship. Scott begins a relationship with Ramona earlier than ending his relationship with Knives. There’s not less than one downside right here: He should defeat Flowers’ seven evil exes earlier than they’ll date.
What follows is large, flashy, stylized fights with the evil exes alongside Scott coping with his interpersonal drama, attempting to nurture his relationship with Ramona, and loads of quips, gags, and guffaws. However regardless of the over-the-top, typically slapstick nature of the writing and presentation, the Scott Pilgrim books actually dug into the ramifications of Scott’s chaotic, damaging nature.
A lot of Scott Pilgrim’s popular culture persistence is attributed to the 2010 movie adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which, regardless of a disappointing field workplace efficiency, has gone on to be a cult traditional. Arrested Growth star Michael Cera appeared like an odd selection for our titular fuck-up, however I can’t even learn the comics nowadays with out listening to his voice in my head when Scott speaks. The film captures loads of the humor, character, and elegance of the supply materials, elevated by a top quality solid that’s type of arduous to imagine 13 years later.
Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead play Scott and Ramona alongside another now-huge names, like Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, and Chris Evans. However the film isn’t a 1:1 adaptation of the graphic novels, and as such, it suffers some blind spots in its overarching narrative. The Scott Pilgrim books happen over the course of a number of months, and the movie condenses the entire drama into a number of days. Whole relationships, emotional arcs, and story beats are both haphazardly shoved into the film’s brisk two-hour runtime or, as is the case with like Stephen Stills’ coming-out story, omitted completely. So regardless of the film being beloved, some followers (perhaps even myself) haven’t felt like Scott Pilgrim has gotten a correct adaptation that totally explored all its nuance.
Now we’ve Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. It’s eight episodes lengthy, with a complete runtime about twice so long as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. This new present might have, theoretically, higher explored the graphic novels’ unique story. However Netflix’s collection doesn’t do this. It flips the unique story on its head and examines it via the eyes of Ramona whereas Scott…takes off for half the present’s run.
Why Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is efficient and essential
Whereas sure, I felt some preliminary disappointment that we weren’t getting a extra fleshed-out adaptation of Scott Pilgrim, I got here round in a short time on the present’s subversive, metatextual tackle its story. This twist is a good way to present Ramona, who the movie adaptation did particularly soiled, an opportunity to look at her personal points with abandonment, demonizing her exes, and absolving herself of the ache she had prompted…simply as Scott received to do within the unique story. And whereas I, and different followers, may’ve wanted some convincing, it appears like O’Malley was wholly tired of doing a rote retelling of the supply materials, telling telling Selection that doing so would have felt “like demise.”
As a substitute of recounting Scott’s fights with Ramona’s exes, Takes Off has its main girl investigating our hero’s disappearance after his obvious loss within the first combat towards evil ex Matthew Patel, who dated Ramona for per week and a half in center faculty. Scott’s supposed “demise” sends the whole story of the unique books right into a tailspin, and Ramona spends the vast majority of the present reconciling along with her exes and determining that, regardless of the branding, none of them have been actually “evil” in spite of everything, and she or he was simply as a lot an “evil ex” to them.
Whereas Ramona will get her time within the highlight, Scott, in his considerably restricted display time, continues to be a focus within the present’s second half. It seems he didn’t lose the combat towards Matthew, however as an alternative was pulled out of it by a 37-year-old future model of himself who’s going via a messy divorce with Ramona. To previous Scott, defeating the evil exes and being with Ramona was the most important mistake of his life, as a result of if he’d by no means been along with her, he wouldn’t be going via the ache he’s experiencing from the divorce.
This concept weaves effectively into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’s themes whereas inspecting the inherent damaging selfishness that has been a part of his character because the graphic novels. Although Ramona spends the entire present reckoning with how exes demonize one another, ceaselessly they’re simply different, regular human beings attempting to make it work like the remainder of us. In the meantime, Scott’s older self has not come to that realization, and views Ramona and his prior, loving relationship along with her as nothing however a waste. He’d reasonably it by no means occurred than combat to reserve it, which doesn’t paint a flattering portrait of the elder Scott. He facilities his personal ache whereas ignoring the harm he’s prompted others, and it’s solely after younger Scott sees this model of himself that he displays on a number of the heinous shit he’s already accomplished, like relationship a excessive schooler.
All of this makes for some actually intelligent metatextual commentary on the premise Scott Pilgrim is constructed on. The unique graphic novel examines these concepts in its six-issue run, however it feels just like the film lets many of those conflicts fall via the cracks, boiling concepts like Nega Scott, a bodily manifestation of all of Scott’s flaws, right down to brief gags. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off manages to interrupt down all Scott’s flaws in new methods, so whereas it’s not a direct adaptation of the graphic novels, the brand new present is certainly in dialog with every part that’s come earlier than.
Why are some followers dissatisfied with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off?
So what’s the issue? There are a number of sources of potential ire. Pushing apart with all our may that there’s possible a contingent of followers who simply hate girls—which are mad Ramona took the highlight this time, accredited of Scott Pilgrim’s detestable conduct, and mentioned “he’s identical to me, FR” as a result of he speaks in online game references and has the hots for girls means out of his league—there are not less than some arguments to be made.
A part of the problem stems from Netflix’s lack of transparency about what Scott Pilgrim Takes Off can be. This can be a recurring theme for metatextual work like Closing Fantasy VII Remake and the Rebuild of Evangelion movies: initially they’re introduced as retellings of beloved tales, just for it to develop into clear at some later level that they’re going to take quite a lot of liberties and inform a special story completely. Moments like Scott seemingly dropping his combat towards Matthew Patel are efficient as a result of they subvert your expectations. They’re a twist simply as a lot as some other in storytelling, however they occur when returning followers count on consolation meals. That disruption, particularly one which makes you rethink one thing you’ve beloved for a very long time, creates a selected friction that may be tough to handle.
Talking personally, I’ve had totally different reactions to this type of twist relying on the mission. Rebuild of Evangelion felt like a creator reflecting on how his personal ache put characters via the wringer within the unique work, however Closing Fantasy VII Remake has me much more hesitant largely as a result of I haven’t loved Sq. Enix’s makes an attempt to additional broaden varied Closing Fantasy universes, so I’m much less wanting to see that firm’s tackle a metatextual reexamining of its traditional RPG. However hey, Closing Fantasy VII Rebirth could reassure me.
Tales like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off are supposed to push towards long-held fandom perceptions. Your complete level of taking a longtime story off the rails is to make you rethink what all of it meant. Was it too delicate the primary time about Scott being an absolute shitbag? I wouldn’t have thought so, however that hasn’t stopped the franchise from being the most effective examples ever of the “Wow, cool robotic” meme, in that its humor, nerd references, and flashy battles are a number of the solely facets some followers internalize.
O’Malley has even mentioned in interviews way back to 2015 that the graphic novels have been a time capsule of his early 20s, and that his view on Scott’s story modified as every problem got here out. It’s solely pure that as folks develop up, their work will too. Scott Pilgrim’s closing problem dove deep into why its titular hero wasn’t a lot of a hero in any respect, whereas the film was solely capable of reckon with that in rushed shorthand. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off explores these concepts as effectively, however it doesn’t should retread previous floor to do it.
However even past metatextual retellings, media creators have gotten extra snug with being much less clear about what they’re placing out, typically beneath the pretense of avoiding spoilers. It’s not completely a current improvement, as Metallic Gear Strong 2’s advertising hid the large bombshell that Snake wasn’t the sport’s major character up till it launched in 2001. Extra not too long ago, Danganronpa V3: Killing Concord marketed itself because the collection’ first female-led homicide thriller, just for it to swap protagonists and develop into a metatextual reexamination by the top. The Final of Us Half II’s trailers included scenes that didn’t exist within the sport to cover its inciting incident. Even Avengers: Endgame, the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, had actors whose characters “died” in Infinity Warfare swearing their characters have been gone for good throughout the movie’s promotion, even when they have been resurrected by the top of Endgame.
The knee-jerk response to that is to declare false promoting, and whereas I can charitably sympathize with that criticism in some contexts, I do want we might cease viewing each piece of artwork we watch, play, or learn as a strictly transactional expertise. If media firms didn’t really feel this compulsion to market every part they put out to the purpose the place everybody thinks they know what they’re entering into earlier than they really watch, learn, or play, perhaps the ensuing mystique would make audiences extra open to experiencing foundational twists that don’t should be born out of misleading advertising.
Would Scott Pilgrim Takes Off have performed higher to sure folks if it had been positioned as Ramona’s story from the outset? Perhaps. Would there nonetheless have been very loud folks mad {that a} lady took the highlight from a personality they solely ever noticed as themselves regardless of the textual content outwardly criticizing him? Completely. As somebody who actually loved Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, even when I had my very own disappointment that we’ve nonetheless but to see components of this story correctly tailored, I do hope that some of us can look previous their preliminary expectations and see how the collection is additive to the Scott Pilgrim story, reasonably than simply parroting what we are able to already discover within the books.
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