Movie Analysis: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) is an atypical movie in many respects. But while the beginning of the movie contradicts some gender norms, it quickly begins to resemble a classical fairytale storyline.

 The film begins with the meek 22-year-old Scott Pilgrim in an unfulfilling relationship a high school girl. He clearly wants to be in relationship, but he knows he's not with the right girl. He begins having dreams about a girl with pink hair and becomes obsessed with her. He sees her one day at a party, where he tries to talk to her who seems uninterested.
     They later start going out, but Scott quickly realizes that she has baggage, in that if he wants to be with her, he has to defeat her "seven evil exes." The movie, therefore, turns into a literal video game, where Scott scores points for killing of each of her exes, hoping to secure Ramona as the final prize. Each person he fights signifies a new level, and Ramona is the end goal. Later in the movie, Ramona leaves Scott for Gideon, her final evil ex who has returned to sweep Ramona away. Gideon is old, rich, and well-connected, making him a powerful competitor that Scott needs to defeat. Throughout the movie, Scott transforms from being meek to being aggressive and powerful, and Ramona changes from being independent and powerful to being dependent and powerless.

      The first scene I analyzed is when Scott and Ramona meet at a party. In typical Hollywood fashion, time slows down as the crowd parts, revealing Ramona standing alone against a wall.Scott becomes anxious and crushes the red cup in his hands in an attempt to "man up." He walks up to her, probably not as smoothly as he had envisioned, and proceeds to bore her with an awkward attempt at conversation about Pac-Man. She is stoic and unmoved by his advances, tells him to go away, and afterwards, he admits to "stalking" her for the rest of the party. After she leaves, he frantically runs around asking people what they know about Ramona. The response from each person is relatively the same: a wide-eyed look of wonder and rapture at the name Ramona, one guy saying that "she's got battle scars, dude." In other words, she has a rough past. And the overwhelming consensus among people at the party is that she's way out of Scott's league. They say Ramona is way too good for Scott -- but that doesn't deter him. He has chosen his girl, and she is powerless to stop that fate.
      This scene communicates that men are supposed to actively pursue women and to be so self-assured so as to not care about how the woman feels about him. It also communicates that men should become obsessed with women without knowing anything about them (except how they look). At first glance, I thought this scene might be running counter to male dominance expectations because Scott is so awkward and bumbling, but he still ends up winning over Ramona a few minutes after this party scene. Submissive traits include being timid and meek (Holz Ivory, Gibson, & Ivory, 2009). His timidness was successful, right? With more inspection I found that it was actually his forcefulness and self-assurance that made him successful, which are dominant traits (Holz Ivory et. al). He's the one who went up to Ramona, an act that required aggression, as evidenced by when he crushed his cup in his hand. Even though she initially shrugs him off, it's Scott's self-assurance that ultimately allowed him to be undeterred by her reaction. Scott seemed to be blind to Ramona's initial lack of interest because he was so self-assured.
     As for Ramona, this scene communicates that women must be passively "chosen" by men, which is consistent with female courtship strategies (Kim et. al, 2007). This scene also communicates that women are valued solely for their appearance. Again, at first I thought Ramona ran counter to this script. She's not dressed provocatively,  she's not super-bubbly, and she has bright pink hair, all indicators that she doesn't care about impressing men. So on the one hand she defies the common theme in love songs that "to attract and keep a man, a woman should look like a model or a centerfold" (Bader, 2007). But Scott becomes absolutely infatuated with her solely on the basis of her appearance. Scott therefore enacts the Sex as Masculinity code in which man are supposed to "value them [women] primarily for their physical attractiveness" (Kim et. al, 2007). "Edgy" is just being used to replace "drop-dead gorgeous." I see this as just another repackaging of the same Hollywood girl. Ramona has the appearance of depth, in that she has an "edgy" appearance and a supposed "rough past". Bit this is just another superficial character sketch that leaves a female character without specific motivations, desires, or drive.

     The next scene I analyzed is when Scott and Ramona hang out on their first date, and she invites him over to her house. When they meet up, it's clear that Ramona is the more powerful one in that she'll determine where the relationship will go. Scott is infatuated with her (even though he knows nothing about her), and it's up to Ramona to decide if the relationship will go further or not. When they arrive at Ramona's house, Scott starts shivering (it's snowing outside), and Ramona offers to get him a blanket from her room. After she exits the room, Scott stands up and shifts awkwardly, unsure what to do. He follows her into her bedroom, where Ramona happens to be taking off her shirt. Scott, in his typical bumbling fashion, apologizes and presses his hands over his eyes, until Ramona walks up to him, still shirtless, and kisses him. Scott suggests they get in bed, and Ramona agrees. Once they're in bed, Ramona gets slightly on top of him and then changes her mind about having sex. She says she doesn't want to do it, but that Scott can still spend the night in bed with her. She states, "I reserve my right to change my mind about the sex later." Scott looks mildly surprised, but expresses that he's genuinely happy just to lie in bed with her. He states, "This is nice, just this. It's been like a really long time, so I think I needed this -- whatever it is. So thank you."
     Taken as a whole, this scene challenges gender norms because Ramona is overwhelmingly the sexual aggressor, and she calls the shots. The Heterosexual Script states that women act passively and don't prioritize "their sexual desire" (Kim et. al, 2007). Ramona counters this because she invited Scott to her house, she was the first to make a move, her physical posture dominated Scott's while they were in bed, she stopped sex from happening (without apology), and told Scott that she has the right to demand sex if she ends up wanting it. So this scene communicates that women are supposed to be in charge sexually, and that women have the right to turn down sex.
     Scott's behavior mainly goes against the Heterosexual Script outlined by Kim et. al, which states  men experience "sexual feelings as uncontrollable" and men are "demanding in sexual situations." Scott's only sign of masculine aggression is that he proposes getting in bed to have sex. Once they're in bed, however, he's markedly nonaggressive. He lies there motionless as Ramona climbs on top of him. He doesn't show any signs of anger that Ramona doesn't want to have sex. On the contrary, he's happy with the turn of events and even thanks her. So this scene communicates that men aren't supposed to be obsessed with sex, but rather, they should allow women to decide the terms of the relationship. It shows that a man doesn't have to be angry or devastated about not having sex.

But Scott's docile character trait doesn't last for long.
And Ramona's strength and independence don't last long, either.
The movie takes a turn for the worse, transforming into a Disney-esque fairytale, where Ramona becomes the woman in distress that needs to be saved from the evil villain Gideon.

      The next scene I analyzed is when Scott fights Gideon, Ramona's seventh and final evil ex. Scott shows up at a club where Gideon and Ramona are sitting at the top of a pyramid-like platform. Gideon is holding a cane that looks like a scepter, and he and Ramona are sitting side-by-side on a bench, like an evil lord sitting with his partner on their thrones. Gideon is old (in relation to Scott), powerful, and rich. Just before coming to the bar, Scott had learned in dream that Ramona was not with Gideon by choice, but rather, Gideon has forced Ramona to be with him by implanting a computer chip in her head. So Ramona has become a pawn and the ultimate prize for her male competitors. She's literally helpless and dependent on Scott to come and save her. By the time Scott faces Gideon, he's a certifiable badass. He's become aggressive and physically dominant as he easily kills Ramona's exes, and he manages to kill Gideon without much help. As he kills Gideon and wins back Ramona, his "prize" at the end of the game, Scott and Ramona's power relations have been successfully turned upside-down.
   According to Ward (1995), a common message is that males are to be regarded as "sexual competitors and females as sexual objects." Accordingly, Scott engages in a literal competition with Ramona's exes, having to kill them off. This conveys that men are supposed to fight others in order to get women, therefore treating women as the prize. The fact that Ramona appears (at first) to be attracted to Gideon is also an example of male courting strategies outlined by Kim et. al (2007), in that women are attracted to men who "exhibit wealth, power or physical strength." So this shows that the more aggressive, rich, and powerful men will win the girl.
   Furthermore, this scene conveys that women are supposed to act as objects of male affection, and that ultimately a man will swoop down and save them from all of their troubles. Ramona doesn't attempt to fend for herself and is dependent on Scott, which could be coded as submissiveness (Holz Ivory, Gibson, & Ivory, 2009). She is also the object of male competition.

     While the film initially challenges gender roles, the storyline topples over on its head in order to reestablish more typical power hierarchies. Ramona initially has more power in the relationship than Scott, but that changes as she becomes dependent on Scott to save her. While at first it seemed Scott could win over a girl who's "out of his league" by just being his nonaggressive, bumbling self, he eventually had to prove that he's manly enough to deserve her. Overall, the film shows that men have to be superheroes, and women have to be helplessly dependent on them.

References

Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: media myths in popular love songs.  

        Critical thinking about sex, love, and romance in the mass media. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence 

        Erlbaum Associates.

Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: portrayals of same-

        sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication and Society, 12(2).

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zybergold, B.A., Schooler, D., Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to 

         sexuality: exposing the heterosexual scripts on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 

          44(2).

Ward, L. M. (1995). Talking about sex: Common themes about sexuality in the prime-time television 

          programs children and adolescents view most. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(5).