Scott Pilgrim vs The Nonchalance Epidemic

Originally published for Cardinal & Cream

“Not so long ago, in the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada, Scott Pilgrim was dating a high schooler.”

For this reason (along with many, many others) Scott Pilgrim is a terrible person and a complete and total loser. And that’s kinda the whole point. 

Scott Pilgrim, the titular character of Edgar Wright’s colorful, quirky, comic-to-screen film, “Scott Pilgrim vs The World,” is the pinnacle of an interesting character trope that is becoming few and far between in films these days: “The Dorky Little White Guy.” (Trademark pending).

“Scott Pilgrim vs The World” hit theaters in 2010, the tail end of the early aughts’ chick flick hot guy rom-com phase, and gave us a romantically naive Michael Cera instead. Fresh off of his roles in “Superbad” and “Youth in Revolt,” Cera cemented Hollywood’s “dorky little white guy” era with his impeccable portrayal of Scott Pilgrim.

The story begins with Scott, a twenty two-year-old, socially inept bassist for the garage band “Sex Bob-omb,” inviting his seventeen-year-old sort-of-girlfriend to the band’s practice because no one else would show up and listen to them. Hardly even fifteen minutes into the film, Scott finds himself falling for a totally different girl, the mysterious, pink-haired, rollerblading Ramona Flowers. 

Ultimately, Scott cheats on his teenaged girlfriend with Ramona. In order for him to continue dating Ramona, he must defeat her seven evil exes in seven superpowered battles. The League of Exes, comprised of a mystical pirate, a famous actor, a rockstar with vegan-based powers, a half-ninja, a set of twins and a sword wielding maniac, have one objective: to keep Scott from dating Ramona. Because Scott is unequivocally desperate for Ramona’s admiration, he fights all her evil exes, nearly getting himself killed in the process.

The fights serve as a metaphor for Scott being forced to combat his own personal shortcomings, leaving behind his emotional immaturity and embracing self actualization. This all happens alongside 8-bit inspired aesthetics, whip-pans with perfect comedic timing and sudden outbursts of song and dance. It’s truly Edgar Wright batting a thousand. 

They just aren’t making movies like this anymore.

The past half-decade has been filled with nothing but sequels and remakes and navel-gazey thinkpieces that take themselves so seriously that watching them will induce a headache. Movies have forgotten how to be fun and ridiculous and earnest. This change in the film industry is a reflection of a culture that has also forgotten how to be fun and ridiculous and earnest.

The “dorky little white guy” trope died out because it just isn’t as applicable as it was in the 2010s. Dorky little white guys like Scott Pilgrim don’t play bass in their friend’s basement and pine over girls that are lightyears out of their league anymore. They’re all on social media apps like Reddit talking about “looksmaxxing” and repealing the 19th amendment.

The progression of internet subcultures during the last decade and a half has shifted the way we view social hierarchies and perceived coolness. The internet has become a purgatory of echo chambers for people who all think and dress and talk the same way, inhibiting people’s ability of self reflection.  Furthermore, the internet’s appropriation of nerd culture into the mainstream causes labels like “dork” or “geek” to be much less defined, rendering the genre of “underdog loser gets the girl” stories completely unrelatable to modern audiences.

As strange and flawed as Scott Pilgrim is, these modern audiences can stand to learn something from his character arc. Scott’s arc isn’t about changing himself so a much cooler girl will go out with him. His arc is about becoming a better person, someone that Ramona deserves, and accepting his mistakes rather than fighting them. There’s something captivatingly human about the story of an imperfect underdog character, a sort of social pariah, who is genuinely able to grow and overcome challenges.

At its core, “Scott Pilgrim vs The World” is a movie about trying. It isn’t always cool to care about someone or something, or to be self reflective and accept past mistakes, but being cool should never be the point. The point is growth and genuineness. It is the purpose of “dorky little white guy” movies to teach us this lesson, to teach us that we can all afford to be a little more fun and ridiculous and earnest.