Scott Pilgrim VS the World
The movie revolves around Scott Pilgrim the main character.
He is a 22-year-old man still finding his place in life. Playing the bass in a
rock band, having a 17-year-old girlfriend and being unemployed, he receives
many criticisms from those around him. One day, he met the girl in his dreams
named Ramona Flowers. He was determined to win her over. Unfortunately, he must
overcome the obstacle of defeating her 7 evil exes in order to officially date
her. The story of the movie comes with 7 plot lines of how he defeated all her
exes using 7 different strategies with a fighting video game concept.
In addition to having a unique concept, the graphics of the
movie was visually astounding. Although it had dull physical sets and props.
The simplicity of the actual background creates an opportunity for the graphics
of the movie to stand out. Graphics ranged from a calm dessert environment
where Scott first met Ramona in his dream to laser gorilla and dragons battling
during the concert with Katayanagi twins. It is assumed that production
purposefully came up with a simple and somewhat pointless storyline so that the
audience will focus on the graphics of the movie.
The scene with one of the best graphics is during the battle
of the bands between Sex Bob-Omb and Katayanagi twins. At first, the atmosphere
was like any other concert – an awaiting crowd and tensed bands. The set
started out with dim lighting till the twins’ part of the stage lit up with
golden lights indicating their entrance. The amplification of one particular
key note was sent out by the twins and the graphics projected massive sound and
electrical waves that blew the roof off and tore Sex Bob-Omb’s stage apart.
Strong winds were used to show the intensity of the music played by both bands.
The setting was as if they were at an abandoned warehouse on a regular snowy
night; however, the atmosphere inside was intense and the musical tension
created a blizzard. In contrast, the actors showed no signs of being cold as
Scott still wore his t-shirt while one of twins was sleeveless. On screen
graphics adopted the concept of a comic book as split screen was used multiple
times to capture multiple actors’ facial expressions. Screens were split either
regularly or using lightning bolts. Usually they all had the same facial
expression which was focused. As the songs of both teams climaxed, two
laser-smoked dragons from the twins and an alpha gorilla from Sex Bob-Omb
appeared to battle. The creativity of using an intense fight between the
animals represented by both bands’ musical power has combined both the video
game world and the real world. The scene was realistic in terms of using 2D
video game characters and props in real life environment with actual human
actors.
Although the movie had no proper attractive story
development, there were still certain scenes the brought comedy to real life conflicts
and controversial situations. For instance, when confronting the 3rd
evil ex, Todd Ingram, backstage, he punched Knives. The scene showcases the
issues of gender equality, whether men are allowed to hit women and the abuse
of women. However, the scene projected the issues in a comedic way. When Young
Neil said that Todd punched the highlights out of Knives’ hair. Although there was no actual physical contact, it was just the usage of jump cut editing. This scene encourages negative criticisms and reviews not only towards the movie but towards the
creators of it as well.
Furthermore, the scene also made fun of the vegan community
and their movement. In the real world, vegans tend to critic others who do not
follow their lifestyle and judge others for being ignorant to animal rights.
Therefore, they are often seen as being the “better people” of society. In the
3rd fight, Todd has many mythical powers that clearly made him more
powerful than Scott. Envy said during that scene that Todd is vegan. By using
graphics such as the manipulation of gravity through Todd’s brain, the movie is
bringing a light-hearted approach to the controversial argument brought on by
vegans. Todd also throws Scott into the sky which showcases the manipulation of space through continuity editing to further represent the claims made by vegans that a vegan lifestyle actually makes people stronger. Additionally, the movie uses comic books animation to tell the story
between Ramona and Todd which fits into the concept of the movie. The scene
ends with Todd being caught by the vegan police which represents how real-world
vegans’ habit of calling out another vegan for making mistakes that do not
align with their lifestyle. The comedic approach may be funny to most but may
also be offensive to the vegan community.
Overall, the movie has amazing graphics which showcases the
power of editing with today’s modern technology. This is evident as the movie
combines real life physical actors and props with abstract art from video games
and comic books. The movie is also bringing a light-hearted approach to certain
real-life disputes such as gender equality and the argument from the vegan
community. Regardless, the movie showcases the art of editing without having a
complicated and serious storyline. The movie is one that suits those who
appreciate visually stunning graphics and editing but does not fulfil the
demand for narrative content.
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