Why I’m Not Quite Sold on Scott Pilgrim
Okay. So let me get this straight. There’s Michael Cera, right? And he’s playing the same role he’s played in pretty much everything ever? Okay, boring, but I’m with you so far.
Mm-hmm. A funny, outspoken love interest with punky hair I would have murdered for in high school? I wish she were the star of the film, but nevertheless, my interest is piqued!
Oh, so the movie is about his pursuit of her? We’re veering dangerously toward sexist territory, but if it’s really cute, I might let it slide.
Wait … so in order to woo her, Michael Cera has to battle her exes? What, like, defeat everyone in her nonexistent sexual history phone book?
… What kind of bullshit is that?
To me, the whole concept is disturbingly reminiscent of the idea, widely taught in abstinence-only sex ed curricula, that to sleep with a lady is to be inextricably connected to all of her previous sexual partners. I’m glad Scott Pilgrim vs. the World doesn’t take the judgmental route and suggest that Ramona Flowers is more trouble than she’s worth, and admittedly, it’s sort of refreshing that she’s clearly not an unrealistic, virginal fairy-tale goddess thrown up onto a pedestal. Still, the film’s premise reveals a chauvinistic discomfort with female sexuality; the audience is expected to relate to Scott Pilgrim’s beta-male struggle, not to accept Ramona’s sexual past, but to conquer the very memory of her having one in the first place.
Scott’s problem is not an exclusively male one, but I think we tend to see it that way. A woman’s not supposed to get hung up on whether her new boyfriend is a virgin, because if you expect him to be pure, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. If you’re a dude, on the other hand, you had better get with a Madonna, not a whore. Sex is disgusting when it’s the result of a woman’s desire and agency. If she has a history, we had better fucking vanquish it!
The marketing of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is another example of sexism being okay if it’s represented in what we perceive as a counterculture. I’m sure someone else would have written this mini-rant if this were a film that wasn’t based on an alternative comic book and that had a more alpha male actor in the lead role. Never mind that it’s being released by corporate giant Universal and is being advertised like nobody’s business on television, in print media, and at a little something called San Diego Comic-Con.
Will I see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? Almost definitely. I want to be proven wrong, plus it has the potential to be a good date movie, so long as my boyfriend and I don’t end up fighting about its gender dynamics as vehemently as we did with our last attempt at a “date movie,” Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Actually, that might be the best thing I can say about Scott Pilgrim right now: it isn’t a Judd Apatow project.
