REVIEW: the Scott Pilgrim series

The Scott Pilgrim series (Graphic Novel and Film Adaptation)

Graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley made from 2004-2010

Film released 2010

The Scott Pilgrim series:

· The opening provides chords along the song “Launchpad McQuack” which incidentally can be played by real guitarist, suggesting O’Malley has a history with the instrument

· The setup is notable to a slice of life setting to a more fantasy setting with the transition of Scott being with Knives to being with Ramona, parodying if not drawing inspiration from many a romance comedy action manga popular in Japan

· Knives is noticeably Chinese as opposed to Japanese, which is strange given that she and her family are ninjas (left out in the film)

· The film deviates from the books starting the fourth volume as the film was made before the fifth one was finished

· The entirety of the series is somewhat of an homage to the hipster culture, which with the Scott Pilgrim series’ popularity and the film adaptation ironically made the ideology mainstream

· Various video game, manga, Western comics and such are notably made throughout the graphic novel (mostly pop-culture)

· The characters are notably Canadian, as opposed to American which a good notable readership is. This may be due to O’Malley’s own Canadian upbringing or may hold significance to the counterculture lifestyle of our protagonists

· With the absence of more elder adults in the graphic novels, Wallace notably plays the role of mentor and maternal figure as the gay best friend

· Scott being a bassist is notable in that they are the supporting roles in the genre of music that the Sex Bob-omb plays. This is ironic as Scott is the main character if the series and poetic justice as he plays no part in his fate once he begins a relationship with Ramona

· Ramona being from New York City (and therefore America) plays a more key role with the majority of the cast being Canadian, as she plays the role of the exotic girlfriend in this context to a culture not too different from American culture

· The fact that characters are making obscure references is in itself a reference to hipster culture

· The style of O’Malley is stylized to show basics of characters and rarely emphasizes realistic details on characters or settings

· Rarely is background factored into the setting of the graphic novel, yet as it takes place mostly in the winter season of Canada and therefore lots of snow is prevalent that in itself can be a style

· The flow of the panels are quite fast paced at the beginning, only capturing essential movements and dialogue with the exceptions of time sequence.

Bibliography

O'Malley, Bryan Lee. Scott Pilgrim the Complete Series. [Portland, Or.]: Oni, 2010. Print.

Scott Pilgrim VS the World. Dir. Edgar Wright. Perf. Michael Cera. Universal, 2010. Film.