scott pilgrim takes off

I was already in love with Scott pilgrim vs the world and I've watched the series twice already and let me tell you. I LOVE this thing. I have THE unhealthiest obsession with Gideon I feel like I'm in middle school again with how bad it is, lmao. Anyway, here is my essay on what I thought of the series, and how it paid homage to the original material.

The way they reworked his character has been talked down on by a few people, but I don't think it was a bad choice and I don't think the character would have been made better or worse if he stayed the same either. I feel like it was also pretty clear in the 2010 movie that they were moving away from that plot point anyway. Also, Julie slays, and I wish she had more character development because I love them as a couple.

The music was amazing, the animation was adorable, and the characters were done justice in my eyes. Sure, Todd was pretty different in this, making him less of an asshole and stuff, but even then, he still cheated on envy like he did in the original book series, just with a different person. just because he wasn't portrayed as a douche doesn't mean he didn't do shitty things. Envy and Todd's relationship was still destroyed, and Todd still ended up single and heartbroken.

At the end of the day, it wasn't meant to tell the same story. It was a reimagining of the same old characters under different circumstances, and it humanized them in a way similar to the books. The film had caricatures of the characters and I believe it was done well. the move was meant to be fun and highlight the absurdity of the deep and detailed world of the books, while the series swapped Scott and Ramona's roles. In a way, Ramona was also an antagonist in the movie, refusing to clean up loose ends and deal with the emotional damage she caused. Most of the exes didn't even do anything wrong before the league. The only exes who were truly bad were Mathew and Gideon. Matt and Gideon wanted to force Ramona back into a relationship., while the others just wanted her to take accountability for her actions. I think Lucas lee was just bored, since in every telling of this story, he's really chill about it and holds no ill will towards Ramona. Sure, the twins had an inappropriate relationship with her, but they were all similar in age, and Ramona was in college. she has the capacity and knowledge that what she did was wrong and would likely not have faced any consequences for turning them *both* down.

Ramona was never evil, but she was certainly an antagonist. If not in Scott's story, then her own.

I still love her though.

Most of the exes abandoned their revenge once the league fell apart. they all had the ability and the desire to move on. (minus Roxy and rightfully so) This Ramona took accountability for her actions, and the ending shows it. In the regular story, Scott learns to take accountability for his actions, and becomes a better person because of it, but we never see Ramona come to the same conclusion. The story isn't about Scott this time. It's about Ramona learning the same lesson.

The exes aren't less evil. they just weren't evil to begin with and they always move on in the end. (Minus the original Gideon.) Scott has always been emotionally immature, but he sees where that will take him, and he wants to change. He has always wanted and been able to change in every adaptation. It was Ramona's turn, and she accomplished her goal. She learned from her mistakes. Knives was a victim, but both in the books, and the movie she made several informed, bad decisions that led to every situation she shouldn't have been in. In the books, knives is regularly given alcohol and spent time going out and hanging out with Scott and his friends. They should have turned her away when she wanted to join them, but they all also tried to be responsible for her wellbeing while she was with them. At the end of the day, I think everyone cared about knives as a person. Were they all kind of bad at being responsible for an entire teenager? Yes. None of them were over 25. Knives was never hurt outside of emotionally by Scott that one time.

All in all, I think the show was a beautiful exploration of the characters as people, and finally allowed Ramona to deal with her own mistakes firsthand and in a healthy way.

11/10 Scott pilgrim always wins.

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