In what ways can Scott Pilgrim be considered postmodern?

The Graphical novel comedy film titled ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the world’ is considered be a very good example of how a film can be classed as postmodern. The 2010 Edgar Wright production two vastly different conventions of film that are apparent from the start. As we are shown the typical film convention of a love story and binary opposites such ‘good v evil’. This is atheory that was explored by Levi Strauss. There is then a significant twist which is unusual to a film that we would see the traditional features in, as the film is produced to look like two conventions of media which are film and gaming have been crossed to make a film. Therefore showing many intertextual references from well known games throughout the film. The idea of Binary opposites of good v evil are what we would expect to find in traditional computer game and we introduced to Scott at the start as the main character of both the film and the game that the audience is put into.

From when we are first introduced to the film, the title is not what we would usually expect from an action/comedy film. As ‘Vs the world’ sounds like an action or fighting game and immediately sets out a challenge that this main character ‘Scott’ has to overcome. Then the opening ‘Universal’ Logo is interesting as it displays it in a way we are not familiar with, as it shows the traditional soundtrack of ‘Universal’ but plays it in a traditional ‘Sonic’ game sound, which will be recognisable o anyone who has played that game before. From the first scene which shows what will be the band sitting in a kitchen , we are again immediately aware that this film will hold little reality and we know we will be put into a fantasy new world throughout. The opening scene again explores the idea that a reality world and a fantasy world have been crossed as the characters speak as if they are in the reality world as the audience understands as they talk about situations that we recognise such as relationships and work, but then as a new character is shown on the screen, a black box pops up next to them which acts as a profile for the character which states their name, age and ranking. This is a feature that has been taken from action games to show fighting characters name and ranking. This is a feature that brings the film into this created hyper-real world again.

This opening scene is full of references from well known games that are not instantly recognisable and you will have to have played the games the film references to pick out the majority of them. This makes the film interesting as everyone will want to find out what has been taken from what. Another example of when the film puts the audience in this created Hyper-reality world is when there is knock at the door, and then the words ‘Ding Dong’ appear on the screen. This feature is called onomatopoeia and is taken from an action comic book in replace of words such as ‘Pow’ and ‘Boom’. This is a recognisable feature that most of the audience will pick up on and they have used such a simple and recognisable technique at the begging of the film to set the mode for the rest of the film and to make the audience aware of more intertextual references to follow throughout the film. Another example would be when we are introduced to Kim and we can see there is a bomb on the bass of her drum kit. This is a reference to original Mario game where the same style of illustration of the bomb is used as in the game as something you should avoid to prevent your character from dying in the game.

There are also references to other films that are respected and recognisable. An example of this is when we are first shown the inside of Wallace’s apartment as everything is named in a black box that appears next to the item and is again used to profile what the camera is showing as it pans across his room. This feature is taken from the ‘Star Wars’ films and by doing this the producers of the film are paying homage to the existing film. Following the idea of the producers paying homage to existing media pieces, is the scene where we are shown a split screen between Scott and his Sister when they are speaking on the phone. This is taken from comic books and the producers of the film are trying to re create this style of comic strip by turning it into film. Other references from films are when Scotts Sister refers to his ex as ‘She who shall not be named’, this is taken from the Harry Potter films where Voldermort is refered to as ‘He who shall not be named’. This is a reference that is not obvious and you will again have to have a fair understanding knowledge of films to pick out a lot of the references. Another is taken from previous films that Edgar Wright has directed himself such as ‘Shaun of the dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’, and ‘Paul’. This is the technique of the swipe motion when changing shots and this feature is something that fans of his previous film will recognise.

Throughout the film there is also the use of the technique of foreshadowing what will or is about to happen soon. When we about to be introduced to a new ‘Ex’, we are shown the in someway in a shot building up to it the letter ‘x’. For example as Knives and Scott walk through the snow, we are shown a big letter ‘x’ that has been printed in the snow. This shown us that ex number one is set to challenge. Then there is the phone number that Ramona gives to Scott. Under the number she writes seven x’s which Scott believes are just kisses, but really they turn out to foreshadow the seven evil ex’s he must defeat that are still controlling Ramona’s love life if he wants her.

Going back to the use of intertextual features being used throughout the film, there a more examples of gaming as when Scott goes toilet, above him appears a ‘pee bar’. This is taken from the game ‘The legend of Zelda’ and the bar goes down as he pees just like how the bar in the game decreases as the characters life becomes shorter. This is again an intertextual reference hat is used to pay homage too another game. We as the audience again immediately recognise this use of a ‘bar’ from games we have played. We also hear added features such as sound effects such as when Scott and Ramona kiss, there is a background music of a soft song which makes for a romantic mood. There are also red hearts that fly into the air. This again brings us into the created hyper real world.

To conclude I feel the film is postmodern mainly due to it’s links between the film as we see it and the hyper real world created that goes with it, also from the intertextual references it uses that pay homage to existing media pieces such as film and computer games. The way the references are hidden and are specific to an audience which has a good understanding and knowledge of films and games make it interesting as not everyone will pick up on the references first time.