Scott Pilgrim as I see it is postmodern
because the whole film is filled with Intertextual references, an Intertextual
reference is something in a film that could be a prop person or scene that
links in with another media a texts. It is covered with references from video
games a prime example
of this is when Scott defeats one of Ramonas evil exes he is rewarded with
coins, these coins are a reference from killing the enemies in River City Ransom.
Firstly we must understand postmodernism,
it essentially is a rejection of modernism, which suggests that every piece of media is new
and original. What postmodernism does is allow a media texts to be linked in
with others in popular ways as a pastiche or homage. Homage is professional
nod of acceptance and appreciation to another professional using the same style
or Intertextual references. If we didn’t have this and carried on thinking
every film is unique then a film like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World wouldn’t work
or make sense and probably wouldn’t sell much. Not only does this film have
Intertextual references from popular games and American TV shows it also has
some made from the movie.
The narrative of the movie is that Scott falls
in love with this new girl Ramona and in order to ‘be with her’ he must defeat
her 7 evil exes with each ex being worse than the previous. During every fight
scene with one of her exes there are links to what number that ex is all around
for example when Scott is battling ex number 2 he is told it will take Lucas
Lee two minutes to kick his ass’, he points two fingers when addressing Scott
and after Lucas Less is defeated we see 2000 coins spring up in the air in the
same fashion after killing someone on a game and many more references. This
carries on throughout the film and the references link to the ex number.
Ramona’s third evil ex Todd Ingram is full of
Intertextual references; in the whole film all the actors seem to have super
powers that of which are scenes in video games but they’re not acknowledged
until Todd who is said to have special vegan powers. The actor who plays Todd,
Brandon Routh played superman in Superman Returns, which can be considered postmodern,
as he has gone from playing a superhero to a villain. Furthermore when Todd
looses his power fro the vegan police they shoot a green laser, which has
connotations with vegetables and additionally kryptonite, and specifically
green kryptonite that causes immediate physical pain and debilitation and
kills within hours.
During the film nearly every major video game is
referenced at some point from little icons on the bands drum to sound effects.
I spoke before about how at the end of a fight scene between Scott and an evil
ex the explode into coins, this is a reference from River City Ransom.
When Scott ‘gets it’ a sound effect is played from
sonic the hedgehog when a zone is cleared. And this shows the Intertextual relationship
between film and video games that is reinforced throughout the whole of the
film. In addition the makes of the sound in the original sonic game are the
people that made the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim
Another relationship between video game and the
movie is when Scotts sister is described and described as ‘Rated
T for Teen’ this is also used as a rating for video games in America.
Harry
ReplyDeleteDont tell me what a intertextual reference could be, tell me what it is in the film and why it has been used.
Your second paragraph is much better and shows a slightly better understanding of the purpose of PoMo. It does lose its way half way through the paragraph where you express your opinion but without any proof of what you say.
The rest of your answer is more of a description of the film rather than an analysis. An easy way to examine the film is to discuss its video game format with levels and 'baddies' to face. You can then easily pick out all the references to computer games which fill the film.
This answer just ends abruptly and there is no sense of debate. Like the majority of your class mates you can spot features but you cannot explain them. This is something you must work on as a matter of urgency.