At first glance, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World seemed like an unconvential choice compared to the other films we have watched in this class. However, after watching the movie, I was reminded of Joseph Campbell because Edgar Wright included many of his ideas. I think that this film embodies Campbell’s monomyth in a current day context. Campbell defines the monomyth as, “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons upon his fellow man.”

The monomyth is essentially the storyline of Scott Pilgrim in his quest to win over Ramona Flowers. At the beginning of the film, we see Scott living an ordinary, mundane life. He is in a mediocre band, is still hung up on his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart, and he is dating a high schooler which reuslts in ridicule from his friends and family. When Scott meets Ramona and decides to pursue her, he is thrown into a supernatural world filled with “fabulous forces.”  He answers his call to action when he comes face to face with the first evil ex, Matthew Patel. Scott then has to go through a series of trials (the remaining 6 exes) to reach his goal of being with Ramona. This follows the storyline of the monomyth because he has to overcome great challenges along his journey, and each ex has a supernatural power he must defeat.

The film has all three phases of the monomyth- the departure, the initiation, and the return. Scott enters the departure when he has answered the call to action from Matthew Patel and begins his journey to conquer the evil exes. His intitation includes all of the battles against the exes, and he receives some help along the way from Ramona. The return is when he has defeated Gideon and gains new self-knowledge and the reward of being with Ramona. At the end of Scott’s journey, he faces the greatest challenge of all when he must face Gideon. In this battle, Scott learns that he must have self respect which is much more powerful than love in defeating Gideon. Scott does not reach his goal on his own and he needs Knives to assist him, which is also consistent with Campbell’s mythology because people help the hero along the way. At the end of the film, Scott achieves his personal goal of being with Ramona, but he also “bestows boons on fellow men.” Scott not only defeats Gideon, but he makes peace with himself (his evil side who is actually “a great guy”)  and realizes the importance of self respect. Scott’s self awareness and acceptance of himself is what allows him to be emotionally ready to be with Ramona. This is a message that many people can relate to, especially young adults, whom this film seems to target. Scott learns an important lesson that everyone must learn in their life, but not many of us will learn it by conquering a league of evil exes.

-Emily Hanss

Why are we watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World?

This was my initial thought when I discovered what film we would be watching on Monday.

Before Monday, the only encounter I had with this film was when my brothers were watching it, and I happened to briefly pause as I was passing by to see what they were laughing about.  To be honest, after about a thirty second take in of the film, I thought it looked kind of…lame.

After watching the full two hours of this action-packed, nerdy extravaganza, I can genuinely say that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Edgar Wright’s film.  I particularly loved the video-game aspects (such as the Evil Exes bursting into coins when they were defeated, the “pee meter”, and the snake and gorilla apparitions that appeared during the Guitar Hero-esque battle).  It also felt very much like a comic book with the creative way it integrated typography throughout the narrative such as when Scott is banging is head against a lamppost and the word “THONK” appears with each thud of the forehead (I later discovered that the film is based on a comic book series…makes sense!).  The unique camera angles, variety of scene changes, and plethora of special effects also made the film feel more like I was watching a video game or reading a comic book rather than watching a film, and this definitely fits in with today’s popularity of nerd culture.  Not only was the film artsy in its design, but the flashing light that instantly went off in my head was: THIS IS JOSEPH CAMPBELL’S HERO’S JOURNEY!

Scott Pilgrim (does his name remind you of something?) is a twenty-something band geek who is living a pretty pathetic and lackluster life which can be summed up by the fact that he is dating a high school girl named Knives Chau who his friends endlessly harass him about.  Scott’s lame life suddenly takes a turn when he receives a call to adventure which is when he sets his eyes on the beautiful, constantly-changing-hair-colors Ramona Flowers.  Although he is beyond the realm of awkward, Scott ends up scoring a date with Ramona; however, before he can officially date his new found sweetheart, he must defeat the League of Evil Exes (7 Evil Exes = 7 Labors of Hercules?).  Scott initially ignores the call when he decides to delete an email that warns him of his upcoming battle, and thus this shows Scott’s reluctance to go on his hero’s journey.

Scott finally crosses the threshold when he is forced to face Matthew Patel, the first evil ex.  After this, Scott has to take on 6 other foes, although he is still quite unwilling.  Scott and Ramona discuss how each of them have relationship baggage, and I would argue that the Seven Evil Exes can be looked at as the hardships and hurdles one has to face when falling in love with another person.  In relationships, Scott quickly learns, there is often a lot of emotional baggage and things in the past that have to be dealt with that go along with the journey of falling in love.

As Scott approaches the “innermost cave” of his journey, he faces a wave of doubts and this is illustrated when he and Ramona are at the bar and he asks her: “Is there anyone at this party you haven’t slept with?”  He also questions why everything has to be so complicated and hard.  Eventually, Scott makes it to his ultimate destination at the Chaos Theater where he must face off with his final foe: Gideon Graves.  In his final battle, Scott ends up being defeated by Gideon and we see him appear in a death scene consisting of a desert wasteland and a cactus.  Scott ends up being resurrected by his having an extra life, but before he leaves the desert of death, he learns a critical lesson.  The key thing that Scott learns at his lowest moment is that he needs to fight the enemy, not simply for Ramona, but first and foremost for himself, and in admitting this he earns self-respect.  With this and the aid of his friends, Scott is finally able to defeat his enemy, he gains his reward (being able to be with Ramona), and now he can start his return back.  However, Scott does not just return to his old life.  Instead, it is implied that Scott Pilgrim, like everyone, will have to repeat the Hero’s Journey multiple times throughout his life, and this fact is cleverly illustrated with the end shot being a countdown that asks: “Continue?”  This can be seen as asking whether or not the hero will continue on to future adventures and journeys, and Scott Pilgrim, by walking through the door with Ramona, chooses the affirmative.

—Rachel Campbell

In his collection of short stories about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien asserts, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.”  Having read this before watching Terrence Malick’s film The Thin Red Line, I had these words ringing through my head as I was watching this film, a fictional story about World War II based on the novel by James Jones of the same title that was based on some of his actual experiences in Guadalcanal.  

Like The Things They Carried, some elements of The Thin Red Line must stemmed from truth, but what is more important than the truth of the events depicted is the truth of the story told.  The emotions provoked by the author are equally or even more important than the representation of actual truth in the author’s narrative.  It becomes interesting when you apply this notion of truth in storytelling to art that represents historical events.  As O’Brien states, there can be no morality or silver linings in war stories because in truth there is no morality to warfare.  This becomes very evident when you analyze the absurdity of certain events depicted in The Thin Red Line.  

Did Staros and Tall actually ever actually have an argument that ended in a stalemate over radio?  The subtext of the argument was concerning the value of human life.  Colonel Tall commands Captain Staros to take his men into danger that basically represented certain death; does it matter if this conversation ever actually happened between two soldiers in war?  I’m sure men were sent to their certain deaths in times of war to promote some sort of position or advantage for their company.  Soldiers of low rank were seen as pawns in the war between the more powerful members of opposing militaries.  

There is no doubt that human lives weren’t valued very high during World War II or Vietnam.  However whether or not Tall and Staro’s interaction was based on a true story of James Jones is unimportant.  The truth of the story matters more.  The truth of the immorality and devaluation of human life that undoubtably occurred in Guadalcanal comes through in Malick’s film.

“Nature’s cruel,” says Lieutenant Colonel Tall to Captain Staros as he reassigns his subordinate to the JAGs and sends him back home, and yet The Thin Red Line seems to imply, in every shot, the opposite. It is not nature that is cruel: it is war. The Thin Red Line opens with a shot of a crocodile submerging in the waters of a Melanesian swamp and a voice-over narration by Private Train, who for a time goes AWOL to live among the Melanesian natives: “What’s this war in the heart of nature? Why does nature vie with itself? The land contend with the sea? Is there an avenging power in nature? Not one power, but two?”  The first minutes of the film are captivated, as Private Train is, by the idealized people and flora and fauna of his surroundings: children play in the sea; birds of paradise watch from the trees; native people live in harmony with their surroundings, all accompanied by the backing of an angelic choir. This is cut short, tellingly, by the appearance of the smoking troop carrier that hosts C Company, Train’s outfit, and that has come to take him back to work — an obvious intrusion of war into paradise. Nature is cruel, says the egotistical Tall, but in the interaction of soldiers and nature we see almost only the destruction of nature. A healthy plant withers under the touch of an American soldier; Japanese and Americans alike burn and decimate the landscape of Guadalcanal; a tense battle scene takes time to focus on a bird who has been injured in the fighting. Shots of Americans struggling to cross a swamp are juxtaposed with those of the birds who watch them do it, and as C Company marches inland, tense and fully armed, they encounter a lone Solomon Islander walking the other way, an old man, alone and barely clothed but serene.

A symbolic binary develops — the Americans and Japanese, the soldiers, come to be associated with fire, what their conflict leaves behind. On the other hand, the native Solomon Islanders and the plants and animals of their home are heavily tied to water: their children swim in it, they sail upon it, and it extends also, for some Americans, to glimpses of the world beyond the war. Private Train swims and canoes with the Melanesians, but for Captain Staros, water and the sea are linked to moments of intimacy of his wife at home, and it is the flow of a river that saves Private Fife from death and allows Private Witt to save the rest of his unit.

The Thin Red Line highlights in many ways the futility and lunacy of war: on both sides, soldiers act irrationally and display moments of behavior that seems insane. A Japanese soldier meditates calmly on the ground while his comrades are routed and slaughtered; an American laughs hysterically and plays with bullet shells. One scene that seems to best exemplify this comes between battles: a C Company soldier stands on a hill, screaming in the sightlines of Japanese guns, and is not shot at. “How come they all had to die,” he yells, “and nothing happens to me?” That war is portrayed as meaningless makes the final interactions between war and nature all the more tragic. As the Americans leave Guadalcanal, we see that conflict and disease have come to the once healthy and happy communities of Solomon Islanders, and a manicured lawn with sprinklers has been set up, absurdly, as a graveyard in the middle of a jungle. “War doesn’t ennoble men. It turns them into dogs, poisons the soul,” writes Captain Staros as he flies home, and The Thin Red Line appears to agree with him. The film closes on a coconut sprouting, improbably, on the shore of the ocean — maybe for nature, it might say, there is a chance at redemption.

The Big Fish is a movie produced in the beginning of the 2000’s but has been quite popular ever since. It’s about a father who at times may exaggerate the truth having to do with how he grew up and who he met, but many things were actually quite truthful we find out in the end. Instead of doing a review of the movie, I want to write a brief blog post on how the movie made me feel especially during the end. The entire movie I couldn’t decide how I felt about the actors; William because he seemed so stubborn and rude to his father who is clearly very ill, and Edward who exaggerates things which I’m sure can be very irritating to hear all the time. Throughout the movie all you see is William just doubting his father time after time again which was upsetting to see because his father was dying, and if exaggerating is something that REALLY makes him happy, then let the man do it! But also, Edward.. stop exaggerating as much and stop telling the same old stories if you know it can be bothersome! Fine line to decipher who was in the wrong. But specifically in the one of the last scenes when Edward was on his death bed and William decided to stay the night, was when I decided I was a fan of both the actors, and the movie as a whole. You have two people that really care about each other bonding for the first time in what seems like the whole movie and it was really touching. Although William wasn’t a fan of the stories, he listened, and he made one up as well- to see his dad go away happy. And the final scene where you see all these “crazy” people that he had mentioned at the funeral. William didn’t think the majority of them existed, so to see his face when they each got out of the car was a site to see! But it didn’t feel like a “in your face” type thing, you kind of just smiled because you could feel the happiness all around. I really enjoyed this movie!

– Elizabeth Henty