As Ubisoft announces a remaster in time for the game's 10th anniversary, a reexamination of Scott Pilgrim's merit is in order. On the surface, the story appears to be a charming romance but Scott Pilgrim vs. The World's core story is rife with toxic masculinity and biphobia.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in all it's forms, be it comic, movie or video game, have all been well-received, but it's time to move beyond nostalgia and understand why we need to let Scott Pilgrim go.
Based on the series of mid-'00s graphic novels by Bryan O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World's basic premise is that the titular Scott Pilgrim can only date the literal girl of his dreams after he defeats her seven evil exes. An arc like this creates some problematic ideas. Ramona, Scott's dream girl, doesn't have much autonomy. She's content with inaction as her exes and Scott battle over who will possess her. Ramona Flowers is the center of Scott's story in every medium, but her existence is only justified as the object to be fought over. Ramona may appear as though she doesn't like one of her exes or another, but there's no effort made to draw a line between what she wants and what everyone else wants. For all intent and purposes, Ramona is just another princess in a tower.
On top of this, Scott Pilgrim's story portrays a feel-good message about sex and love as a transaction system. The commodity model of sex, described by Thomas Macaulay Millar in his essay "Toward a Performance Model of Sex," perpetuates the societal view of sex as a system of transactions. To quote in brief, "In this 'commodity model' sex is like a ticket; women have it, and men try to get it. Women may give it away or may trade it for something valuable, but either way, it's a transaction."
Millar's words ring true when applied to almost any video game that involves player romances. Sex is always the reward at the end of the affair after the player gives a certain number of gifts or invests time in additional requests. All of these hallmarks are present within Scott Pilgrim as well. The entire premise of the story poises on the idea that Scott can be with this girl if he invests the time and effort needed to defeat her exes; it couldn't fit Millar's model better.
Not only does this create the impression that women exist only as a commodity for men, but Scott Pilgrim also furthers this implication to the extent that men should fight each other to become the owner of that commodity. The only way Scott can be with the girl he interprets is key to this happiness is through violence. He also uses women, as a tool or weapon, against other women without concern. To add to this, each of Ramona's exes is happy to snap into an "If I can't have her, no one can" mentality, going as far as to even assemble and organize against Scott.
The story also presents some frankly dated and phobic representations and interactions for some of the gay and bisexual characters. Scott's friend and roommate, Wallace Wells, is introduced as the "cool gay roommate." Throughout the story, Wallace is always shown or characterized by the gay things he says or does. Any real person has an identity beyond their sexual preference and gender, and it should only follow that these characters are the same. Kim Pines, Knives Chau and Roxanne Richter are developed further in the comic, but in the movie, game and start of the series, their bisexuality is often just a source of comedy.
While Scott Pilgrim vs. The World does have its flaws, the bulk of its story and character development happens outside it's most popular mediums. In the comic, Scott and his friends have more moments to display their character development and growth beyond the story's bare shell. That said, as the world takes notice of the messages portrayed in media, we need to move past stories with such strong ties to toxic masculinity and let Scott Pilgrim go.