Comments | crystaldawn: Opinions: I has them.

crystaldawn

Opinions: I has them.

Jul 23, 2010 22:41

So I got spoiled for Scott Pilgrim 6 today.

( Spoilers which SUCK. If you don't want to be spoiled (or hear me bitch about this series) don't click this link. )

Comments 38

sarcasmmonster July 24 2010, 03:54:59 UTC

I personally love Scott Pilgrim, but it's more because I'm so, incredibly happy that a popular comic originated from Canada and is, well, shamelessly Canadian. I've haven't read past the first volume because I can't find them anywhere, and when I do, I don't have money with me.

I guess my opinion could change on it if I read more, but I find it too hilarious (plus the pop culture/landmarks I actually get and recognise) to hate it. But, I can see why you dislike it, that teenage girl in the first volume kind of bothered me, but I don't know much else about it yet.

I'm excited for the film, though, because it's directed by Edgar Wright, it has Michael Cera and I love/hate Toronto.

crystaldawn July 24 2010, 04:50:38 UTC

That was one of the bright sides to it - you don't see much material actually made with Canada as the setting, although a lot of stuff is made there. And the series only made me want to twitch a little until the fifth volume when they introduced the American Half-Ninja man-hating lesbian, who was fat and also a professional artist. It was like "How many cliches can we pile onto this one character?" I think that was also about the time that Ramona became absolutely unbearable - she was just kinda flat until about volume four, when she started her rapid decline into complete unlikability. And I think the series as a whole fails the Bechdel Test pretty hard.

The film looks like it's actually going to be good, too. I think the girls will bug me less in the film just because... well, we're used to girls like them in movies. They're irritating as hell in manga and books, I guess because it takes longer to process them, but I'm so used to them in movies that I just sorta snort and move on.

sarcasmmonster July 24 2010, 05:22:18 UTC

I know, that's why I'm so happy that my current favourite television show Being Erica from CBC is making it to the point that the BBC wants to make a British version of it. Ohhh, I can see why you'd dislike the half-ninja, yeah.

Yeah, in a movie it's, well, rushed enough that you don't really mind characters, unlike when you're reading something slowly over time, just as you said.

crystaldawn July 24 2010, 05:42:01 UTC

There's also a random scene where Knives and Kim get drunk and make out in a dark room JUST CAUSE and then it's never mentioned again. And they're both straight. I got SO PISSED at that.

Yeah, exactly. And the trailers show that the movie is making good use of the meta sound effects and special effects and speed lines the comic does. Ramona's hair looks cute, too.

giethe July 24 2010, 04:51:13 UTC

I guess I probably wouldn't be able to stand reading this series. The NICE GUY mindset gives me the creeps - and to see female characters created from that - it's like a mocking caricature of your gender.

crystaldawn July 24 2010, 05:03:09 UTC

It's one of those series that seems alright at first, and then the more you think about it, the more it just BUGS YOU. It's funny, because my boyfriend introduced me to it and was nuts about it at the time. But as he reread it, he started to see some of the exact same stuff I was seeing and now is kind of :/ about the series as a whole.

We're still gonna see the movie though. Sob.

shiroyuki_kun July 24 2010, 14:05:47 UTC

You know what's funny, is if you read the entire series, and learn more about Scott's and Ramona's back story, pretty much everyone has said that both Scott and Ramona are giant douche weasels and made for each other, made funnier by the fact he used to date Kim and SAVED HER FROM JUST AS UNREALISTIC SITUATION AS WHAT RAMONA HAS only it's one douche jock as opposed to Seven Evil-Exes...and he STILL broke up with Kim, even though it's pretty much said/implied they've slept together ( ... )

crystaldawn July 24 2010, 18:10:48 UTC

The thing is, even if their friends say it, Scott's the still the hero and is still presented sympathetically. The reader's still supposed to identify with him, even if he's got all these faults and foibles. As for Ramona, I can't fathom why on EARTH we're supposed to root for Scott to get together with her, other than to keep anyone else from having to suffer dating either of them ( ... )

shiroyuki_kun July 24 2010, 19:18:00 UTC

I feel really bad for Knives, if just because her entire character isn't just a horrible clingy stalker but also THE ALL ASIANS ARE NINJAS STEROTYPE. I mean...HER FUCKING NAME IS KNIVES what the hell people ( ... )

crystaldawn July 24 2010, 19:32:06 UTC

The Asian stereotypes are one of the things that Just Bugs Me about that series. Knives is randomly Chinese, yet knows... ninjitsu? When there are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more Chinese martial arts out there? And her dad carries a katana? Did he get it at the Generic Asian Import store? And the funny part is that apparently O'Malley is... half-Korean. Which makes it even more mind-boggling ( ... )

Thread 26

lady_ganesh September 4 2010, 17:50:21 UTC

Did you read it yet? Because I'd skipped this post until now and it's actually much better than the spoilers would indicate (I'm tempted to go to Wiki and see what it says now). Because there's a lot about what Ramona wanted (or didn't) in the last volume. She's still kind of a cypher, but it makes more sense. (And the thing with Stephan is hilarious.)

And Scott was always a shitty bass player, I think. It's just he was dating Kim when the both sucked and Knives Chau was, you know, seventeen years old and thought he was cool.

crystaldawn September 4 2010, 18:45:35 UTC

Not yet, although we did go see the movie. If it ends like the movie, I'd be totally satisfied with it. Well, not totally - a lot of it seems like Convenient Revelations and such, but at least it would make more sense than what I've been led to believe.

I actually *did* like the movie, though. I think the story fits better in that format because there's not as much time to go "WTF Is wrong with everyone here" and you don't really expect as much from movies, character-wise.

And Wallace Wells and Stephan Stills are still the best damn characters in the whole thing.

lady_ganesh September 5 2010, 04:17:11 UTC

I still haven't seen the movie so I DUNNO. Though Wallace and Stephan continue to be the best characters. Though Knives' arc over the volumes was really, really good (at least I thought). (Did Wiki say that Stephan says he came out last volume but Scott was being too self-absorbed to notice? I feel COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED for thinking 'they're just making out' every time they were 'working on the album.)

crystaldawn September 5 2010, 16:21:46 UTC

I don't know if Wiki said it, but my boyfriend did come back and tell me that. TBH I didn't notice it either. |Da But I thought it was hilarious anyway.

That is something I definitely have to give the guy - his gay male characters are probably some of the best I've ever seen.

Thread 6