OK, OK.  I know I’m not popular for hating so much on a movie that all my white hipster friends seem to have liked.  Not that I care about being in the Popular Crowd.  But I’ve gotten enough comments (both here and in real life) to warrant a second post that includes a counterpoint written by an MI reader.

Here is J’s Quick Stop‘s commentary, followed by my response:

Obviously, I can’t question your unhappiness with the Knives character. How you reacted is the way you reacted. I found her to be completely charming and a bona-fide character that went through actual growth through the film (which unfortunately happened off-screen mostly). As much as I wanted Scott and her (who both matured by the end of the film) to get together, I loved that she rejected him because she was too cool for him (which she was).

I can completely understand if someone else saw it as the Asian character stepping to the side so that two white people could be together (as the LORD INTENDED!!!), but that’s not how I saw it.

I thought it was cool to see an Asian-American (Canadian) girl be such a lovable dork filled with heart and optimism. I know a couple of them, and it felt right.

In terms of Scott’s story, Knives being the young and innocent “Chinese schoolgirl” was a way for him to get over someone who was the complete opposite (Envy). And the movie doesn’t let him get away with it scott-free. His sister and friend berate him for going for that stereotype and the movie is about the stupid and asinine Scott maturing a bit and owning up for the way he treats all women.

This isn’t too different from the way some people have been defending the misogyny and stereotyping in The Social Network, which is also about white guys who are assholes. But as I said before, whereas Christy Lee isn’t a character but a stock-type, Knives is more fleshed out one with highs and lows.

I have had discussions with others about the film and the comic in relation to Brian Lee O’Malley’s part-minority heritage and the fact that nearly all of the main characters in his story are white. By his own admission, it wasn’t even intentional. He was just writing a world he grew up in.

Have you read the comics for Scott Pilgrim? The end is basically the same, but Knives’ involvement in it was heavily changed. Whereas the film gives her a prominent role in the end of the story, the comic version just fades into the background as a girl Scott once dated. She gets over him in a more real-life way.

@J’s Quick Stop

“…whereas Christy Lee isn’t a character but a stock-type, Knives is more fleshed out one with highs and lows.” Oh I totally agree that Knives is eventually more fleshed out. That’s simply because she was given more lines and screen time and, as I said in my original post, because she got to kick Jason Schwartzman in the balls by the end of the thing. But I reserve the right to be annoyed–and even angry–about the “dorky Asian groupie” (a.k.a. fangirl) stereotype that her character and several jokes in the film were built upon.

In retrospect, Knives wasn’t the only thing that ruined that movie for me. In fact, ALL of the women in the film came off as stock types: Emo Crazy-Hair-Color with Baggage Girl (Ramona), who is revealed to be a little J. Schwartz lapdog needing to be “saved”; Angry Psychotic Bisexual Girl; Broody Pining Girl Drummer; Dorky Asian Fangirl/Groupie; “Envy.” That pretty much says it all.

I’ve heard the argument that “White People are just writing the world that they live in and know” far too many times now. My response is that if screenwriters see “the world they live in”–i.e. America– as blanket-white and revolving around issues that only Nerdy Asshole White Boys care about, then I feel IMMENSELY SAD for them. They need to seriously get over their own egos. Maybe then the other half of people who live in this country–like me–would enjoy their films more. Which I suppose was the point of them attempting to show that Scott had grown more mature by the end of the film. I still don’t believe he got very far. “I shouldn’t have cheated on you” was really the only moral of the story. But if Nerdy Asshole White Boys everywhere took something more to heart by the end of the film, who am I to criticize?

I haven’t read the comics for Scott Pilgrim, and from your description it doesn’t sound like I want to. But, thanks for explaining your take on the film as well as it’s relationship to the original comics. As someone who doesn’t read or know too much about comics, I appreciate the context.

P.S.  If you wanna continue the conversation about this film here or if anyone has something to add, feel free to comment here.  As I am far from being a film expert, I figured I’d leave it to ya’ll to tell me what’s up. Thanks for reading! And to the people who’ve disagreed with me, thanks for commenting!

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