I haven’t read the comics. I recently watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which I enjoyed despite the racism.
Scott Pilgrim’s world is one where white is not a race, it is the abscence of race:
- Knives Chau is Scott’s “Chinese girlfriend”, but Ramona Flowers is not Scott’s “new white girlfriend”, she’s just his girlfriend.
- Matthew (evil ex #1) doesn’t just happen to look Indian, he has to do a (effeminate) Bollywood dance. And of course Asian guys can’t be sex symbols, so he never got to 1st base with Ramona.
- The Katayanagi twins (evil exs #5 & 6) don’t just happen to be Japanese, they play electronic music on superior consumer electronics and send their Asian dragons (or robots in the comics) to attack across the sea [of people].
Knives Chau embodies a number of Asian woman stereotypes:
- To Internet geeks in particular, Asian girls are innocent and passive, waiting to be conquered.
- Asian people cannot have an alternative look, they are all clones (the Katayanagi twins literally). When Knives dyes her hair, it doesn’t last long.
- Asian characters must always fight with martial arts and Asian weapons.
This is surprising given the diversity of Asian culture presented in manga and implied by video games that Scott Pilgrim pays homage to. Remember, these tropes might not be a big deal if they appeared in a single film, but when they appear in Hollywood movie after Hollywood movie they serve to create a culture of oppression.
I thought the handling of gay characters was much more reasonable, although it’s a shame that Ramona only dated Roxie (evil ex #4) because she liked her cherry chapstick.
I completely agree. This movie is pretty racist and portrays significant Asian American stereotypes…it makes me extremely uncomfortable to watch it as a Chinese-American woman.
This is utter garbage. You’re entirely missing the point of the movie. Ridiculous beyond belief.
I noticed the racism too–usually it is an indicator of unimaginative writing throughout. Aside from some clever editing and bit of wit in the dialogue, where less-is-more still applies, I have to admit my boredom of early on. It was after the first fight scene in particular, when the audience is left thinking, ‘six more exes to go,’ as if we are to just check them off in excitement, like watching a film is keeping scoresheet at the ball game. In my opinion, it was a desperate shot at cult status, failed.
Agree with Connie, could not stand the racism in the movie, walked out of the cinema within the 30 minutes.