Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
“Not
so long ago…In the mysterious land…Of Toronto, Canada…Scott Pilgrim was dating
a high schooler.”
In a nutshell, ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ is basically a comedy film about a
boy, Scott Pilgrim, who meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. In order
to win her heart, he must defeat her ‘Seven Evil Exes’ who want to fight him…to
the death. The movie was directed by Edgar Wright and is based on the graphic
novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan
Lee O’Malley.
Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Score was composed by
Nigel Godrich and the majority of songs on the score were written by Beck
Hansen, Godrich and Osymyso. Nigel Godrich was born on 28 February 1971 in 1971.
He is a recording engineer, record producer and musician and is best known for
his work with the famous English rock band, Radiohead. He’s sometimes referred
to as the ‘sixth member’ of the band. He was also a member of Thorn Yorke’s
live band, Atoms for Peace, since 2009. Nigel has also worked with artists such
as Sir Paul McCartney, Travis, Beck, Ultrasound, Jason Falkner, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Pavement, Brazzaville, Air, Natalie Imbruglia, The Divine Comedy,
The Sundays, U2 and R.E.M. He is most famous for his production technique,
which mainly consists of dense layers of sound.
The song ‘Ramona’
by Beck Hansen was sad and slow. It made you feel like you were walking
alone in the middle of the street on a snowy day, thinking of the lover who
scorned you. It went well with the scene depicted at the end as the two lovers
walked off into an alternate dimension. It really set the mood, as I was felt
yearning for more as the movie ended. The timeline wasn't quite clear in the song
but I would say around mid-20th century. I have to say that the song
made me think of a character that was lost and even they were only saying
“Ramona” over and over again in the chorus. It made the character seem
defenseless and depicted him begging for the love of someone even though their
love was forbidden.
The second song, ‘Teenage Dream’ by T. Rex was essentially a mixed bag of emotions.
The singer’s voice was male and had a hint of some electronic edge to it. The
song mainly comprised of drums, electric guitar and a violin. It brought a wave
of yearning for the ‘good-old days’ in my opinion, as the singer sang the
haunting hook, “Whatever happened to the teenage dream?” With close examination
of the lyrics, it told a tale of someone looking back on their younger years
and reminiscing over missed opportunities. It gave me a sense of both happiness
and sadness. I’m not sure how to explain it, as the song was ruled by heavy
instrumental gymnastics, especially with the overbearing tone of the electric guitar.
It set the scene for a romantic meeting between two lovers in a diner, maybe in
the 1950s. The song sounds like it’s from the ‘50s and with a little research I
soon learned that it was made in 1974. It fit well with the subway scene in the
movie as the main character was thinking of a breakup that he had just been
through. The mood depicted was sort of that of relief as the character was
finally free of all their worries (or in this case-his ex-girlfriend!).
One of my favourite songs was ‘Black Sheep’, the cover version by the
fictional band, The Clash at Demonhead! It was my favourite because it was a
song that you can really get up and dance to. The scene was a band playing at a
concert and I really think this fit well. The song mainly consisted of heavy
bass guitar, electric guitar, drums and of course, a killer female vocalist.
The song set the scene for maybe a rock concert in the 21st century.
Listening to the song brought a surge of excitement and rage as I listened
closely to the lyrics. In a nutshell, the lyrics describe you meeting a friend
that you share a common goal with, however as time wears on; you start to see
that that person relies heavily on the emotional support of others. The friend
is manipulative but when they get bullied by other people, they come back to
you and you still take them back, despite not liking them anymore. You try to
separate from them and in doing so you point out all their flaws and how they
are so dependent on others. This was ALL from the chorus! The verses basically
describe two friends falling out. The one becomes rich and successful and
ignores their friend, while the old friend stays in their normal life. It
really made me think twice about my friendships, but I felt really happy
whenever I listened to this song, and wanted to confess my true feelings to others.
My final song was ‘Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl’ by Broken Social Scene. It was
really the icing on the cake as it brought a sense of finality to the movie and
the soundtrack. The song had a country music sort of feel, and it was mainly
comprised of guitar, drums and male and female vocals. They brought a sense of
overwhelming sadness as the song made you think of standing alone in the woods
and listening to the sounds of the creatures in the woods. It felt peaceful and
quiet and the singers’ voices were very soothing. The lyrics also suggest a
friendship gone wrong but in the sense that two friends have grown apart. One
friend has grown more materialistic and the lyrics suggest the typical clichés
of High School. I think this song evoked the feeling of missing a close friend
deeply; both yearning and longing. The timeline would most likely be in the
late ‘90s as the song has a sense of ‘old school’.
My final thoughts were that this was an
amazing soundtrack and movie. The quirky video game effects were lifted from
the game, ‘The Legend of Zelda’, with
Nintendo’s permission of course. However, a majority of the songs lost their
charm outside of the movie. During the movie, the songs really blended well
with the scenes and sure it took some getting used to, but the heavy use of
electric guitar grew on you by the end of the movie. I found that most of the
songs made me feel both sad and happy, a bittersweet feeling if you will. In
conclusion, despite this soundtrack being a mixed bag of emotions, that lost
its charm after the movie, I feel that it was well executed and complemented
the movie excellently. I give this soundtrack and score-5 stars!
