Scott Pilgrim vs. Loneliness: A Video Essay

I’m finishing this video a couple hours before it’s going up. This one has been stressful to make, but I’m happy with how it turned out. Excited for the series coming out soon, hoping it’ll be great

Script & video by Noah McAlister

Thanks for watching!

Music used -

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment OST “BGM II”
Persona 2: Innocent Sin OST “Peace”
Persona 5 OST - “Beneath the Mask -rain, instrumental version”
Persona 5: Royal OST - “Royal Days”
Super Mario World OST “Ending Theme”
Street Fighter II - “Guile Theme”
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game OST “Cheap Shop,” “This Is the End”

Timestamps

0:00 - intro
1:14 - part 1: i’m so alone
5:09 - part 2: the glow
7:19 - part 3: i’m so alone…again
10:15 - part 4: kim
11:06 - part 5: loneliness as a mirror
13:56 - part 6: knives
15:00 - conclusion
15:46 - end credits

[SirFooplesTheThird]

8:52 this is actually why i think Wallace is the MVP in Scott's growth. Wallace forces him to go to Kim, he forces him to get a job, he mediates between Scott and Ramona, he makes Scott break up with Knives the moment he learned of Ramona. Wallace is his best friend and deserves all the love

[zacc.mp]

It's so refreshing watching an analisis of Scott Pilgrim that doesn't just drag Scott for being a "bad person" and actually goes deep into the nuances of the story and such :) nice

[drawhou]

I love how every character ended up by the end of the books, Scott matured even if a little, Ramona got her whole ex's situation resolved and managed to mature too, Knives got herself together, all of Scott ex's got some resolution and made up with him, Young neils got to be treated better, Kim moved on, Stephen got a more focused band and came out with his boyfriend after all the bad experience with his ex, wallace kept being cool.
The history is at it's core, a history about growing up, even at a age where you already are an adult with responsibilities but still have baggage from the past, to recognize your faults and fix them to be better

[plushoyo]

Scott's question of why he has to even fight the exes at all, is from my perspective a somewhat-angry lament about how he has to prove he's better than everyone who came before him. That's what 'defeating evil exes' is symbolically, right? Earning someone's trust by proving that you're not *that* person who hurt them, you're 'better' (or are trying to be better) than the people who have hurt someone you care about and wont do the same to them as all the ones who came before. It's part of relationships - as Ramona says "everyone has baggage" - but it's still unfair and difficult, and in some cases may be impossible because of the way that one ex (or memory of them) still has some hold over the person you care about (see Gideon, literally). It also happens with Ramona having to fight Envy, Knives, and if not directly fight then at least confront the existence of Kim as an ex and Lisa as someone who is a potential rival love interest that she has to be 'better' than if she wants to be with Scott.

[bascal]

I feel like Ramona is the void character. I think that she went out with Scott because he is easy for her just like what he did with Knives. Ramona doesn't have her own friends, her own family her own goals or backstory she's like a ghost.

[kelpiekit]

It always seemed to me that the idea of defeating the evil exes had nothing really to do with the seven. Ramona and Scott were the evil exes that Ramona and Scott had to defeat. And they couldn't do it through video game fight scenes.

[ryanevans]

When I was teenager Vol 5 was my least favorite because it didn't have the fights the other volumes had. Re-reading it as an Adult, Volume 5 is my favorite because of the emphasis on drama and the realistic cracks you see on someone you're dating after a few months

[jeremy]

I'd say that there's a real argument to be made that the Scott Pilgrim series is, quite possibly, the best comic series of the 2000s 😊

[The_Castol]

Looking at this I realise how distant even the concept of a relationship is so distant to me, I can’t even imagine how to get there yet i want to pretty badly

[stackflowovercuckoosnest]

Scott Pilgrim takes off brings this theme to the next level. I used to think netflix originals were all trash but that show redeemed netflix for me. I was looking forward to an animated version of the graphic novels but I"m so much more happy with what we got.

[Becix]

This is a really beautiful essay.
I've been lonely and alone for the last 4 years. Loneliness is a venom I take with me and I struggle a lot to accept. In the last months I've been accepting it more (I started to do activities by my own, travelling, going to the movies alone, etc.), and this video and Scott Pilgrim really made me think about this in this healing phase I'm having (I've been going to therapy for quite a while now). Maybe I'll talk about that with my therapist next time

Thank you :)

[scarymonsters]

Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

[Churrros]

Honestly the way you described the glow made out so clear. Idk why but when I read the books I was confused on what it exactly did

[zenonella]

that was a cool video essay on the books. i love the way scott and ramona smile at each other at the end of vol 6.

[JamesFrom_Idaho]

YOO! This is actually great! This is absolutely my new favorite Scott pilgrim video essay ever. You did an amazing job at sectioning the video and describing something that I haven’t really seen other people talk about in the comics. The Glow being connected to relationships and talking about kim and knives and the characters openly hating themselves for their own reasons rather than just being “shitty” characters is something I absolutely need to hear more opinions on. So thank you :D

[LunaMinuna]

I didn’t realize how much Scott related to me(the than being a loser I’m not looool) but the relationships he’s been in reminded me of myself and being alone despite being in a relationship, and this video summary just made me realize what I’ve been through

Thank you for this, if I could subscribe 5K times I would

[TFoxGrowth]

This is relly well done, not only did you tell the story of Scott Pilgrim beautifully as you went along but I too enjoyed how to went about the theme of lonliness. Keep at it!!!

[Icameinclutch]

Bro this is soo underated, you deserve more.

[JackiesDespair]

hearing you put persona music over this and seeing negascott reminded me that he literally just went through a Persona 4 awakening during that last book

[calvinmiller]

Scott's view of the glow looks like "Tanetane Island" in the game Mother 3. it also fills the same function, some of the best, most emotional moments in the game come from the main character, Lucas, while he's trapped in this world full of his deepest insecurities