Scott Pilgrim vs. Itself
A term paper focussing on Henry Jenkins' Cultural Logic of Media Convergence and the convergence at work in
Bryan Lee O'Malley and Edgar Wright's
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
It will become clear when you take
a look inside, I promise.
- ENGL 4115, Carleton University
The End (also known as Conclusion)
Well, folks, we’ve come a long way. Quite literally, as this assignment is roughly 2,000 words over the required minimum. But we’ve learned a lot from each other - how to live, how to love, how to, if not prevent, be aware of the increasing influence of media on our lives. Right?
Media Convergence in the Scott Pilgrim Universe
Pretty much all I’ve been talking about this entire time is the vast amount of media that perpetuates Scott Pilgrim. Graphic novels, as texts, are as dimensional as any given work of fiction, which is all well and good for someone who wants to flip through a comic book on an airplane, and maybe buy a second copy to keep in the original packaging for collector’s credentials. But this century has seen a clear shift in consumer trends, as predicted by Henry Jenkins. Put simply, audiences want more. Not just more action, more drama, more skin, but more of the same, more versions of the text they love and more ways to engage with it.
The Thesis: Obligatory, Insightful
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Movie represents Henry Jenkins’ Cultural Logic of Media Convergence by demonstrating the emergence of a knowledge culture in a new media era by converging various types of media in one package; the character of Scott Pilgrim acts as a model for this knowledge culture through which the audience can understand their own interaction with the Scott Pilgrim Universe.
Whew.
What does all this mean, you ask? Well, there’s this movie called Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Maybe you’ve seen it. (If you are taking this course, or happen to be the professor of this course, then you almost certainly have. In fact, I know you have. You can’t fool me.) But just in case, let me break it down.
