by Marie-Claire Gould, Contributor

The following is spoiler and mythic interpretation heavy.

I have been a fan of Scott Pilgrim since before the movie. I collected the comics and very much enjoyed Edgar Wright bringing it to life—including the epic song “Black Sheep” by one of my favorite Canadian Bands, Metric. My whole family was excited to watch the Scott Pilgrim show, so we dug right in. I have been blown away by the choice to take the traditional quest our warrior Scott goes on in the story and make him and Ramona dual protagonists who enter into what Joseph Campbell famed mythologist talks about as spiritual warriors. Spiritual Warriors are those participants of a Hero’s Journey who delve into their own unconscious metaphorically. They confront themselves and are transformed. Ramona and Scott delve deep to save themselves, their future, and their community.

First, the twist completely took me off guard—flipping the story to have the fight with Matthew Patel be a failure for Scott and to call out to those of us familiar with the story, “This isn’t going to go the way you think.” Instantly, it has become a mythic “Lost Husband” story. The Lost Husband motif is often present in fairytales, folklore and myths as the quest for the masculine counterpart of a goddess or heroine. It’s powerful to us as viewers because, in fiction, if our other half represented by someone, we are in union with goes missing, it resonates psychologically with us. Carl Jung talks about how we are often separated psychologically from our parts of ourselves. This process of separation is called “projection,” and we give others these shadow piece of our psychology. For Ramona this was her animus, or the masculine part of her. To be more psychologically whole we need to come into union or resolution with the disparate pieces of what makes us up. Fiction can guide us and if something about Scott Pilgrim Takes Off particularly spoke to you, then it might be because the story was connecting to you on a deeper level. Stories resonate when we recognize similar psychological conditions. We can use story to show us the way back to a more whole version of ourselves. The purpose of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is to heal the wounded masculine in the viewer.

The use of the Lost Husband motif was a stellar choice. Originally, Ramona functioned in the original comic and movie as the prize to be won. This is very archetypal for a Hero’s Journey—the feminine in masculine perspective stories often fulfills finding missing damsel often presented in a Petrarchan tower. Ramona in the movie and the comics in the end needed to be rescued from Gideon. She aligns perfectly with other otherworldly counterparts—she is a “Swan Maiden” or “fairy bride.” She represents the mythical and unknowable feminine. In the previous versions, as her hair transforms and her ability to travel through the subspace lane in Scott’s mind. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is the modern equivalent of this archetype. Meant to be desired for the hero but doesn’t journey for herself—doesn’t transform into a better version of herself. The anime makes her our protagonist, she transforms through her experience and thus—worldly to us as the audience. She is no longer viewed with wonder by Scott, or really anyone else, and can get off the pedestal she was put on by all the men in the universe and get seeking her missing animus (Scott Pilgrim).

It’s interesting because Ramona is absolutely at home with the transformation required of her, she takes on the “search for Scott” as if it were as simple as changing her hair color every week. As Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, tells us—life-death-life cycles are often more apparent to women. She comes up with a plan to go through each of her discarded former paramours in an effort to determine who stole Scott after a brief dream where she hears him calling her. This is a common motif of Lost Husband stories where they are able to communicate in dreams, or in a dreamscape. To find Scott, she must collect all the pieces of her animus that are missing. Why are they missing? Because in her past she broke them and left them in her wake to become the seven evil exes. Much like in the myth of Isis and Osiris, where Isis must journey to collect all the dismembered pieces of Osiris after to remake him, Ramona must search to find all the pieces which are more psychologically about her than about Scott. The whole version of ourselves is psychologically found in exploring our relationships with others. Ramona has given the pieces of her shadow to each of the evil exes.

With Ramona we explore the broken people she left behind, which helps her understand what went wrong before and heal the wounded masculine in all of them (and herself). The story gives them time to process their wrong assumptions that what they needed was her. From the get-go, Mathew Patel gets that no matter what, Ramona wasn’t the prize it flips the quest for them as well. The Exes start to seek fulfillment. In other words: wholeness. This story is about integrating the pieces we leave behind when we are broken, and how an entire community includes the villains. Integrating is the process of collecting and reforming ourselves as whole.

When Old Scott is revealed to be the cause of all this confusion and trouble it allows us to have a realized manifestation of Scotts angry shadow self (and Ramona’s animus). This is a perfect choice to show the unconscious and its collective considerations. Old Scott and even Older Scott are the ultimate evil ex for Ramona—the one she doesn’t want to abandon, but because of how she had previously operated the relationship she’s given up on it as they hit a rough patch. Perhaps because Scott pre-anticipates how future Ramona would act if anything goes wrong. This is not unexpected. It shows that people are always afraid to care more about the success of a relationship than their partner. The truth, revealed to both Scott and Ramona, is that life is about fighting. Fighting against evil exes, sure, but mostly it’s about fighting for each other and what you want. Life is about failing better next time and continuing to try again.

Ramona’s quest changes her own life trajectory, it allows her to see how disposable she has treated her former love interests. Her selfishness and insensitivity had created the space for them to become bitter and powerful but also broken. This is revealed in the last episode with flashbacks. The climax for Ramona is to become a combined version of her older and younger self, revealing an all knowing “goddess” form—cemented with a hug. This is exactly the mythic motif you would expect to see when meeting the goddess in a Heroine’s Journey and understanding that the goddess is yourself. She melds, is healed, and now able to be more whole. She had become a stunt woman mid-way through the story, and we see she goes back to that in the end. This vocation wasn’t even something she would have considered before this adventure, and it wasn’t the job Future Ramona had. Ramona is transformed and a better, more complete version of herself.

Scott of the future being the “new” ex that Scott and Ramona must defeat, allows us to explore the ‘what ifs’ of our unconscious which is the point of all mythic journeys. The version of Scott being the older version of himself that tries to undo all potential futures because of his self-doubt allows Scott and Ramona to fight or come to terms with the mirror/future versions of themselves. In truth, though, these are just their unconscious shadows. This ends up being a Lost Bride quest in combination with a Lost Husband one because Scott is seeking Ramona when she is seeking him. Because we need both parts to be whole. These versions of their anima/animus and the archetypal lost selves must be found and integrated.

The final challenge of denying the kiss is fascinating because, from a meta perspective, kissing is often denied to us as an audience in many forms of visual storytelling, in recent years. The kiss represents the union of opposites or when you are ready to fully integrate all your lost pieces you must join them back together. In psychology the symbol of alchemical union is often personified by a kiss. This choice to show both the goal and the climax to be a coming together was perfect.

In the final confrontation, Scott is joined by the allies he’s have made along the way. This confrontation shows how far they have come. Every side character gets a more fulfilling ending. From Julie and Goose, to Knives, and even to Wallace feeling sparks of love after the resolution of Ramona and Scott. The anime has given the character, and the audience through extension, the space to explore how by healing yourself. By seeking wholeness yourself, you will start down a path to heal the whole community. Everyone is better because of the journey Scott and Ramona went on. That is the mythic importance of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Marie-Claire Gould is the Mythologist and Podcaster of What the Force? Obsessed with figuring out why story works and how myths are dreamed forward into today.