Discourse of a Rogue Nerd: The Power of Self-Respect4

by AJ Focht

SPOILER ALERT!: First and foremost I warn all who have not seen Scott Pilgrim VS. The World or read its comic counter parts, I will be using spoilers to get my point across; if you haven’t seen the movie (or read the comics) perhaps you should wait to read this.

An interesting change from the comic to the film adaption of Scott Pilgrim VS. The World was the use of the “Power of Self-Respect” sword at the end of the film. In the comics Scott ended up with the “Power of Understanding” sword, which he used to defeat Gideon. In the movie, Scott realizes that he needs to fight Gideon for himself and not for Ramona. This grants him the “Power of Self-Respect” that helps him in his defeat.

While the movie risked fan-boy rage to make the change, I think they made the right decision. The message that it delivers to the viewers is much more powerful and meaningful, than the original message in the comic books. Self-respect is something that is clearly lacking in the geek world.

Most geeks don’t have much trouble with supplying the romance portion of the relationship. Enough video games and movies have taught us how to treat our “princesses” well. The sad part is a good portion of our romance is affected by our self-respect. Many geeks are overly romantic, on the way to full on clingy, because they fear losing their love. We could attribute this one back to video games, and the fact that Mario and Peach have not had an uninterrupted moment since 1981, but more realistically it is because we are afraid if we lose our love we may never find them again.

Truth of the matter is, most all geeks have large self-respect issues, often going back to high school. We all remember a time when it was not cool to be a geek. We were ridiculed and picked on throughout high school and for some college. Being a geek was hard and the idea of getting the girl (or boy) was a far off fantasy.

For many this changes after high school. In college geeks are given a lot more reign, especially in today’s society. In most cases this is where most geeks get their first taste of the “Power of Love.” This is also where all those nasty self-respect issues kick in. We start to remember every time we were turned down in high school, bullied, picked on, and laughed at. This causes us to try harder to please our lover and often times can lead to suffocating the relationship. Once that happens you are right back at square one with no “Power of Love” and lots more self-respect issues.

The key is to do as Scott Pilgrim did and find your self-respect. You can’t expect it to happen in a perfect movie instant but it is something to work on. If you don’t have the “Power of Self-Respect” to back up that “Power of Love” you will always end up drowning. There are a lot of ways to help build your self-respect but a key one you need to remember is: do things for yourself.

Just like in the movie, you need to make sure that you are doing things for you. Don’t expect your love to overcome all obstacles if you can’t overcome your own personal obstacles. You need to make sure that you are focusing on fulfilling your own needs and not always fulfilling the needs of others. Focus on your own needs and then help other out where you can. Do what you need to in order to be happy with yourself. I know this sounds really cliché but how can you expect to win the heart of your Ramona Flowers if you don’t even like the heart you’re offering her in return.