The movie opens with a shot of a regular Canadian neighborhood which then introduces the cast of the

band and already off the bat the film tells us Scott is dating a high schooler – this then leads the band
to antagonize him as they all know its wrong. `during this part of the film we are also introduced to the
first of our strong female characters ‘Kim’ who proceeds to antagonize Scott after he wins over his
other friends that ‘Knives’ (his girlfriend) is nice. “you must be really happy or really evil Scott” Kim is
still skeptical of Scott and his motives. She is the voice of reason whilst the viewer and the other guys
from the band are easily convinced by Scott during the rebound period of his break up with his ex-
girlfriend.

further into the film the male gaze is portrayed when Scott see’s Ramona for the first time. He sees her
in a dream like state asking if they can “make out” of which Ramona roller-skates past him telling him
he’s just having an idiotic dream. Following this, things start to fall apart between Knives and Scott as
he has fallen for another woman. The male gaze is displayed many times in this movie as Scott
becomes awestruck at the site of Ramona when he sees her for the first time outside of his dream.
Scott proceeds to leave Knives on the side as he pursues this other woman with the intention of
juggling the two of them at the same time. His roommate Wallace tells him this is all a terrible idea and
he should break up with his “fake high school girlfriend”. Again, this is another voice of reason along
with his sister that calls him up to give him a hard time as what he is doing is incredibly unethical and
misogynistic. All the women in Scotts life are strong and have a maturity about them whilst Scott
ambles through life with no regard or understanding to what he is doing to these women

Even though Scott is our main character he has many flaws and is hate-able and lovable at the same
time. Applying the Marxist theory, he is lovable for the following reasons: he is pretty regular, a simple
guy that piggybacks of his roommate (as Wallace that owns everything in the flat) – Scott has nothing
going for him, he has no possessions, no job and is in a struggling band but despite all of this he is a
really happy go lucky guy. He seems to not want anything other than Ramona. Despite this he is
completely ignorant to all the horrible things he’s doing to the woman in his life because he has no
social understanding.

Scott and the band go to a party where it is revealed that Scott has had a long line of ex’s that he has
dumped for one reason or another. Julie (host of the party) grills Scott for this and forbids Scott from
hitting on Ramona because of his track record. This is the second time the male gaze is displayed – it’s
a close up shot of Scott’s face as he wonders through a crowd of people at the party in search for
Ramona - ending on a split screen shot of the two of them as Scott locks his eyes.
Scott goes over to introduce himself and uses the same ice break he used on his Knives; this doesn’t go
to plan as his social skills are dreadful leading him to make a complete fool of himself. “okay I’ll
probably leave you alone forever now…” as he proceeds to walk away. The film then shows him
following Ramona through the party after he leaves from embarrassment. The film’s subtitles refer to
Scott stalking her until she left the party.

Scott wanders around the rest of the party asking people what they down about Ramona. Feminist film
theory plays into the movie as Ramona is a powerful character fighting her own battles and having a
strong aura around her from other people’s gossip:
"she’s on another level"
"she’s got some battle scars dude"
"she's a little hardcore"
"I heard she kicks all kinds of ass"

The lights cut at the party and it transitions back to Scott and Wallace flat. Scott orders something on
Amazon so he has an excuse to speak to Ramona again (She works as an Amazon currier). After
another weird dream state – reminiscent to the dream states from the Big Lebowski. He guilts her into
going on a “date” with him. Ramona has all the power in these scenes, she replies with one word
answers and goes through with what ever Scotts says as a form of amusement.

Towards the middle of the film all three of the theories are evidenced more so and the overarching
plot features this. Scott has to fight 7 of Ramona’s evil ex lovers to be able to continue going out with
her. This demonstrates Feminist film theory and the male gaze. Ramona has had a string of ex-lovers
just like Scott and in all of the past relationships Ramona has been the one to pull the plug on all of
them. Through out Ramona’s past she has been the one with all the power and been able to pick and
choose who she wants to be with. But that all seems to come back to haunt her as all the men in her
life fight for her love. Scott is unaware of the circumstances and goes through with fighting these
people. This demonstrates the male gaze as Scott and the evil ex’s want nothing more than Ramona
who is seemingly held up on a pedestal like a prize.

Scott is seen with the male gaze frequently throughout the whole of the film, usually on the opening to
a new scene staring blanky at Ramona or other women, e.g. the start of the film during band practice –
staring at Knives, most new scenes are introduced with an opening shot of Scott with the male gaze.
Towards the end of the film, the Marxist film theory, and the subplot of ‘the band’ starts to ramp up
and come to a climax. After playing a show the “struggling” band starts to gain some traction when
Scott devotes himself to preforming after the recent break up with Ramona – completely throwing
himself into the band and their music. After the show he runs out to speak to Ramona and confront
Gideon (Ramona’s new lover). Scott has nothing but pure rage and hatred for Gideon whilst the band
are in awe of him as he is the biggest Indie music producer of the century. Gideon proposes a three-
album contract to the band as a way of making peace with Scott over the status of Ramona – of which
Scott replies with “think we are going to sell our souls to you”. Marxist film theory plays into this in two
ways: the underground band from suburban Canada finally make they’re come up and go from
basement grunge rock to headlining gigs and Scott (no longer part of the band, with no job and no
home) now has to fight a literal millionaire to see his girlfriend again.

The fight scene between Scott and Gideon is a representation of the stand alone indie bands or
common people against the music industry or the corporate overlords – Gideon was pulling the strings
all along, he formed the league of evil ex’s the same way corporations give you the illusion of choice