Ghost World

Ghost World (2001) Terry Zwigoff

Ghost World is a film which was born out of the comic strip of the same name. The protagonist in this film is a strange gothic/ punk type girl called Enid Coleslaw (Thora Birch) who at the beginning of the film only appears to have one friend, Rebecca (Scarlet Johansson). The film follows their strange friendship, with the addition of odd characters along the way. The overall look of the film can be compared to other films such as Napoleon Dynamite due to its use of awkward silence and eccentric characterisation. Enid and Rebecca have been best friends since school and plan to move in together. However, these plans fall through when a prank phone call to a guy out of lonely hearts column turns into an unlikely and slightly creepy friendship between himself, Seymour, and Enid. Rebecca, played by the not so glamorous Scarlet Johansson, gives a flat and cynical undertone to the film. The use of repetition, such as the man always sitting at the bus stop on the route which has been cancelled, holds the plot together and becomes important at the end of the film and to Enid ‘finding herself’, which she also does through her reliance on the character Seymour and the school art classes she takes. Ghost World is a film about growing up and growing apart, finding yourself through others and gaining responsibility after education. This film differs from the likes of Napoleon Dynamite in the way that it does not serve for easy viewing. The stalker -like element to Enid’s character makes some parts of the film uncomfortable to watch, as she seeks to control Seymour’s life starting with his relationship with genuine lonely heart, Dana. The film uses racism as a side plot and I’m not quite sure how this fits in apart from the way it provides another grasp on Seymour’s plain and lowly life by Enid – leading to him being fired from work. Overall the film is weird and wonderful, and will appeal to those interested in comic books and the independent film genre in general. Rather than the usual alternative musical soundtrack which is typical of independent films, Ghost World has a blues/jazz soundtrack which is unusual but ties in with the plot. Random characters such as the drunken guy who is always in the shop where Enid’s ‘crush’ Josh works, adds also to the strange tone which the film sets. Ghost World is left open at the end, which is again typical of the genre but it works well. The strong characterisation is the key to the success of this film, in a town where not a lot really seems to happen but eccentricity definitely does not go a miss.