Review of Ghost World (2001) by Ryan H — 02 Oct 2012

At first I wasn't a big fan of Ghost World. Once Steve Buscemi comes into the film everything starts coming together. It's not like he pulls things together, but that's when I feel like Zwigoff finally kicks things into place.

It's a solid setup, but not a great introduction. It was a good idea to start off the film at the high school graduation, but I didn't really know what it was trying to do. Was it laughing at these girls for being so held back from everyone else? Or are they making fun of everyone else at graduation along with the girls? I think this question comes into play because it seems like both girls are equally the main character.

And maybe this is why I think things get better once Steve Buscemi enters the film: because after that it becomes clear that Enid is the true main character in the film and we can start to see what Zwigoff is doing.

Once this happens, the film has such heart and sweetness under the dark main character that we get an interesting combination. Enid is a girl fresh out of high school who can't relate to a single person.

Zwigoff isn't expecting us to agree with her point of view, nor are we expected to hate her for her point of view. We are simply here to observe a girl that can't seem to find her place in the world.

On that level I empathize with her. I think we all can. No matter what we can never feel exactly in place with our surroundings (or at least I've never found that spot). That's why she ends up having a soft spot for Seymour.

He hasn't had a girlfriend for 4 years and doesn't really like going out because he already knows what he's interested in and girls don't typically feel the same way. When he dates the blonde woman he put an ad in the paper for we realize that she just doesn't fit him well.

I've got to be honest, I have felt the same exact way as Enid before when she said that you must be stupid to be happy and in a relationship. She can't find a guy because none of them understand her or share her interests.

To her, everyone seems to connect on a surface level and nothing deep can come from them. If they did then they would find out they weren't right for each other. So a surface level of stupidity is required for a relationship.

How else would it work out for someone to have so many relationships over time? She can't find even one person to connect with until she meets Seymour. Enid loves his obsession with records. Every quirk interests her.

Seymour's a real breathing human being and she's never met one before. Even her best friend, Rebecca, is turning into the type of girl that society creates. She gets excited about buying plastic cups and shopping for an apartment in a regular neighborhood.

She's okay with normal. She's growing up. But Enid refuses to give up her strange lifestyle for normal. That's not who she is. I like how towards the end she's just a confused teenage girl who doesn't know what to do with herself.

She sleeps with Seymour and says she wants to move in with him, but then later stops returning his calls. She hates her dad's girlfriend. She doesn't want to move in with Rebecca anymore. All she knows is that she wants to drive away and stop in some random place and find a new life there.

And in the end, that's exactly what she does. She hops on the bus at a stop that's supposedly out of service (where the old man sat throughout the whole film) and leaves forever. Never look back.

Find something new. But that's the problem with girls like Enid. She's confused and doesn't know what to think of the world. She thinks she's badass, but when Seymour yells at the mother and children crossing the street slowly she gets embarrassed.

This is the kind of thing she would have done with Rebecca around, but when he does it she feels differently. There's a high level of confusion for her and she doesn't know what she wants or who she is.

We can only hope that on her journey to somewhere else she will discover who she truly is.