Journal of American Studies of Turkey
2000 (11) : 109-110
Film Review
Terry
Zwigoff: Ghost World (USA 2000)
Michael
Oppermann
Ghost
World is based upon the comic strip of the same
name. Daniel Clowes (its creator) co-wrote the film script with director Terry
Zwigoff who has demonstrated his interest in the world of comics before. His
1994 documentary on Robert Crumb, for example (simply called Crumb), has
been showing at a number of American and European festivals. The link to Crumb
is also obvious in this movie because Crumb`s daughter Sophie has provided some
drawings for the film (which, according to the plot, have been created by the
film`s central character called Enid).
Cinema
adaptations of comic strips have a long history of varying artistic and
commercial success. It ranges from Dick Tracy to the Batman series,
from Superman to The Mask.[1]
Judging from an artistic perspective, the extremely dark and gloomy images of
Tim Burton`s Batman Returns seem to be most striking. No adaptation of a
comic strip matches the superior quality of Ghost World, though, a film
that manages to combine a cartoon-like charm with psychological insight. The
film tells the story of two teenagers. One is Enid (English actress Thora
Birch) who loves to dress up in rapidly changing ways. She likes to put
intense colors on her lips, dyes her hair in rather extravagant ways and
apparently enjoys wearing the ugliest types of glasses available. Her language
is, most of the time, despiteful. Actually, she has such a filthy mouth that
her friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) distances herself from her gradually to
follow a more normal path in life (she decides to move in with her boyfriend).
Initially, though, both girls seem to favor a cynical attitude that does not
reveal any emotional ties with their surroundings. The opening scenes from the
high school graduation, for example, show them misbehaving in every possible
way. They terrorize the “teenage idol”, a guy called Josh, laugh at the
wrong moments and make all kinds of derogatory remarks, thus trying to distance
themselves from the event. On other days they hang around uninspiring diners
all afternoon long to observe their environment and mock virtually everything.
They also enjoy browsing through contact magazines and replying to ads that
sound stupid enough to guarantee some fun.
Behind
the witty surface of the dialogue, though, the film reveals existential teenage
dilemmas. Enid loses her job at a fast-food diner after a few days (because of
insulting the customers), and rather than engaging in a relationship with
anybody, she prefers to act as a matchmaker for others. Although she hangs
around with Seymoor (Steve Buscemi) who is a fanatic collector of ancient 78s
and thus a total miscast like her, she prefers to find dates for him rather
than confronting her own emotions. What follows is the typical “Emma Woodhouse”
dilemma (to refer to Jane Austen`s famous character). After having found a
match for Seymoor, Enid realizes that she actually wants him for herself so
that she tries to separate him from his girlfriend. Enid pays a price for
trying to remain cool all the time. Her inscrutable face with its intricate
layers of make-up has put a wall between her and reality and entangled her in a
“Ghost World” that reflects a typical teenage problem. Enid expects everybody
to love her while, simultaneously, she walks through the world as a cynical
observer. Life is complicated, in other words. It remains complicated after
Enid has won Seymoor for herself. She withdraws from the relationship and finds
refuge again in the role of the cool observer. As a result, we see Seymoor
searching for her through his apparently lonely nights. Enid is a teenager in
turmoil who is trying to establish a relationship with the world. She finds
shelter in a “Ghost World” of her own before and after the moment of
initiation. She is a complex and highly contradictory character beyond
the realms of the comic strip. In fact, the film presents us with an eclectic
vision of the world. It is dominated by ghosts of the past; Enid`s hair-styles
and dresses, for example, are totally postmodern. They present a ride
through America`s fashion history in capsule form, making Enid look like a
punkette or a Kim Novak carbon copy, just the way she wants. In this manner,
the film`s reality resembles a striking amalgam of styles that defies
classification or labeling. Indeed, many elements in Ghost World convey
a feeling of timelessness. In the first scene of the film, for example, we see
Enid dancing to the video of a Hindi film hit called Jan Pahechan Ho
which is showing on telly; we also hear her humming the same tune at the end of
the movie. Seymoor, on the other hand, listens to obscure 78s from the 1930s
(to “Devil got my Woman” by Skip James or to calypso tunes by Lionel Belasco)
and displays an interest in the logos of a long-defunct chain of restaurants
called “Coon Chicken Inn”. The end of the film is fairly striking. A man waits
at a bus stop at the same time every day. Although the stop has not been served
for years, Enid joins him on his bench and they wait together. The two look
like characters from an Edward Hopper painting. After a while, to our great
surprise, a bus comes; we presume that it will carry Enid to another “Ghost World”. Most of the colors of the
film have been digitally remastered on the computer. The result is a
predominance of brown and neon green tones that enhance the feeling of
timelessness. In this manner the movie can also be considered as a visually
effective ride into the world of a teenager. Superb actors and a subtle sense
of direction take us directly into the psychological landscape of a girl
waiting for a period of transition.
[1] Dick Tracy was directed by Warren Beatty (USA 1990); Batman and its sequel Batman Returns were made by Tim Burton in 1989 and 1992; Superman was directed by Richard Donner (England 1978) while the Jim Carey vehicle The Mask was made by Charles Russell (USA 1994).