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Reviewer: Pete Luisi-Mills
Back when I was in high school (circa "Pretty in Pink"), I was infatuated with girls like Enid: smart, coolly ironic, unconventionally attractive and just a little bizarre. Ghost World is about two teenage girls, Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson). Best friends, they have just graduated high school and cannot wait to leave home and get their own apartment. Enid and Rebecca observe the world at a skewed angle, and are alternately amused and disgusted by what they see. They hate phoniness above all else, and their observations are razor-sharp and unsparing. At their high school graduation, for example, a student gives a forced, painfully banal speech ("High school is like the training wheels for the bicycle of real life.") Afterward, Rebecca observes, "She gets into one car accident and suddenly she's little Miss Perfect and everyone likes her." "I liked her better when she was an alcoholic crack addict," Enid muses. In their universe, authenticity is more important than sobriety, or popularity, or anything else for that matter. Rebecca and Enid, the two most realistic and entertaining teenagers to appear on screen in a long time, are sort of the anthropologists for their town, which is blessed with a rich array of weirdos. These include Norman, who spends his days on a bench waiting for a bus that never comes; Feldman, who uses a wheelchair out of sheer laziness; the owner of the Sidewinder convenience store, a Greek with a terrible rage problem; and two restaurant patrons who might be Satanists or possibly just bad dressers. Rebecca and Enid spend their free time following these people around; to them their small-town surroundings are better than a circus side-show. Like most of America, their community is succumbing to a siege of Wal-Marts and Gap stores. Rebecca and Enid are dismayed by the manufactured hipness they encounter everywhere they turn. One day they discover their town has been invaded by that paragon of uncool, the retro 1950s diner (this one is called "Wowsville"). Of course they have to go in, and they waste no time savoring the ironies (as a rap song plays on their booth's jukebox, Rebecca observes dryly: "Who could forget this classic hit from the 1950's?") Looking through newspaper's personals section, they discover a particularly pathetic entry and decide it would be a real hoot to call him and pretend to be the "striking blonde" he's searching for. They leave a message telling him to meet "her" at Wowsville at one o'clock, and they show up to watch the fun. Enid and Rebecca are demonstrating that ability unique to teenagers: to be thoughtlessly cruel without actually being malicious. They don't harbor any ill will toward this guy; they're just bored, and so detached from their surroundings it never occurs to them that they might really be hurting someone...that is, until Enid becomes fascinated and starts following him around. The guy is Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a 40-ish sad sack who drifts through life in a sort of angry fog. He feels terribly out of place in the "real" world: "I can't relate to 99% of humanity," he moans. Like many cynics he notes that most people are happy "with a Big Mac and a pair of Nikes"; what makes Seymour so poignant is that he sounds envious when he says it. Seymour spends his Saturdays selling old vinyl 78's at a makeshift flea market outside his apartment. Looking for an excuse to talk to Seymour, Enid buys a blues record from him. She is fascinated by the music, and soon begins spending more time with Seymour. When she sees his bedroom, filled with vintage records and movie posters, she is exuberant, proclaiming it the coolest room she's ever seen. This sentiment is not shared by Seymour. He knows that his life is essentially unhealthy: a total lack of real relationships has created a void that he tries to fill with obsessive collecting. He can't even remember the last time he talked to a woman. Enid suggests that he only needs to meet people who share his interests. Seymour responds sourly, "I don't want to meet people who share my interests. I hate my interests." Enid and Seymour's unlikely relationship walks a fine line between the platonic and the romantic. She works diligently to find Seymour a girlfriend, until one day she succeeds and she doesn't know what to do with her jealous feelings. As for Seymour, he's so unused to romance he's completely hapless around either woman (the girlfriend, Dana, lists "harmlessness" as Seymour's most attractive quality). Ghost World is essentially about Enid's search for authenticity. She is desperate for something real that she can embrace without shame. She's disgusted by the modern world's plastic substitutes for substance and meaning, and she disdains those who can't (or won't) tell the difference. Her ability to see through all the phoniness provides her with endless entertainment but precious little joy – sneering at the world is fun, but not enlightening. Like smart young people everywhere, she celebrates the offbeat and the strange; for Enid, it doesn't matter how pathetic something is, as long as it's from the heart. A very funny example of this is Doug, the mullet-headed, nun-chuck-wielding redneck who practically lives at the corner convenience store. Totally obnoxious and clueless, he's so earnestly uncool he achieves a sort of grandeur. "That guy rules!" Enid observes. Not really, but we know what she means. The best thing about Ghost World is the way it works on so many levels: as a romance, a comedy, a sensitive portrayal of outcasts, and an insightful look at the passage from adolescence into adulthood. Oh, and it also finds time to be a wicked, spot-on satire of pretentious artists: in order to graduate, Enid is forced to take a summer art course taught by a spacey, self-important instructor (Illeana Douglas) with very specific notions of what constitutes "higher art" (in case you were wondering, a tampon in a tea-cup is art; a pencil sketch of Don Knotts is not). I was inspired by the choice Enid makes at the end of the film, an act of defiance that is not necessarily wise but certainly brave and life-affirming. Things do not turn out as well for Seymour, which is sad and unfair, but at least he tried. In their own way Enid and Seymour are salt and light in a bland, and increasingly homogenous, world. Ghost World is an excellent film for demonstrating the longing among young people for authenticity and meaning. Several scenes between Enid and Rebecca, and between Enid and Seymour, would be usable clips for discussion. Be aware that the film contains a fair amount of strong language. Ghost World played theatrically in 2001, and is currently available on video and DVD.
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