Ghost World (2001), by cult director Terry Zwigoff (Bad Santa (2003)) is aimed at the intelligent, open minded and cultured teenagers who are aware of what is ahead of them, yet choose to enjoy the life of a child and not wanting to grow up. Keeping in mind it is a film, it could be enjoyed by anyone.
Amazing to see a teenaged-based film that doesn't revolve around titties, toilet humor, beer and drugs but more so revolves around culture and intelligence and pushes the fact that not all teenagers are useless. In fact there are many teenagers out there who are rather intelligent, mature and wise beyond their years yet still like their basic humour associated with other peoples demise, which in this film, is done amazingly well and it is quite relatable when we see Enid and Rebecca laughing at the "satanists" in the diner. My friends and I usually laugh at that typical fat, dirty old man in the city who hits on young girls or those freaky-looking folks who have no sense of fashion, which, as mean as it is, is just a little fun, which is exactly what these girls do and this relates to modern teenagers.
What Ghost World also holds is mountains and mountains of culture all dating way back to the 1960's Bollywood films and the 1970's underground music which is so satisfying to see now as so many people my age don't comprehend or care for, they prefer trash that MTV spits in our faces and know we'll love it and buy but the thing is, because the majority is rather culturally inept and likes anything dating from 2001 to modern times, leaves the other types left out, where do they go? They must dig and dig under all this modern pop culture to find the real hip stuff, the real cool stuff that our mothers and fathers listened to and watched when they were kids, and Ghost World is satisfying because its so up to date with the minority and yet references so many musicians, artists and films and its striking out to those MTV kids and others, the MTV kids who don't know who Pink Floyd is, or the ones who've never heard of the film Midnight Express or 8½ which is even mentioned in this film. It's a relief and leaves a smile on such non-conformist types, the ones who aren't "emo" or "gangsta" or this or that. It could be for everyone of course, but this film is clearly aimed at particular audiences.
Now, on with the actual film itself. I would say apart from the great style and culture of the movie, its still great; acting, characters, story, ending, everything. The whole movie is brilliance in a bottle. Enid and Rebecca, best friends, alternative hip kids, have just graduated school rolling their eyes over their fellow pop loving peers but Enid doesn't want to grow up, she doesn't want to change herself for a bunch of customers at a job, she doesn't want to move out of home. She wants to be in a kid forever, which so many kids our age can relate to. Many of us don't want to grow up. Where Rebecca is mature and all, she's waiting for Enid to move into an apartment with her and get a job but Enid is far too busy with her nerdy record collecting friend Seymour who she previously stood up for as a joke. As time goes on Enid spends more and more of her spare time with Seymour, and ends up losing her school certificate because she didn't turn up to the art show and everything for her falls apart. "Ever wanted to just disappear and no one would ever ask what happened to you" Enid said to Rebecca. "No." She replies.
As we saw previously in the film, an old senile man waits at the bus stop for a bus that doesn't come by anymore. Enid says to him at some stage "ever since my life fell apart you're the only one I can rely on because I know you'll always be here" or something along those lines, where as, this somewhat explains that Enid's entire world is changing, except this one lonesome man at the bus stop but once he says he is leaving this means her entire life is changing. He catches the bus symbolizing everything has changed for Enid. Even in the end, Enid has caught that same bus which represents after all the things Enid has put herself through she is finally accepting to grow up and start her life. A great, relatable and cultured film, with for me ranks grade A marks in my book. This film is beyond recommendation; this film should be seen by everyone, whether you like it or not, you can't just be ignorant, you have to look into this film and analysis it.
Amazing to see a teenaged-based film that doesn't revolve around titties, toilet humor, beer and drugs but more so revolves around culture and intelligence and pushes the fact that not all teenagers are useless. In fact there are many teenagers out there who are rather intelligent, mature and wise beyond their years yet still like their basic humour associated with other peoples demise, which in this film, is done amazingly well and it is quite relatable when we see Enid and Rebecca laughing at the "satanists" in the diner. My friends and I usually laugh at that typical fat, dirty old man in the city who hits on young girls or those freaky-looking folks who have no sense of fashion, which, as mean as it is, is just a little fun, which is exactly what these girls do and this relates to modern teenagers.
What Ghost World also holds is mountains and mountains of culture all dating way back to the 1960's Bollywood films and the 1970's underground music which is so satisfying to see now as so many people my age don't comprehend or care for, they prefer trash that MTV spits in our faces and know we'll love it and buy but the thing is, because the majority is rather culturally inept and likes anything dating from 2001 to modern times, leaves the other types left out, where do they go? They must dig and dig under all this modern pop culture to find the real hip stuff, the real cool stuff that our mothers and fathers listened to and watched when they were kids, and Ghost World is satisfying because its so up to date with the minority and yet references so many musicians, artists and films and its striking out to those MTV kids and others, the MTV kids who don't know who Pink Floyd is, or the ones who've never heard of the film Midnight Express or 8½ which is even mentioned in this film. It's a relief and leaves a smile on such non-conformist types, the ones who aren't "emo" or "gangsta" or this or that. It could be for everyone of course, but this film is clearly aimed at particular audiences.
Now, on with the actual film itself. I would say apart from the great style and culture of the movie, its still great; acting, characters, story, ending, everything. The whole movie is brilliance in a bottle. Enid and Rebecca, best friends, alternative hip kids, have just graduated school rolling their eyes over their fellow pop loving peers but Enid doesn't want to grow up, she doesn't want to change herself for a bunch of customers at a job, she doesn't want to move out of home. She wants to be in a kid forever, which so many kids our age can relate to. Many of us don't want to grow up. Where Rebecca is mature and all, she's waiting for Enid to move into an apartment with her and get a job but Enid is far too busy with her nerdy record collecting friend Seymour who she previously stood up for as a joke. As time goes on Enid spends more and more of her spare time with Seymour, and ends up losing her school certificate because she didn't turn up to the art show and everything for her falls apart. "Ever wanted to just disappear and no one would ever ask what happened to you" Enid said to Rebecca. "No." She replies.
As we saw previously in the film, an old senile man waits at the bus stop for a bus that doesn't come by anymore. Enid says to him at some stage "ever since my life fell apart you're the only one I can rely on because I know you'll always be here" or something along those lines, where as, this somewhat explains that Enid's entire world is changing, except this one lonesome man at the bus stop but once he says he is leaving this means her entire life is changing. He catches the bus symbolizing everything has changed for Enid. Even in the end, Enid has caught that same bus which represents after all the things Enid has put herself through she is finally accepting to grow up and start her life. A great, relatable and cultured film, with for me ranks grade A marks in my book. This film is beyond recommendation; this film should be seen by everyone, whether you like it or not, you can't just be ignorant, you have to look into this film and analysis it.