Ghost World

GHOST WORLD (2001)

Warning: the only way I could be more compromised in my review of this movie is if the producers had personally flown me Not Enough of This, I'm Afraid... to the premiere, given me lots of free "Ghost World" swag, and then told me that I was just the person they were looking for as a crucial supporting character in their next film. As it is, I’m almost that compromised, because Ghost World, the adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ brilliant graphic novel (originally serialized in his comic Eightball) by director Terry Zwigoff and screenwriter Clowes, changes the nature of the original in a way any middle aged critic might found impossible to not appreciate.

Clowes’ original story concerns the friendship between Enid Coleslaw (Thora Birch in the movie) and Rebecca Doppler (Scarlett Johansson), two teens just out of high school milling about in the world beyond high school. Although Clowes finally sneaks up on a point, showing the tension in the friendship as each girl must inevitably choose what they’re going to do with their lives, the graphic novel is largely a masterwork of characterization, observation and typically Clowesian social commentary. And although the movie Ghost World manages to put all this in a framework that honors and even strengthens Clowes’ thematic concerns, it does so in a way that feels uncomfortably like usurpation.

Zwigoff and Clowes introduce a character, Seymour (played by Steve Buscemi), not in the original work at all. A misanthropic record collector, Seymour represents the widening division between Enid and Becky: while Becky wants to get her own apartment, go see bands and fit in, Enid wants to befriend Seymour, get him a girlfriend, and in him has perhaps finally found a way of living in the world she can respect. Presented initially as a loser, the film shows Seymour’s commitment to his old records and way of life as an alternative to today’s mindless culture. "No wonder why I don’t fit in," he tells Enid. "All it takes to make most people happy is a Big Mac and a pair of Nikes."

And this is why you have to beware of me, the reviewer, if not most reviewers, of this film. How can I, misanthropic middle-aged guy enthralled by my dopey pop culture obsessions, not come away happy from a movie that shows a guy kinda like me in a complex relationship with a dangerously whip-smart young girl with glasses, a rack and a nice big butt? In fact, those of you who know me and my fetish for girls with glasses are probably impressed that I was even able to leave the theater at all (Thora Birch is not only seriously cute as Enid, but she wears nine or ten different frames of glasses, making this the must-see eyewear fetish movie of the year).

As pleasing, though, as Ghost World the film is to its creators (both middle-aged misanthropic men with pop culture obsessions), to male critics, and to audiences both male and female, those who know the original graphic novel—as ungainly as it might have been plot-wise—might indeed feel that some slight but important switcheroo has taken place.

In Ghost World, the novel, Enid goes to a signing to meet the man she’s described as her dream guy: Dan Clowes. After, Rebecca asks, "how'd it go?" "He was like this old perv..." Enid says. It’s precisely this blatant rejection of pandering to the creator that Ghost World: The Movie lacks. It’s easy to pin the blame squarely on Terry Zwigoff, since Seymour shares more than a few of his quirks (record collector, bad back, angry driver), but not entirely fair. By marrying his conflicted id to the form of his dream girl, Clowes was already walking a thin line, and the extra exposure to the character in working on the film seems to have pushed him off it. If it’s not Enid and Seymour onscreen, it’s just Enid, fucking up her job opportunities or dancing alone in her room, and finally, almost as an afterthought, it’s Enid and Becky.

I’ve read interviews where Zwigoff and Clowes said they filmed many scenes of the two girls talking but they didn’t test well, but still, I knew several viewers of the film (particularly, although not only, women) who felt robbed of the novel’s perfect-pitch capturing of teen girl friendship. It’s particularly frustrating for those us impressed with Scarlett Johansson’s subtle portrayal of Becky: I wanted to see more of it.

Fortunately, as with any book-to-film adaptation, the original is still out there, and well worth your time. It’s a great read. And who knows? Maybe they’ll put all that cut stuff back in when the DVD comes out (this is rapidly becoming the American film fan mantra).

Despite my reservations, Ghost World: The Movie is itself very good (and hell, if you've got it for women with glasses, it's fucking awesome) and well worth a see. But it's not great, and it could have been.

More about this movie

The Film's Official Site With One of the Best Title Screens I've Ever Seen/Heard