"Ghost World" Suppressed emotions behind the beautiful world

“Ghost World” synopsis

Childhood friends Enid and Rebecca are outcasts who have feelings for both school and home. After The Graduate from high school, the two were wandering around without going on to higher education or getting a job, until one day they applied to a dating ad as a prank. They killed their time by watching the dull, middle-aged Seymour who was summoned and looking miserable as he waited. However, Enid eventually begins to feel sympathy for Seymour, who doesn't fit in with the world, and becomes close to him. Meanwhile, Rebecca begins working at a coffee shop and gradually becomes independent. In this way, Rebecca and Enid, who were best friends, gradually drift apart...

Index

• The legend of “Ghost World”
• Birth of Enid and Rebecca
• Sensitivity to alienation
• withdrawal from the world
• scrapbook imagination

The legend of “Ghost World”

A landscape of an American residential area that can be found anywhere. From window to window in the apartment. The camera captures the everyday life of the people living there one by one, like the panels in a manga. Roaring, frantic, psychedelic Indian rock'n'roll. On the TV monitor, Indians perform crazy dances. Enid (Thora Birch), dressed in a red robe, imitates a convulsive Bollywood dance. Enid violently shakes her head and wrists in time with the dancers' movements. The girl continues to play along to an incomprehensible song. A small cry in a residential area! The next day was the high school The Graduate ceremony. After a boring The Graduate ceremony, Enid and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) enthusiastically give the middle finger to the school building.

The opening of Ghost World is nothing short of amazing, and it quickly becomes clear that Enid and Rebecca are a special pair. Now, 20 years after its release in the United States, ``Ghost World'' remains a legendary work, and Enid and Rebecca are a legendary duo, captivating many fans. A screening event at Los Angeles' Cinespier in 2017 even produced a beautiful illustration of Thora Birch witnessing a new generation of fans cosplaying as Enid.

“Ghost World” preview

Additionally, Joe Talbot, who shot The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), confessed that he was greatly influenced by this film. In ``The Last Black Man in San Francisco,'' which is a ``city movie'' like ``Ghost World,'' Thora Birch appears wearing Enid's black-rimmed glasses as an accessory.

``Ghost World'' is set in the scenery of an American town that looks like it could be anywhere, but even characters who don't really exist in this town, such as the half-naked nunchaku man who appears in the movie. It has a strong persuasive power that makes you think that it would be no surprise if it existed. The audience bursts into laughter at the behavior of the half-naked nunchaku-wearing man, and is amazed at how this clearly out-of-touch man blends perfectly into the cityscape. There's a feel to the film here, neither deformed characters nor deformed emotions.

Birth of Enid and Rebecca