Why Ghost World Is Still Relevant

It's 2010, you guys! When you read that, did you pronounce it "twenty-ten" or "two-thousand-ten"? My friend and I are in the middle of a debate about this. We think "twenty-ten" sounds far more futuristic and badass, but it doesn't seem to be catching on. Let's make it a trend, bloggers. Pass this shit around like it's H1N1 (H1N1 is sooo two-thousand-nine).

Oh, and if you haven't yet realized, it's also a new decade. As Entertainment Weekly and the E! network have kindly reminded us, it is time to reflect back on the past decade and determine what was really relevant and life-changing and what might be better off lost to history (Tila Tequila, I'm looking at you, kid).

Year-end lists are fun. But decade-end lists seem downright indulgent, and who can afford to be indulgent in times like these? I refuse to participate in this ritual, but mostly because so many of my favorite films or albums couldn't possible make the cut. It reminds me of that day my freshman year of high school when I found out I didn't make the basketball team, and cried and ate Twizzlers for a week. Not Red Vines; those are the weak man's Twizzlers. (FYI, I did make the team the next year, and it wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. )

So I refuse to make a list of my favorite films of the decade. Yes, Amelie and Eternal Sunshine have hooked their sweet indie claws into my heart and still haven't let go. Sure, I will always love Almost Famous and The Royal Tenenbaums. Little Miss Sunshine and Pan's Labyrinth never fail to make me cry. And Sofia Coppola seemed to literally tap into my soul with Lost in Translation. But no, no lists. (See what I just did there? Pshhh, indulgence. Let them eat cake.)

But thinking back, there was one little film from 2001 that has really stayed with me. That film is Ghost World. For me, Ghost World has stood the test of time and is still completely relevant nine years later. This movie is not only darkly funny but also just plain dark. It's incredibly poignant and excruciatingly morose. It is a story of solitude, of unflinching loneliness and isolation, and Don Knotts and Skip James and Jaan Pehchaan Ho. This film is timeless and hilarious and heartbreaking and I will love this movie until I die.

"Gimme all your money, bitch!"

By now, this film has turned into somewhat of a cult classic. But for those few of you who haven't seen it, here's a quick synopsis: it follows two "quirky" best friends, Rebecca and Enid, played by Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch. They are entirely anti-establishment and so scornful of their "mainstream" peers that they live in total isolation. They are strong women who seem to only know what they stand against, not for.

Oh, look, here's the trailer.

Not very much actually happens in the film, which is what I love about it. The girls graduate high school, and we become voyeurs to their everyday activities they use to define themselves and distract themselves from their existential angst. These include trips to the record store, video store, movies, tacky diners, and coffee shops. Quick, witty, and scathingly sarcastic dialogue ensues while we become privy to the dynamics of the girls' friendship. When they play a prank on a pathetic middle-aged man named Seymour (Steve Buscemi, at his most pitiful) whom Enid later befriends, a rift begins between Enid and Rebecca and their relationship slowly dissolves as they go their separate ways. I won't say anything more because this description has already failed to do the film any justice, except to say that it's full of subtle brilliance. It's wry, sarcastic, ironic, and witty as hell....and way more succinct and graceful than this synopsis.

Rebecca: "Wow, this is so bad it's almost good."
Enid: "This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again."

So, now that that's out of the way, I will relay to you why I think the themes in this film are timeless without spoiling too much for those who haven't yet seen it.

1. Ghost World is set in Anytown, USA.
The vibe is a bit 90s, but mostly indeterminable. Anyone who grew up in suburbia, or even just a small town, can recognize the themes in this movie. Mini-malls and giant multiplexes are taking over the town, transforming it into a bland landscape of signage and pavement, until it is just a ghost (!) of what it once was. Unfortunately, this is the experience many of us have had, or will have, in our hometowns.

"How many times I tell you? No shirt, no service. Get the hell out of my store. What do you think this is, Club Med?"

"It's America, dude. Learn the rules."

2. Cynicism and rejection of the mainstream, or the birth of indie on film.

Whatever you want to call it, the Indie/ hipster/ anti-establishment subculture is far more antagonistic today than how it was portrayed in this film. Today, the whole culture seems to be based on the rejection of something else, but with Enid it felt heartfelt and authentic, that she genuinely did not belong in the mainstream but in her own world of obscure culture. She was not following a subculture trend but creating her own. I can relate to certain aspects of this theme, although I think the general negativity of my teenage years has blossomed into a much healthier selective cynicism.

"I think only stupid people have good relationships."
"That's the spirit."

3. The portrayal of the modern art world
Enid is enrolled in, as she puts it, "a remedial summer art class for fuck-ups and retards." Maybe it's because I've had one foot in this world for the past few years, but I thought this storyline was pitch-perfect and so much fun. Enid's teacher's pretentious experimental b/w short film entitled "Mirror, Father, Mirror" features a doll's body parts being flushed down a toilet. I especially love when Enid's poignant caricatures are snubbed by her art teacher, who favors an air-headed girl's minimalist piece made of clothes hangers meant to represent "a woman's right to choose" because it's more "political."

"I feel it says so much about who I am and what it feels like to inhabit my specific skin."

4. Alienation and Isolation
This film is soaked with it, from Enid's existential angst, to her single father's apparent loneliness, to Seymour's depressing bachelorhood and crazy Norman's never-ending wait for the bus that never comes. I think isolation is a growing problem in today's techno-happy world. The very existence of so many social networking sites shows how desperate we are for any kind of human connection. Yet we still spend far more time Facebooking and texting and tweeting people than actually having face-to-face conversations with them. In fact, anyone reading this should shut their laptops, walk outside, and go talk to the first person you see on the street. I don't care if you have to ask Fred the homeless man how his invisible pet rabbit is doing, just make a human connection!


5. Hoarding
At one point, Seymour asks Enid, "You think it's healthy to obsessively collect things? You can't connect with other people so you fill your life with stuff."This may sound weird, but I think the act of hoarding says so much about a person. Enid and Seymour are both hoarders. I'm fascinated by this kind of obsessive collecting of weird objects and memorabilia and think it's very much tied to a person's emotional state. In one scene, Enid tries to sell her stuff at a yard sale but ends up not being able to part with most of it. Without sounding too Dr. Phil, in my experience I've found that people hold on to objects because they make them feel comforted and safe, something they lack from human relationships.

6. Lost friendship
Everyone at some point has grown distant from a best friend who was once very close. I know I have. It's a natural and normal part of human relationships, but it doesn't make it any less devastating when it happens to you. You often grow apart so slowly that you don't really notice it, until one day it's apparent that you are in different places and your connection is gone. This transition is handled so gracefully and truthfully in the film and really makes you reflect on your own ended friendships.


7. Graduation and Transition.
Graduation, whether earning a degree from a university or college, or just graduating from a specific time in your life, means transition and change. At any point of transition, you inevitably question yourself and often falter in deciding where to go next. This is exactly where I am now, having recently graduated and unsure of what exactly I want to do with my life.

Anyway, I've memorized most of this film and it is very quotable. Some of my favorites:

"Sometimes I think I'm dying of sexual frustration."

"Oh, we have to get together this summer!"
"Yeah....That'll definitely happen."

"I'm tired of all these extroverted pseudo-bohemian losers."

"Mostly I just feel like poisoning everybody."

"Hey look, pants."

"Go die, asshole."

I could go on and on about this movie for hours. I love Enid's relationship with her dad, and the subtle comments on American suburbia, and the crazy vintage fashion, and the soundtrack is fantastic. But I'll stop here. If you haven't seen it, go rent it. No, don't put it on your Netflix queue. March your lazy American ass down to your local video store right now. (Or you can watch the whole thing on YouTube now. Shhhhh, don't tell the YouTube police.) Also, sorry if I've ruined the whole movie for you, but it's been out for ten years, man! Because it's twenty-ten, remember?