Anyone read Ghost World?

comics rock. talk about them here. now. or just go to the "corn" section and wack off. i'll understand. i'll just sit here and read my spider-man comics.

Moderators: Batman, Zero, John Madden, Bob Ross, General Zod, Richard Simmons

Post Reply
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by anarky »

Read this yesterday and rather liked it. I've got a few questions on the ending, mainly because of the unorthodox way Clowes makes time shifts midpage. Don't want to waste my "breath" if no one here can discuss it, though.
Image
*--For behavior unbecoming anyone, perpetrated in real time over an extended--AH, FUCK IT! MORE MALIBU, BITCHES!!
User avatar
vynsane
master of the universe
Posts: 6193
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 11:16 pm
Location: in my quiet place, punch-dancing out my rage
Contact:

Re: Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by vynsane »

haven't read the book, but have watched the movie - although i did so while working from home so i didn't really get to concentrate on it too much. i'll have to give it another go.
Life is short. STUNT IT!
User avatar
Diabolical
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 7061
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.

Re: Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by Diabolical »

I have have Ghost World, book and movie.
It has been a while since I've read the book though, so I may have to dig it out.

Both are awesome.
"As they say in China, 'Arrivederci'!"
Image
*For the creation of the Golden Deuce Award.
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Re: Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by anarky »

Okay, cool. I won't be wasting time. :)

I don't have it in front of me, so I might have some details slightly off. I'm not so much asking "What the hell is going on?" as "Did you interpret this the same way I did?" And, like I said before, I think a lot of it has to do with the unusual way Clowes has time pass at seemingly random points, rather than the "traditional" end of page.

So, Enid and Rebecca have a pretty major falling out after Enid fails her test. I interpreted it mostly as the two simply growing apart, likely with a healthy dose of what Enid said earlier mixed in (about her wanting to be a different person). I wasn't 100% sure if Rebecca and Josh were an item at that point, and that contributed to it or not. (She definitely went over to his place looking to score, or at least dressed like she was, and the conversation in their next scene could be interpreted a few different ways; the two fucking seemed most likely to me.)

Anyway, how far afterward is the final sequence? Rebecca has a job and appears totally "mainstream." She and Josh are definitely together. Rebecca looks way older, though. And is the woman with the baby on the beach (who Enid cusses right before she runs into Bob Skeetes) Rebecca and her kid?

I read that one interpretation put forth for the ending is that Enid commits suicide, and it could be supported by the symbols and events (including the sudden re-emergence of "Ghost World" graffiti, and Bob Skeetes could be even dead as well at this point), only the rest of the book seems far too literal to make a huge jump like that at the end.

My take: at least a few months have passed, in which Enid has tried unsuccessfully to find herself, so she does what she always dreamed about and just leaves. The "Ghost World" of the title and graffiti is referring to the way one cannot hold onto high school or college life when everyone else moves on.

Just my two cents. I want to check out the movie soon, even though it sounds like it's rather different.
Image
*--For behavior unbecoming anyone, perpetrated in real time over an extended--AH, FUCK IT! MORE MALIBU, BITCHES!!
User avatar
Diabolical
(includes alternate sneering hissy fit head sculpt)
Posts: 7061
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.

Re: Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by Diabolical »

The whole Enid committed suicide thing has always threw me. I never saw it like that. I've always assumed that Enid finally did what she always wanted: she left to start a new life far away from home.

Because of this topic I just started rereading it again, so my memory isn't 100% clear, but I assumed that not a lot time has passed when Enid heads to the beach. How much time is unclear, but Rebecca has a similar hairstyle when she last talks to Enid and when Enid sees her in the diner.

I've never heard/read the theory that the lady with the baby on the beach could be Rebecca and looking back at those pages it I don't see how it could be interpreted as Rebecca, because three pages later (on the very last page) Enid sees Rebecca and Josh at the diner and Rebecca looks nothing like the woman at the beach, IMO. But those 2 panels with the lady and her kid at the beach are so odd that I every time I see it I feel like I missed something somewhere.

As for the differences in character looks, it could be two things: It could be a sign that Rebecca has grown up and ditched her "kid" look or it could be simply because Daniel Clowes redrew some of the images when the story was collected.

The meaning of "Ghost World" is ambiguous. Clowes said it came from some graphitti he saw in Chicago. I like you interpretation though.

As for the movie, it's a bit like Marvel's Ultimate Universe: the same characters, in some similar situations but with some differences. The casting for Rebecca and Enid is perfect. And Steve Buscemi is great as Seymour (basically an expanded Bob Skeets). Every time I see the movie I can't help but wonder why Thora Birch doesn't get a bunch more work.
"As they say in China, 'Arrivederci'!"
Image
*For the creation of the Golden Deuce Award.
User avatar
anarky
sometimes not actually existing
Posts: 17590
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 4:50 pm
Location: Fucking shit up, yo!

Re: Anyone read Ghost World?

Post by anarky »

Total guess on my part about the woman on the beach. It seemed a little random, and I thought the same as you did, that I missed something somewhere. I figured there wasn't much passage of time between the donut (bagel?) shop and the beach, but wasn't clear on before the donut shop.
Image
*--For behavior unbecoming anyone, perpetrated in real time over an extended--AH, FUCK IT! MORE MALIBU, BITCHES!!
Post Reply