History ComicBook / GhostWorld

* {{Eagleland}}: Type 2. Enid's [[CityWithNoName nameless town]] is a wasteland of strip malls populated by the lonely and troubled.

* DeadpanSnarker: Enid, Rebecca, and Josh.

* MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration:
-->'''Enid:''' I think I'm going crazy from sexual frustration.\\
'''Rebecca:''' And you haven't heard of the miracle of masturbation?

* PrankDate: What Enid pulls on Seymour.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Most of Enid's classmates.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Seymour.

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
-->'''Enid:''' I think I'm going crazy from sexual frustration.\\
'''Rebecca:''' And you haven't heard of the miracle of masturbation?

Definitely a darker look at the classic coming-of-age stories, much of ''Ghost World'''s popularity lies in its frank treatment of adolescence and alienation. It's also quite funny.

* AuthorAvatar: "Enid Coleslaw" is an anagram of "Daniel Clowes."
* ADateWithRosiePalms:
-->'''Enid''': I think I'm going crazy from sexual frustration.
-->'''Rebecca''': And you haven't heard of the miracle of masturbation?

* [[GuessWhoImMarrying Guess Who I'm Marrying]]: Enid's father remarries the worst possible (in Enid's opinion) of his previous romantic interests.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GhostWorldMovie.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:305: Not WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} and Jane, honest.]]

Starting as an indie comic series by acclaimed graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, ''Ghost World'' appeared in ''ComicBook/{{Eightball}}'' #11–18 between June 1993 and March 1997. It was later adapted into an equally acclaimed indie film, which was released in 2001. Both versions follow {{Deadpan Snarker}}s Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer as they face the summer after high school graduation. The film, directed by Creator/TerryZwigoff, cast Creator/ThoraBirch as Enid and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Rebecca.

While conceptually similar, the comic and film differ in their featured characters. The character of Josh, an alienated friend (and quasi-love interest) of Enid's (and Rebecca's), plays a major role in the comic, while only being a side character in the film. Seymour, a lonely and cynical middle-aged man played by Creator/SteveBuscemi, is a central character in the film, yet the characters from the comic of which he is an amalgam are only very fleeting presences.

!!Both comic and film contain examples of:

* DeadpanSnarker: Enid, Rebecca, Josh, and (in the movie) Seymour.

* PrankDate: What Enid pulls on Seymour, though it leads to very different outcomes in the film and the book.

** An argument can be made for Enid in the movie, much to the ire of fans of the original comic. The film comes off as a deconstruction of the comic.

----
!!The film contain examples of:
* {{Adorkable}}: Seymour, for Enid anyway.
* AdultsAreUseless: Subverted, despite their flaws. Enid's father is well meaning and patient with Enid; Maxine finds a job for her, and Roberta offers her a full scholarship and stands up for her at the art show. Seymour in particular is intelligent and insightful and helps her to move beyond her teenage snark. Enid, however, won't (or maybe simply can't) accept their help or listen to them.
* AmbiguousEnding: At sunset, Enid, looking very somber, boards a bus (on a line that had supposedly been cancelled) and rides off to parts unknown. Some viewers think she is about to start a new life; others that the bus ride is a metaphor for death, seeing as a frail elderly man had boarded this same bus shortly before.
* AscendedExtra: Seymour's character and plotline is greatly expanded from the comic. The character appears only as the victim of the girls' PrankDate in the comic and was made significant at Terry Zwigoff's suggestion.
* BlackComedyRape: Enid notices an obnoxious preppy couple at her graduation dinner and wisecracks about the boy getting AIDS after [[DateRape date raping]] the girl. Rebecca may be having a DudeNotFunny moment when she shushes her.
* {{Blues}}: Seymour's main interest. Enid's unironic enjoyment of an old blues record he sells her suggests she is growing as a character.
* BrickJoke: When the woman Seymour met at the airport actually answers his ad. It's much more plot-relevant than most brick jokes though.
* CityOfWeirdos: Most of the strangers Enid and Becky encounter as they wander around their neighborhood, also the listless tenants shown in their tacky apartments at the start of the film.
* CompositeCharacter: Seymour is based on the bearded windbreaker guy and Bob Skeetes from the comic. Also, Johnny "Apeshit" was merged into John Ellis.
* CloudCuckooLander: Norm, an elderly, slightly shabby gentleman who is perpetually waiting for a bus on a line that was cancelled a long time ago.
* TheCloudCuckooLanderWasRight: Norm tells Enid and Becky that they don't know what they're talking about when they say the bus line was cancelled. Towards the end of the film, the bus does in fact arrive and Norm boards it.
* DancingWithMyself: The film opens with Enid dancing to a videotape of an Indian musical the night before graduation.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DeadpanSnarker character type and to large extent also of the ManicPixieDreamGirl.
* DownerEnding: Unlike other coming-of-age films where the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after, the film ends on a down note for the main protagonists. [[spoiler:Enid loses her scholarship, still hates her home life, and gloomily rides out of town on a bus, her fate unknown as the film draws to a close. Seymour patches things up with Enid but is receiving therapy, mentally and physically broken after the events of the summer. And though Enid and Rebecca seem to patch up their differences before the former leaves town, it's clear that there is still some estrangement, that they have become completely different people after high school.]]
* DramaticDrop: Josh drops the ice cream cone he is about to serve to a little girl when Enid shows up with Seymour at the Sidewinder Mini Mart.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Nearly every guy they come across zeros in on Becky and ignores Enid.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Subverted or deconstructed. Enid dyes her hair green, aiming for an authentic '70s punk rock look, but the other characters, including Becky, don't get it. (A guy in the 'zine store asks if she's supposed to be Cyndi Lauper). Irritated, Enid washes the dye out of her hair as soon as she gets home.
* LeFilmArtistique: The hilariously [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]] short film "Mirror, Father, Mirror" made by Enid's clueless art teacher, Roberta Allsworth.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Remember the part in the movie where Enid is telling Seymour that her dream was to just get up, drive off to somewhere without telling anyone, and never come back? That's exactly what she was doing when she got on the bus in the end.
* FriendsRentControl: Rebecca on her coffee server's salary can afford the entire rent on an attractive townhouse apartment. (Enid calls it a "shithole" but all it needs is a change of curtains).
* GarageSale: Twice.
** Seymour meets Enid during his garage sale.
** Enid has one, but ends up pissing off all her customers.
* GenkiGirl: Melora, so very much.
* GilliganCut: When Enid and Rebecca want Josh to [[FollowThatCar follow Seymour with his car]], he refuses. Cut to the next scene where the three pull over behind Seymour at his place.
* GreasySpoon: The "Quality Cafe" where Enid and Rebecca use to hang out. Also the authentic fifties diner "Wowsville".
* GrowingUpSucks: One reason why Enid keeps stalling about giving up her childhood possessions and moving on with her life after high school. She is afraid that nothing better lies ahead than a service job at Computer Station.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Subverted, as Enid and Rebecca are clearly drifting apart throughout the film.
* IHaveJustOneThingToSay: The art class teacher pulls this on Enid after the latter presented the racist drawing in class.
-->'''Teacher''': I don't really know what to say, Enid... (looking concerned) ... I think it's a remarkable achievement.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Invoked and played for laughs. The note to Josh: "Dear Josh, [[DoYouWantToCopulate we came by to fuck you]]... but you were not home. Therefore, you are gay."
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Subverted hilariously. The paralyzed valedictorian at Enid and Becky's graduation tells the rapt audience that her car accident taught her she doesn't need alcohol to have a good time. (One graduate gulps even before she starts speaking). Afterward, Enid says she preferred her when she was was an "alcoholic crack addict" and that getting into a car wreck turned her into "Little Miss Perfect" overnight. Later, the valedictorian's date is shown [[{{Hypocrite}} pouring alcohol down her throat]].
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Enid and Seymour. Enid thinks only stupid people have relationships and Seymour says he can't relate to most of humanity (and his actions bear him out).
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Enid and Seymour, although Enid wanted it to be something more almost from the start.
* InvisibleParents: Becky's. A passage from the script that never made it into the film suggests that Becky lives with her grandmother, as she does in the comic.
* {{Jerkass}}: Becky and Enid certainly have their moments of jerkass-ness and immaturity, especially in the film's beginning.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite this, they do genuinely care about each other. Likewise, Enid does care about Seymour and want the best for him ([[spoiler:even though her attempts at propping him up backfire horribly in the end]]).
* KissingUnderTheInfluence: Enid and Seymour. Enid regrets it as soon as she sobers up, but afterward Seymour wants to have a romantic relationship with her.
* LonelyPianoPiece: Twice.
** First, a dynamic piano piece turns into a sad version the first time the two girls meet the old man waiting for his bus.
** The lonely piano theme is heard again when Enid lies on her bed after Rebecca refused to go out with her for the night.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Subverted. Enid genuinely tries to be this for Seymour, but [[spoiler:She ends up ruining his life and her own in the process]].
* MyBelovedSmother: Seymour's mother.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Enid after she has drunken sex with Seymour.
* NotSoDifferent: Enid and Seymour, although she sees him as a "clueless dork" at first.
** It is debatable whether her quirky style and interests are all that different than those of the Zine-O-Phobia "creeps" she insults ("Look who's talking Little Miss Badass" one answers) or the "extroverted bohemian losers" she mocks when she's out with Becky.
* NotStayingForBreakfast: Seymour wakes up alone after his one-night stand with Enid.
* OddFriendship: Seymour and Enid, especially to Dana.
* PurpleProse: During the paralyzed girl's graduation speech: "High school is like the training wheels for the bicycle of real life."
* RealTrailerFakeMovie: The trailer for a pretentious art film called "The Flower That Drank The Moon" plays at the video store Enid and Becky visit.
* SelfInsertFic: The character of Seymour is based in part on director Terry Zwigoff. Like Seymour, Zwigoff is an avid collector of 1920's jazz and blues records. Seymour's room was modeled after director Terry Zwigoff's own - particularly the shelved record collection, pinup art and historical memorabilia.
* SignificantSketchbook: Seymour discovers Enid's sketchbook at one point, and feels crushed when he sees a portrait of himself portrayed as depressing and alone.
* TheSnarkKnight: Enid.
* SoBadItsGood: Discussed in-universe between Enid and Rebecca at their prom night.
--> '''Rebecca''': This is so bad, it's almost good.
--> '''Enid''': This is so bad, it's gone past good and back to bad again.
* TheStinger: After all the credits roll, there's another take of the scene where Seymour (Steve Buscemi) gets attacked by Doug in the minimart. Only this time, Buscemi's characer easily wins the fight, choking Doug with his own weapon, and stomps out triumphantly. He finishes with a little [[Film/ReservoirDogs Mr. Pink]] type dialogue.
* StoppedReadingTooSoon: Seymour discovers Enid's SignificantSketchbook at one point and feels crushed when he sees a portrait of himself showing him as depressing and alone. When confronting Enid, she points him to the later pages in her sketchbook which has many more portraits of Seymour in a completely different light, which he didn't see when initially skimming the pages. Seymour is visibly touched by this discovery.
* TeachersPet: Margaret from art class.
* TechnoBabble: We are treated to some [[SeriousBusiness serious]] geek talk at Seymour's record collector party that Enid and Rebecca attend.
* TemptingFate: Seymour is devastated when Enid won't return his calls; his roommate Joe tries to comfort him by saying that at least things can't get any worse. In the next scene, Seymour is fired from Cook's Chicken.
* ThirdActMisunderstanding: Towards the end, Rebecca tells Seymour about their PrankDate upon which he gets furious and ends up in hospital. Enid then shows him her SignificantSketchbook and points to the later pages that show how differently she actually felt about him. Seymour is visibly touched by this.
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Disclaimer after the end credits, stating that characters and events depicted are fictitious.
* TookALevelInBadass: Seymour in TheStinger.
* TrashTheSet: Hilariously averted when Seymour tries to knock a shelf over at Josh's shop but fails miserably because it's tightly fixed at the back.
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe, the art film "Mirror. Father. Mirror." that Enid's teacher shows to the class as an example of her work is [[SoBadItsGood hilariously awful]], whilst the actual, looks-like-a-person drawings Enid creates are lumped in with the boy who traces his favorite [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 video game]] characters in felt-tip pen. Then they're passed over for another girl's wire coathanger sculpture.[[note]]This is ironic, considering ''ComicBook/LikeAVelvetGloveCastInIron'', one of Clowes' own graphic novels, is pretty darn bizarre. It's likely that Clowes believes in incomprehensible art (as one can see in any number of examples from his work), but instead was giving a TakeThat to unimaginative hacks who get by on cliche rather than originality or true provocation.[[/note]]
** The tampon-in-a-teacup "found art" that is lauded as being genius.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Enid and Becky's friendship has pretty much run its course by the end of the film. A bit of an unusual example in that there's no single deed, word or event one can point their finger at as a reason, nor is either of them really to blame; they're just slowly drifting apart as it's becoming more and more obvious they never had much in common to begin with, besides both being DeadpanSnarker outsiders.

Starting as an indie comic series by acclaimed graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, ''Ghost World'' appeared in ''ComicBook/{{Eightball}}'' #11–18 between June 1993 and March 1997. It was later adapted into an equally acclaimed indie film, which was released in 2001. Both versions follow {{Deadpan Snarker}}s Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer as they face the summer after high school graduation. The film, directed by [[Film/BadSanta Terry Zwigoff]], cast Creator/ThoraBirch as Enid and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Rebecca.

* DownerEnding: Unlike other coming-of-age films where the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after, the film ends on a down note for the main protagonists. [[spoiler:Enid loses her scholarship, still hates her home life, and gloomily rides out of town on a bus, her fate unknown as the film draws to a close. Seymour is receiving therapy, mentally and physically broken after the events of the summer. And though Enid and Rebecca seem to patch up their differences before the former leaves town, it's clear that there is still some estrangement, that they have become completely different people after high school.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Becky and Enid certainly have their moments, especially in the film's beginning.

Starting as an indie comic series by acclaimed graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, ''Ghost World'' appeared in ''ComicBook/{{Eightball}}'' #11–18 between June 1993 and March 1997. It was later adapted into an equally acclaimed indie film, which was released in 2001. Both versions follow {{Deadpan Snarker}}s Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer as they face the summer after high school graduation. The film, directed by Terry Zwigoff, cast Creator/ThoraBirch as Enid and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Rebecca.

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

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Enid and Becky's friendship has pretty much run its course by the end of the film. A bit unusual example in that there's no single deed, word or event one can point their finger at as a reason, nor is any of them to blame really - they're just slowly drifting apart as it's becoming more and more obvious they'd never had much in common to begin with, besides both being DeadpanSnarker.

-->'''Enid''': "I think I'm going crazy from sexual frustration."
-->'''Rebecca''': "And you haven't heard of the miracle of masturbation?

While conceptually similar, the comic and film differ in their featured characters. The character of Josh, an alienated friend (and quasi-love interest) of Enid's (and Rebecca's), plays a major role in the comic, while only being a side character in the film. Seymour, a lonely and cynical middle-aged man is a central character in the film, yet the characters from the book of which he is an amalgam are only very fleeting presences.

Starting as an indie comic series by acclaimed graphic novelist Daniel Clowes, ''Ghost World'' appeared in ''ComicBook/{{Eightball}}'' #11-18 (June, 1993-March, 1997). It was later adapted into an equally acclaimed indie film, which was released in 2001. Both versions follow {{Deadpan Snarker}}s Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer as they face the summer after high school graduation. The film, directed by Terry Zwigoff, cast Creator/ThoraBirch as Enid and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Rebecca.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Enid and Becky's friendship has pretty much run its course by the end of the film. A bit unusual example in that there's no single deed, word or event one can point their finger at as a reason, nor is any of them to blame really - they're just slowly drifting apart as it's becoming more and more obvious they never had much in common besides both being DeadpanSnarker.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Enid and Becky's friendship has pretty much run its course by the end of the film. A bit unusual example in that there's no single deed, word or event one can point their finger at as a reason, nor is any of them to blame really - they're just slowly drifting apart as it's becoming more and more obvious they never had that much in common to begin with.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the DeadpanSnarker character type.

* BrickJoke: When the woman Seymour met at the airport actually answers his ad.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Enid and Becky's friendship has pretty much run its course by the end of the film.