Ghost World

I watched the movie Ghost World before I ever had the opportunity to read the comic.  I have to say I appreciated both in different ways.   In the comic, I was a bale to project all the dryness and sarcasm my little heart desired.  In the movie, the acting cast did this for me.  It was an accurate (in some ways depressingly so) depiction of a post-graduate’s life where all there is left to do is work.  This was literally my life and friends the summer before I got to Ringling right after I graduated high school.  And I have Enid as my best friend (only in male format in real life).  However, the way they grow up is the most depressing part.  It feels like Rebecca just leaves Enid behind in pursuit of the boyfriend’s affections.  This leaves Enid no choice but to find a way to be happy without her best friend and ends up leaving her to go to another town all together.  The friends you make in high school are never the ones you keep when you leave.  It is like you must leave behind your own life and it feels like it is nothing more then a ghost world. 

I think it is interesting that Daniel Clowes used two female characters to depict his semi-biographical story.  I think his story is unique and he was successful in not making his female characters look or act stereotypical.  At no point did I think this story was jabbing at women.  It never really focused on gender anyway.  Clowes was incredibly successful at his female character development.