The costs of not conforming
“Ghost World at 20” – an essay in The Guardian about one of the best movies I’ve seen. The hard truth that confronts Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), two recent high-school graduates, is that in life there are “two basic options: conform or not conform”:
Yup, that’s how it is.
I think this is one of the wisest movies, one that understands this basic human predicament.
Roger Ebert’s review.
It’s heartbreaking for Enid to learn, over the course of the film, that she and Rebecca don’t share the same answer to that question. When they meet Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a middle-aged record collector with a crummy shared apartment and no romantic prospects, it’s like a visitation from the Ghost of Nonconformist Future. Rebecca recoils in horror. Enid is intrigued.The movie then details the costs of not conforming. Squalor. Perpetual uncertainty. Ostracism. Alienation. The death of friendship.
Yup, that’s how it is.
I think this is one of the wisest movies, one that understands this basic human predicament.
Roger Ebert’s review.