Analysis on Ghost World, the Graphic Novel.
Ghost World and its metaphysics
Being a teenager, I have realized that reality needs some adjustments. It was the first time I found people around useless and incapable of understanding the complex mixture of feelings dwelling in me. I found salvation in teaching myself how to express ‘no’ as a part of speech and mostly within, not without. But Daniel Clowes did not seem to care much about censorship while writing “Ghost World”, one of the best graphic novels about adolescence and its mechanism of defense. Nor Terry Zwigoff did while directing the film adaptation with the same title. He actually enriched the story by adding “Lolita” plots, while Clowes only referred to individuals of the same age falling in love.
“Ghost World” belongs to the world of comics that deals with normal people leading normal lives. There are no superheroes and villains, crime, noir, fantasy or illusion. It stands for realism and reality. The story is based not only on Clowes’s experiences of growing up, but on everybody’s experiences. The feelings you get by reading it and then by connecting the imagery, the pacing, the dialogue and the characters’ gestures with your own memories of being a frustrated, misunderstood teenager can literally freak you out. At least it happened to me thinking that someone could be crawling noisily across my mind. This “action to action” novel involves not only some universal identification that shocks through its frankness and naturalness, but also a special language, so real in choice and tone.
“Ghost World” tells the story of Enid and Rebecca, two teenage friends who have just graduated from high-school and “are facing the unwelcome prospect of adulthood and the uncertain future of their complicated relationship”(Daniel Clowes about “Ghost World”). Enid’s capacity for sarcasm and scorn is unlimited. She spends a lot of time with her best friend, Becca, along whom she mocks the stupidity and the snobbery around. She is more like a teenage extremist,
Being a teenager, I have realized that reality needs some adjustments. It was the first time I found people around useless and incapable of understanding the complex mixture of feelings dwelling in me. I found salvation in teaching myself how to express ‘no’ as a part of speech and mostly within, not without. But Daniel Clowes did not seem to care much about censorship while writing “Ghost World”, one of the best graphic novels about adolescence and its mechanism of defense. Nor Terry Zwigoff did while directing the film adaptation with the same title. He actually enriched the story by adding “Lolita” plots, while Clowes only referred to individuals of the same age falling in love.
“Ghost World” belongs to the world of comics that deals with normal people leading normal lives. There are no superheroes and villains, crime, noir, fantasy or illusion. It stands for realism and reality. The story is based not only on Clowes’s experiences of growing up, but on everybody’s experiences. The feelings you get by reading it and then by connecting the imagery, the pacing, the dialogue and the characters’ gestures with your own memories of being a frustrated, misunderstood teenager can literally freak you out. At least it happened to me thinking that someone could be crawling noisily across my mind. This “action to action” novel involves not only some universal identification that shocks through its frankness and naturalness, but also a special language, so real in choice and tone.
“Ghost World” tells the story of Enid and Rebecca, two teenage friends who have just graduated from high-school and “are facing the unwelcome prospect of adulthood and the uncertain future of their complicated relationship”(Daniel Clowes about “Ghost World”). Enid’s capacity for sarcasm and scorn is unlimited. She spends a lot of time with her best friend, Becca, along whom she mocks the stupidity and the snobbery around. She is more like a teenage extremist,
Bibliography: 1. Clowes, Daniel. (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997). Ghost World. Fantagraphics Books. 2. McCloud, Scott. Understanding comics.