Compare And Contrast Ghost World Book And Movie

In a World of Ghosts: The Addition of a Human Bridge into Adulthood

Ghost World is a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The story follows the lives of best friends, Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer, two pessimistic and sarcastic teenage girls who have recently graduated from high school. They spend most of their days exploring their unnamed town while downgrading the people they encounter. At the same time, they have no clear idea what they plan to do with the rest of their own lives. As the novel goes on, Enid and Rebecca eventually drift apart. Overall, the story is quite dark, and it is concerned with concepts attached to the falling out of friendships. With that, the film adaptation, written by Clowes and Terry Zwigoff, like the novel,

focuses in on the same notions. Even so, certain characters play different roles and noteworthy additions are made.
In the film adaptation of Ghost World, Seymour, plays a type of complex character.

In the novel, Seymour, who is an older, unnamed man Enid stands up with a prank phone call, does not even get more than a few pages of attention (44-46). Nevertheless, in the movie, he serves as a bridge into adulthood for both Enid and Rebecca. Seymour is the person that divides the two. Moreover, Enid develops a romantic relationship with Seymour – one that she later comes to regret in a way. This results in her leaving town completely. Unlike in the novel, where Rebecca and Enid have more of a natural falling out, the film undeniably escalates it by throwing in a new character conflict

altogether.
Rebecca, in the film adaptation of Ghost World, certainly plays a more dramatic type of role than what she plays in the graphic novel. For example, in the film, Rebecca goes out and gets a job quite quickly after high school, unlike Enid. Rebecca also manages to somewhat blossom into an adult earlier, while Enid seems confined by her own ideas still attached to high school. One could argue that Enid gravitates toward Seymour, for the reason that she wants to be protected by somebody older and financially stable. He is what Enid aspires to eventually be like – a person with an apartment, a stable life, etc. The bridge Seymour creates for Enid ultimately replaces many of Rebecca and Enid’s adventures in the novel. Likewise, since Seymour is not a bona fide character in the novel, it seems that Enid has to cut out her own path a bit more, for Rebecca appears to keep her stuck in her ways.
Along with Rebecca not playing the same role in both the film and novel, there is a tremendous addition in the film that is not seen in the novel – the fact that Enid has to attend her summer art class.

The art class, one could argue, showcases that Enid does have the talent to go on to have a profitable career. Be that as it may, she cheats by using a piece from Seymour’s apartment and passing it off as her own. Again, Seymour acts as a bridge into adulthood, for the reason that Enid is offered a scholarship for this piece, despite it not being her’s. Enid has a moment where she notices she has potential; she gets a glimpse of success. Ultimately, Seymour is a pivotal character, and the film, unlike the novel, definitely has a distinctive agenda because of his addition. He is simply who pushes Enid to do better and move away from what is holding her

down.
The film, Ghost World definitely has its own story to tell when compared to the novel. Enid desires to find her way in the world, like in the novel, but she does so in a different way. Seymour, to her, is not just another ghost from her past high school days, he is who she aspires to be like. Furthermore, Rebecca, much like Enid’s fellow classmates, becomes a ghost. The two drift apart; they slowly forget about one another. To conclude, both the film and novel are concerned with the same thing – the fear of becoming an adult in a world where self-significance is taken away.