Character Activities for "Ghost World"
Do all work by Tuesday at 6:00 please. Write two short paragraphs, one on the protagonists and the other on your assigned character.
For the protagonist, Enid, explain one of her traits based on a single scene (2-3 minutes of screen time). Give an example of an action or gesture that helps to communicate the trait. (150 word maximum)
For your assigned character choose one of the topics below (150 word maximum):
Comment on the way the character is introduced to us in the movie and how that introduction helps us get to know that character’s personality.
Write an interior monologue (what a character might be thinking) during a scene where the character is silent (speaks no dialogue for a period of time).
Give an example of any repeated actions or gestures made by the character and how these help to communicate a trait of character to the viewers.
15 comments:
Meeting Enid
Enid is dancing in her first scene. We’ve already observed the wild music video and had a chance to see a succession of window “peeks” of people in their apartments. The people we see seem without emotion or depressed. Enid, in contrast, is dancing wildly and shaking her head (and hair) just as the dancers do in the video she is watching. We get the immediate impression of a girl full of life, but solitary (she dances alone). Her choice of music is clearly unusual. The scene gives us a first impression of Enid, a person who is slightly rebellious, perhaps, and definitely interested in different and exotic things. Our “peek” at Enid makes a strong impression, even before we get to know her better in the following scene of her high school graduation.—134 words
Seymour in the Diner (monologue)
“I wonder if I should sit at the counter or in a booth?”
“The counter is better. What would it look like if she doesn’t show up and I’m all alone in a booth?”
“God, the waiter has the most awful hairstyle. Why did she pick a place like this to meet me? Maybe it’s a bad sign.”
“Ah, a milkshake. Maybe I should have ordered a chocolate. Wonder if she’ll think I’m old-fashioned because I ordered a vanilla shake.”
“Damn! She’s already 10 minutes late.”
“There I go again, sucking in the last bit with my straw and making a noise. Thank God she’s not here to see me do that!”
“It’s been half an hour. She’s not coming. I knew this wasn’t going to work out. Just my usual bad luck. What an idiot for coming here in the first place! What was I thinking?”—147 words
Playing with Fire
The scene that attracts me more on “Ghost World” is when Enid and Rebecca arrived at the Wowsville Dinner. Enid spots an abandoned newspaper (The Free Weekly). Then, she starts reading about personals ads. Consequently, she finds an interesting ad where a guy is looking for a girl. So, she decides to play a joke in this guy (Seymour). In this scene she shows part of her odd behaviour. In addition she is bored with her life, so she needs an adventure to make her blissful. Her gesture shows a fearless teenager, but at the same time is curious to do something. Enid also portraits a love feeling, but she does not realize until later when she meets Seymour. I strongly believe she plays with fire, and at the end she gets burn.
134 words.
Enid isn’t that Rude
When Enid sees the old man sitting down in the bus stop, she shows a sensible part I would never thought she had. Into this rebellious and angry heart, there is comprehension and warmth. By switching her typical rude and strong voice tone to a sweeter and friendly one, Enid advices the old man to leave because there is no bus coming. When his incredulous response is heard, Enid leaves, but while she walks away her eyes keep on looking at the old man. She shows concern and respect, and for that, she says nothing. Enid seems to be a really soft girl inside scared of being uncovered.
112 words
Seymour’s bedroom (monologue)
“I have about fifteen hundred 78s at this point. I don’t know if you really care about it, or you just want to snoop in my bedroom “
“Ha, ha, hah I got you. I know you are interesting on me, and no really on my records. Please, stop acting, and tell me what do you want?“
“It is ok, don’t be afraid to speak. Tell me, I think we have important things to talk about”
“Don’t make me feel like a retarded, I know I look like a moron, but I am actually a nice guy”
“Please, feel comfortable this is your home. Oh No! do not look at the picture with the fancy clown, it is a coan chicken”.
“It may seem a little be racist for some people, but for me it is a way to release my freedom. Do you like it? Take it! Is yours”
153 words.
Rebecca is Alive
She is introduced as a more normal adolescent than Enid. Rebecca is an average teenager. She ties up her hair as the style of the time, and her clothes are colorful and fashion. Her voice is more natural and feminine, and her gestures and body language are more delicate. Rebecca is more realistic and optimistic; she thinks about “now” and the near future – no higher aspirations-. She wants to move out, be independent and have a job. I sympathize with her because she sees circumstances with positivism, and she is willing to start her life as an adult. Rebecca seems to have a way to follow and a dream to approach.
114 words
Enid’s First Job
Like her best friend, Rebecca, says: “What kind of loser gets fired after one day”? Enid’s three encounters with irregular customers hilariously and deeply illustrates her unique attitude towards life. She humiliates and makes fun of those disliked, average alcohol-seeker, butter-lover in a nearly cruel, unbearable way of conversation, which leads to her been fired on the first day of her first job. This scene shows me the typical image of teenagers, like Enid, who don’t take anything seriously and comments on everything they dislike. She seems to be knowledgeable of “the concept of value”; however, sadly, that is what confuses her and she’s been seeking for. After that Enid concludes the reason she loses her job is not her inappropriate behaviours, but “the manager was a total asshole”, which just adds more credibility into her distinct personality. (138 words)
Weird Art teacher
Roberta, the art teacher, seems always to tie with strange stuff, for instance, gloomy video, bloody pictures and some baffling pieces. Among them, how she is first introduced really shocks me. After watching her own-made grainy shaking repressive video, which she claims as a self-introductory tool (who would ever do that except a so-called art teacher), both her art students and me are definitely in a wondering mood. Then her abstruse prologue finally loses all of us. In the meantime, this really implies the art teacher’s exaggerated faith and passion in teaching art and stimulates my curiosity of getting to know her fully. With this unusual starting remark, there must be some interesting stories between her and Enid, I guess. Anyhow, my first impression on Roberta is weird and untouchable, which makes her the second unique character in the film, except Enid, of course. (144 words)
Hi,Guys:
Any of you wanting to see film again could google "YouTube GhostWorld" online and you will find out about 14 mini-episodes(each is about 8 mins)which almost include the whole activities. Hope it will help.
The end
In the last scene, Enid takes a small baggage walking along the familiar street with determined and confident face. She doesn’t hesitate to take a bus at “Norman’s bus stop”. She seems don’t know where she will go, but she just knows she must leave the town to start a new life after she experiences those exploration with her impulsive and cynical personality. She had tried to stop Norman’s cranky waiting, but the moment that Norman finally gets his bus, tells her that everyone would has another way to continue his/her life. No man --Norman—would be abandoned by our world, even thought this would sometimes is really weird and complicated to those newer. Enid finishes her summer art class; meanwhile, she also gets done the most difficult first step in her long life and toward the next mature period. (143 words)
About Josh
In the film, Josh’s appearance is following the store owner’s scorn, “AH AH AH! What you think you doing? You still got five minutes left on your shift!” The scene gives us the hints about Josh’s position and character: a goofy convenience store clerk. The following actions of him shows us his typical innocent and pure quality: always gives the simple answers, has no way out to the girls’ unreasonable demand and just mutter at them, be startled at Enid’s introduction and drops the sundae. His half- opened mouth when he meets the surprise and his coward to the boss displays a nutty guy who used to be meddling by two girls. Maybe he loves the one of the girls, so he is just tolerant of their torment. (130 words)
Everybody is hated by Enid.
Enid hates everybody except couple of people she chose not to hate. She criticises everything and everyone. But the reason behind this is that she always feels like “everybody secretly hates [her].” She makes the confession at Seymour’s place after drinking a bottle of wine. Thus, according to an old wisdom “what the sober man thinks, the drunkard reveals”, I think that is her true emotions. She considers herself different, weird, and not normal. So everyone who has a reputation of an abnormal person finds a place beside her. She says, “you're a bitter, twisted, fucked-up guy, Seymour, that's why I like you.” And also she is disappointed that “[he has] been acting way too normal lately...” She feels lonely. She needs someone to talk to. She can’t entirely open up to her best friend; she is more normal than her. Therefore, she finds Seymour.
Rebecca.
Rebecca is a normal teenage girl. Her self-expression doesn’t strike. She dresses normally, uses mild makeup, and speaks in a way all “advanced” teenagers speak – using coarse language. She finds and, moreover, sticks with a coffee-shop job. The only thing that marks her out from others is her weird friend Enid. Rebecca is definitely not a lily-white. She makes nasty comments and jokes. However, she shies when the boy at the party speaks to her; she feels uncomfortable when they meet Seymour at his yard sale; and finally, she doesn’t like Seymour (which considering her age is very normal). She is leaded by Enid. When the guy at the party wants to speak to Rebecca, Enid handles the conversation herself and Rebecca doesn’t have a chance to participate in it, even though she seems like she is interested in the guy. She likes Enid for the same reason Enid likes Seymour, with her Rebecca can be herself.
No Brad, I’m not stealing your idea. =) This was my first thought of scene selection when you originally mailed me. =)
Enid-
Enid is very carefree towards the world. She is less concerned with what others think and more concerned about how she presents to herself. In the first scene when Enid is introduced we see her ‘caught in the moment’ as she passionately dances along with a retro Indian style music video. She dances a lot with her head either down or her hair covering her face yet her actions are very deliberate. This demonstrates Enid’s view of herself, that her actions are more important than her looks. It is not important that anyone else understands what she’s doing, as long as she understands herself. As the camera glimpses into other suites it is clear that neighboring people are very somber as if absent from their lives. With this in contrast to Enid’s behavior it shows her strong will to act out in originality even in an atmosphere that doesn’t encourage it.
150 words
Seymour-
(Enid and Rebecca step into the back of the apartment building and see the garage sale- 22min)
“Those girls look familiar. No matter… I wonder what they want.”
“Either way they’re really rude. Probably just here to be rude. I wish they’d leave.”
“I’ll just try to ignore them. *inaudible sigh* Try to ignore them Seymour. But I don’t want to be rude. Okay, make eye contact. Oh no, now she’s looking over here.”
“Great, now they know my name. Thanks a lot Joe. I hope they’re not going to be rude to me. I really don’t need this now. –And she laughs at my name. It’s like they don’t know I can see they’re smirking.”
“Okay Seymour be nice. They’re coming over now.”
107 words
Who is Enid?
I noticed Enid is not sure what she wants to do with herself after she graduates however the scene I remember distinctly that shows this is the scene where Rebecca is looking for apartments she says “Hey, here's one” Enid just ignores her and again during the same scene Rebecca says “This would be good, but there's no kitchen.” And again Enid ignores her and replies “Yeah, but... you know what I mean.” This shows she does not care about finding an apartment with Rebecca and is more interested in filing her conversation with mere meaningless sentences. This seems to be where they start down different paths and have less in common with each other. (115 words)
Flower child.
Roberta definitely shows her crazy side and after she shows the video she states “I like to show it to people I'm meeting for the first time because it says so much about who I am and what it feels like to inhabit my specific skin.” then she states “And this is exactly what I'm hoping to get from each of you over the course of this Summer: a picture of your own self-exploration.” This shows first impressions are all you have to leave a lasting impression on someone and that she accepts abnormal behaviour as normal. (97 words)
Unusual Enid
I realized Enid was a different person from the people around her when I saw her behavior in the graduation ceremony. In that scene she was rolling her eyes and was trying not to laugh at her classmate's speech and at the end she tells her classmates "God, what a bunch of retards...” Also she planed to live with her best friend Rebecca after they graduated high school but she couldn't keep her promise to her. All those actions show that she is different from others around her. She is always looking for something different. Also she doesn't trust anybody fully; she mentioned "You know what my number one fantasy used to be? I used to think about one day not telling anybody and just taking off and going to some random place..."I think she strongly believed this and dressed up at the end and got on the unknown bus and went to an unknown place.
Poor Josh
Josh seems naive and simple person who is looking forward to a typical lifestyle which can be seen from his job and his boss's behavior towards him. Occasionally, Enid and Rebecca his classmates, with different perspective of life bothering him in a good way to amuse themselves. He looks confused and tired of their behavior but he doesn't have the power or the ability to confront them according to his own comment that: "Forget it... find some other poor sucker to abuse."The girls enjoy seeing his frustration due to their naughty instinct or maybe a kind of mania. He doesn't like their behavior and acts like an adult when he is spending time with them.
In the First Job
Enid gets fired only after one day. Her attitude to the three customers shows that she can’t fit the job anyway, and it also implies that she is hard to adapt the society. “You’ll wish to God you had about ten beers!” “Here you go- smothered in delicious yellow-chemical sludge.” “Medium is strictly for suckers who don’t understand the concept of value.” In this scene, her service obviously enrages the manager. Maybe she is only joking, and she tries to get into conversation with the people in her own way. It reveals that she is childish and superficial. She is always seeking something fun and doing something different. She even doesn’t clearly know why she lost her job. (122 words)
Rebecca
When Enid and Rebecca just graduated from high school, they are best friends. They decide to get a job and rent an apartment to live together. They are both criticizing everything with acid tongue, and the world seems to be a ghost world in their eyes. As the time goes on, Rebecca becomes suitable with her job, and she assimilates slowly with the adult world. She is realistic and independent. She doesn’t like Seymour although Enid likes him. She isn’t happy when Enid wishes to move in her apartment because Enid can’t afford the rental. Eventually, they are separated. Rebecca becomes a normal person existing in the “real world”. (110 words)
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