# Ghost World Question \*Major Freakin' Spoiler Inside\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838 "2003-08-31T18:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/1 "2003-08-31T18:36:49Z")
Okay, I haven’t seen the whole film, but me and a buddy surfed into I guess about the last third or so of it. Anyway, what I’m curious about (and I ain’t gonna use no stinkin’ spoiler boxes, so back out now if you **don’t** want the ending spoiled for you.) is the ending of the film. Earlier in the film, Thora Birch sits down next to some old guy on a bus bench and says that he’s the only person she can count on, as he’s always there. Later on, she’s walking towards the old man on the bench, a bus pulls up, the old man gets on it (he appears to be the only person on the bus) and it leaves. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the bench reads “Not in service” which means _no buses_ stop there. So, it seems to me that the bus ride is symbolic of death. Thora Birch a few minutes later in the film (sometime later in movie time), sits down on the bench and catches the bus herself. So, I take it that means her character committed suicide? Yes? No? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/2 "2003-08-31T18:53:56Z")
Good lord. I never thought of it like that. I’m not really sure what I thought of it, only I thought it was a good ending to a great movie. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/3 "2003-08-31T21:28:33Z")
In the graphic novel, the bus stop is re-activated, and for some reason they never explain that in the movie. In the movie Enid mentions to Seymor how she would like to get into a car, move to another city and leave everything behind. She does that in the end when everybody has moved on (Rebecca, Seymor, even Norman) except for her. In the graphic novel, Rebecca and Josh start dating at the same time she and Enid grow apart. So she leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/4 "2003-08-31T21:57:22Z")
I originally thought it was a death symbol (as opposed to the comic book, where it was just getting out of town to any random locale). Now I’m inclined to see it as a bus to nowhere. That was my favorite movie ever! ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/5 "2003-08-31T22:01:02Z")
Hated that movie and damned if I know what the hell anyone else saw in it. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/6 "2003-08-31T22:49:48Z")
IIRC, earlier in the movie Enid told the old guy on the bench that the bus didn’t stop there anymore but he continued to sit there. I took it as a sign of change and maybe getting what you want if you wait long enough (the bus ride for the patient old man and a way out of her current situation for Enid)? Or maybe a sign of death. I dunno. I thought it was a beautifully ambiguous ending either way. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/7 "2003-09-01T00:31:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\*Hated that movie and damned if I know what the hell anyone else saw in it. \*\* Great script, amazing performances, and the _Charlie’s Angels_ sequel killed my enjoyment for big-budget movies forever. And Scarlett Johanson, the girl who played Becky, is about to break out as a major star in the next Bill Murray movie, _Lost in Translation._ _American Splendor_ is also wonderful, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/8 "2003-09-02T01:01:54Z")
Death? No. What **Rabid Child** said. Best movie ever, IMHO, but maybe you have to be a cynical teenage girl fresh out of 5 gruelling years of high school and completely unsure about the rest of your life to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/9 "2003-09-02T01:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Death? No. What **Rabid Child** said. Best movie ever, IMHO, but maybe you have to be a cynical teenage girl fresh out of 5 gruelling years of high school and completely unsure about the rest of your life to get it. \*\* Oh, I don’t know, I understood Seymour pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/10 "2003-09-02T02:26:46Z")
I wish the grafitti “Ghost world” guy had been in the movie: or was he? I guess that wouldn’t have worked as well in a movie of the same name as in a comic book of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/11 "2003-09-02T02:28:47Z")
Terry Zwigoff is a rising star as a director. His documentary, _Crumb_, was one of the most fascinating character studies I’ve ever seen and _Ghost World_ was wonderfully observed. The Steve Buscemi character easily could have come off as creepy and pathetic but he was so self-aware and intelligent that he was sympathetic and likable instead. Zwigoff’s next movie is called [_Bad Santa_](http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808403039&cf=info&intl=us). It stars Billy Bob Thornton as a mall Santa who robs malls with his elf sidekick. It sounds like it will be a great, cynical, anti-Christmas movie. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/12 "2003-09-02T13:16:26Z")
If you break the image down as in the OP, it sounds like a run-of-the-mill DEATH SYMBOL. Trouble is, nothing about that movie was run of the mill, so I’m not buyin it. It was a sign of optimism and hope; a sign that, if you’re 100% nihilistic, you’re bound to be wrong sometimes; that the glass can either be half empty or half full, and this one turned out to be half full, even though she’d seen it as half empty. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/13 "2003-09-02T15:43:08Z")
I took it as symbolic of moving on, not necessarily death. And **Muad’Dib** how could you not like it? Thora Birch was involved! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/14 "2003-09-02T18:30:28Z")
> [@](#): > > how could you not like it? Thora Birch was involved! [eh hem…](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0190374/) ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/15 "2003-09-02T18:52:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*[eh hem…](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0190374/) \*\* lol I do believe I’ve been owned. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/16 "2003-09-03T01:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\* Earlier in the film, Thora Birch sits down next to some old guy on a bus bench and says that he’s the only person she can count on, as he’s always there. Later on, she’s walking towards the old man on the bench, a bus pulls up, the old man gets on it (he appears to be the only person on the bus) and it leaves. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the bench reads “Not in service” which means _no buses_ stop there. So, it seems to me that the bus ride is symbolic of death. Thora Birch a few minutes later in the film (sometime later in movie time), sits down on the bench and catches the bus herself. So, I take it that means her character committed suicide? Yes? No? \*\* It was a red herring. I spent the first 3/4ths of the movie sure that someone was going to commit suicide by the end, and the last 1/4th _hoping_ someone would so something would finally happen in the movie… I interpreted the bus the same way you did, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/17 "2003-09-03T14:26:36Z")
**Slacker** : > [@](#): > > lol I do believe I’ve been owned. Furthermore: [The Hole](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0242527/combined) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/18 "2003-09-03T17:04:06Z")
Before the film was released, a couple of reviews alluded to something in the ending that was gone by the time the film opened: Someone had been following/watching Enid, and tucked well into the credits was a mind-blowing scene that reevealed the shocking inentity of this person. I guess this was cut out at the last minute, but has anyone else heard anything about this? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/19 "2003-09-03T19:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\ ***Slacker** : > > Furthermore: > [The Hole](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0242527/combined) \*\* Prepare to be smited, irritating little rabbit person. The Hole is a perfectly good movie, and has Keira Knightley in it also. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838/20 "2003-09-03T19:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\*Before the film was released, a couple of reviews alluded to something in the ending that was gone by the time the film opened: Someone had been following/watching Enid, and tucked well into the credits was a mind-blowing scene that reevealed the shocking inentity of this person. I guess this was cut out at the last minute, but has anyone else heard anything about this? \*\* How interesting, because the first shot we see of Enid is through her window. I certainly haven’t heard about it, and I have both the shooting script book (which mentions a few deleted scenes, like Enid sleeping with Josh) and the graphic novel. Nor does the DVD have any alternate endings… Although after the credits it does shows another shot of Seymour getting all nutso in the store where Josh works. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-world-question-major-freakin-spoiler-inside/198838.md?page=2)