Escaping Consumerism in Ghost World

"This is so bad it's almost good."

"This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again."

Ghost World: love or hate it, adore or despise it, this cult comic-book film is a perfect time capsule of the early 2000s, from the hairstyles to the clothing to just about everything else you can think of. However, one topic that seems to be heavily debated still to this day would be the ending; what exactly happened when Enid got on that bus?

Here’s some background: throughout the movie, Enid (our main character, played by the perfectly sarcastic Thora Birch) sees and occasionally interacts with an old man waiting at a bus stop. The catch? The stop hasn’t been used for over two years, but he just keeps on waiting, and waiting, and waiting… all for a ride that will never come. Jump to the film’s third act, and Enid is dejected: she’s at odds with her best friend, a woman she hates is moving into her home, and the relationship with love interest Seymour is everything but functional. Various shots the viewer sees here include a slew of corporate branding: McDonald’s, Rite Aid, Vagabond Inns, the list goes on. We often see people consuming these products (“Oh, my God, he just ordered a giant glass of milk!”), but never really our main characters.

One night, a despair-driven Enid is walking among these company labels (a giant, blazing RadioShack sign is seen behind her head) when she sees the elderly man once more. A rolling, mechanical sound gets louder and louder, the man stands up, and the viewer sees something truly extraordinary: an illuminated bus pulls over to the stop. The man gets on and we never see him again.

The next night, Enid follows suit. As the film’s main theme plays, Enid sits alone at the bus stop, intercut with a scene of Seymour discussing the romantic events with a therapist. The out-of-service bus pulls over, Enid gets on, and the vehicle drives away. The final shot is of Enid leaving town (presumably to never come back), no corporate branding in sight, with the only guides streetlights in the sky.

Enid has escaped from the town, escaped from the consumerism. It isn’t shown where she goes, but does it really matter?