Enid and Rebecca’s high school graduation is sponsored by Tropicana, Hostess, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Ghost World is smeared with a patina of tired, ugly, late-’90s Americana consumer culture gone to seed. From there, the movie’s pop culture sprawls and sprawls - but it’s not the mainstream geekdom of Funko Pops and Comic-Cons. In the very first scene, the camera peers through the windows of Enid’s neighbours as they watch their various TV shows of choice, before settling on Enid herself, dancing along to a Bollywood videotape.

These three characters bounce off one another, falling in and out of friendship, leading up to an appropriately morose climax. One such weirdo is Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a collector of antique blues records, with whom Enid forms a surprising connection. Enid has to take a summer art class to complete her diploma, while Rebecca leaps into finding work and apartments - but both spend their downtime wandering around observing washed-up weirdos. Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) and Enid (Thora Birch)Ghost World tells the sardonic tale of Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson), recent high school grads staring down the barrel of the adult-life gun. In addition to a story of post-high-school malaise, it’s quietly one of the smartest films ever made about how we consume and appraise pop culture. But Ghost World has greater significance that impacts a broader swathe of the population.

Ghost world by daniel clowes