When I wrote The Ghost and Us I was inspired by an image from Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge. The girl protagonist has a baby ghost hiding in her covers and a woman ghost leaning over her headboard, and for the space of a wide shot the three figures look like a strange, half-haunted family. This image made me think about humans and specters in relationships more complicated than just boo, scream, head-goes-180.
I think we've all had the experience of a past relationship haunting a present one. Each half of the couple experiences it differently, depending on whose ghost it is. I was particularly interested in the relationship YOU have with your BOYFRIEND'S ex, how you end up having kind of a relationship with that person even though you never meet them. You define yourself in contrast to their flaws and feel needled by ways they surpass you. In every new relationship we make an implicit promise to be better than the ex, to be fun where they were boring, constant where they were disloyal, present where they abandoned ship. The effect is magnified when the ex has a dramatic or traumatic backstory, especially something that's hard to talk about in the present day. InThe Ghost and Us I want my audience to follow me through the fun of the comedy and the fantasy to the line where those take a sharp turn toward something darker. |
