ABSTRACT

The concept of the ‘trip’ can have two meanings: one describes a mental transformation of being (a hallucinatory state caused by drugs), while the other covers the idea of an indefinite itinerary, which is associated with the English word road. By its structure, Ghost Trip (2000) literally embarks on an unknown and sinuous quest. The movie is, per se, a strange object, the story follows the mysterious itinerary of a man who searches for myths in a landscape of undisclosed experiences. Starting with its formal structure, this essay explores the mythical stories that are implied in the images of Morrison's film and tackles the question of how Ghost Trip portrays an existential void that embraces the search for the essence of things.

KEYWORDS

frame, hyperreality, myth, ritual

THE TRIP-BALLAD FORM AND CIRCULARITY

The theme of the trip is not specific to Ghost Trip, but also resonates in other films by Bill Morrison, such as City Walk (1999) or The East River (2003). City Walk is about an urban imaginary world that gives the impression of a stark landscape. The frame is marked by a sooty chiaroscuro, which suggests an oppressing and austere mood. The director constantly manipulates the image through intensive work on the medium: the black-and-white images begin with white vertical scratches, which give way to manipulated shots. It is difficult to know how Morrison uses this manipulation: while shooting or during the editing process (on an optical printer). In The East River, the journey is more subjective. It is as if the spectator becomes the character himself, moving in water. The movie makes an aesthetic use of colour through a work on the saturation and its indistinctive resulting tint. Consequently, the droplets on the camera's lens give it a pictorial, pointillist vibration. In this context, Ghost Trip appears as a distinctive movie in Bill Morrison's work. The film depicts a fictional world instead of following the practice of his found-footage experiments. The first shot opens on a cemetery where a man puts some roses on a grave.