- September 19th, 2017, 7:22 pm#4898465
My opinion is the first movie was about belief. The tagline was even "We're ready to believe you." I always thought Ghostbusters embedded in me the idea that the unknown loses its omnipotence when people face it together. In terms of character arcs - Ray and Egon were the static characters. They already believed before the movie even started. Peter and Winston were the dynamic characters. They were non-believers at the start of the movie. The dean said it all, Peter was using parapsychology to hustle. But once he sees that Library ghost... then with Winston, he just needed job. Then he busts some ghosts and saw some shit that turns you white. So by the end of the movie, four believers banding together to face and conquer the unknown, what is the mythological end of the world.
And I also think it works in the greater context of when it came out, the movie was a commentary on the early 80s. Confidence was shattered by Vietnam and Watergate in the late 70s, international affairs ramping up like the Iran hostage crisis -- Carter even had that famous "crisis of confidence speech" in 1979. A 'New York' movie of that time was "Taxi Driver" - a loner who obsesses over how terrible things have gotten so he tries in his own flawed way to make the world a better place. Then movies like Ghostbusters come around and change that zeitgeist - restoring hope, restoring belief. The capstone being Winston proclaiming, "I Love This Town!"
And I also think it works in the greater context of when it came out, the movie was a commentary on the early 80s. Confidence was shattered by Vietnam and Watergate in the late 70s, international affairs ramping up like the Iran hostage crisis -- Carter even had that famous "crisis of confidence speech" in 1979. A 'New York' movie of that time was "Taxi Driver" - a loner who obsesses over how terrible things have gotten so he tries in his own flawed way to make the world a better place. Then movies like Ghostbusters come around and change that zeitgeist - restoring hope, restoring belief. The capstone being Winston proclaiming, "I Love This Town!"