It’s Monday, and if you clicked on this link I hope that you enjoyed the new Ghostbusters film. Boy, I sure did! I also wrote a glowing review of the film last Wednesday.
On my way home from viewing the film the first time, I hit on a theory that buzzed around in my brain and wouldn’t let me quit thinking about it. Here is that theory, so just highlight the text below if you have seen the film, as I hate spoilers more than anyone.
(Start highlighting here)The theory centers around the many cameos that appear in the film. We begin with Dan Ackroyd’s taxi driver cameo. Ackroyd is able to somehow know that the ghosts floating around the street are “class 5 free roaming vapors”. How would a taxi driver know this? That is what made me figure out a backstory for each cameo character. I will use the character names from the original 1984 film for clarity:
- Ray Stantz (Ackroyd), once he and Peter Venkman had a final falling out, or because something really bad happened (spiritually speaking) after GB2, quit being a ghostbuster and took a job as a taxi driver.
- Peter Venkman (Murray) wanted to distance himself from the GB team so much (because of what happened) that he changed his name and became a debunker of the paranormal for a living, as if to thumb his nose in all that Stantz believed in.
- Egon Spengler (Ramis) was at the center of the spiritual catastrophe that divided Venkman and Stantz and Venkman is gone because Egon was killed because of the event. Before he did, however, he was working as a research professor at the technical college where McCarthy and McKinnon are working at the start of the film. (The bust of Ramis)
- Winston Zedemore (Hudson) quit or retired to run a funeral home which is a logical progression from being a Ghostbuster.
- Jenine Melnitz (Potts) took a job that requires skills she learned as a receptionist – a concierge at a hotel.
- Dana Barrett (Weaver) became interested in science, particularly physics which is the basis for GB science, and went back to school to eventually earn a Phd where she became McKinnon’s mentor.(End highlighting here)
So there you have it. Feel free to discuss it in the comments, but be sure to not spoil it for people who landed on this page who haven’t seen the film yet.
If you haven’t seen it, get out there and see it. It’s really a great laugh and it is a loving homage to the ’80’s films we love.
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Holli and I went to see it based on your review last week, we really liked it!