The last piece we were asked to look at for my RIG Horror class is Ghostbusters. I am no stranger to this film. I saw it first when I was a little kid. In fact I grew up watching the Ghostbusters TV cartoon every Saturday morning. And yes that was a thing, and yes I loved it even though they turned Slimer into a weird ghostly side kick instead of a poltergeist. I was a kid. that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
Like with the last reading I'm not quite sure that I would consider this horror. For me it's too silly and more of a comedy than a horror. I saw it on the list and I was like "What..." (Hear this in minion voice). I guess it could fall under haunting, for obvious reasons. Sure there are ghosts, and such but there are no real horror elements. For me placing this film in with horror is like saying Shaun of the Dead in horror. Both are more comedy than horror in my opinion.
I do genuinely enjoy that in the film they employed science to find, trap, and contain ghosts. I think it's really the only movie with haunting of any kind that attempts to contain the entities. The others all attempt to drive them off, damn them to hell, or is some form cast them out. Not Ghostbusters. They think hmm, lets catch all these ghosts and keep them in a tank in the office like ectoplasm filled goldfish or something. Now tell me that's not a comedy. In case you needed further proof that this film is a comedy the final big bad is a giant marshmallow man. That's a right a giant marshmallow. How on earth is a giant marshmallow scary.
To prove marshmallows are not scary I give you Marshmallow Murder. For no other reason than Marshmallows are funny and not scary.
Steve!!! See not scary. Not even a little bit.
So I love the movie. I will always love the movie. It's funny and reminds me of my childhood in so many ways. As a closer for the semester I think it fits me perfectly though. I enjoy comedic ghosts, and I love Bill Murray. But at the end of the class I am and always will feel the same about ghosts, and ghost stories. "I ain't afraid of no ghost," (Reitman).
Horror comedy is an amazing genre. If I had that kind of wit and comedic timing, I would try my hand at writing a few, but I just don’t have the proper skills yet. Some of my favorite horror movies, like Ghostbusters, are the more comedic stylings: Shaun of the Dead, Cabin in the Woods (though a bit darker than the others on this list) and Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Sometimes it’s a good thing to look at the things that scare us through a lighter tone (and not spoof movie tones) so that we can begin to confront our fear of a thing. Dan Akroyd loves the paranormal, but his comedic soul led him to use that knowledge and passion in a humorous bent instead of creepy. I can’t argue with the results.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about viewing this movie as more of a comedy than a horror. What I loved about ending the class with Ghostbusters was looking at all these elements we've reading about or watched from a lighter perspective. Ghosts don't have to be scary, especially when they're marshmallows (that video was gold, btw). I think this kind of evolution happens in most genres that freshens them up. Sometimes it's good to make fun of the tropes.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the containment twist on this story too. I think the only other story we've read or watched that tried to use science (or pseudoscience) was Hell House. I think the reason this was on the list was to help demonstrate how diverse stories about hauntings can be. Ghosts are one of those archetypes that are incredible malleable, which is one of the reason we so many stories about them.
ReplyDeleteI would consider this comedy-horror just because of the subject matter. It deals with creatures that may frighten some people in a way that can, unlike Twilight, which eliminates the threat of vampires and werewolves. Like I said in a previous post, I believe this movie balances the humor with the horror well, even if it's not particularly frightening.
ReplyDeleteThe containment element was definitely a nice component to this movie which we haven't seen in any of the books we've read. As was the science aspect. This is interesting considering scientists like to experiment and study what they don't understand and you would think in say Hell House that there would have been some interest in capturing a specimen to study instead of just driving away the bad energy in the house. In that sense, this felt like a more accurate portrayal of a man of science going to study something whether it be the paranormal or not. And yeah, love this movie.
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