Guest Post: Four Decades Of Bustin' Makes Us Feel Good

This guest post by blogger and podcaster Dan Gibbins is part of our series on the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation. An introductory blog post is here.

By friend of the blog Dan Gibbins

It’s June, 1984. The Reagan administration is barrelling towards a second term of shredding economic safeguards, dragging the US to the right, and ignoring an epidemic because if it mostly affects a marginalized community, why bother. Canada has just gotten around to writing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Brian Mulroney is about to be the first Conservative party leader to ride “Hey he’s not Trudeau” until he crashes and burns. But you don’t care about any of that, you are eight years old and you’re watching Ghostbusters, and everything is right with the world.

Why does Ghostbusters continue to have a
dedicated cadre of fans? Because it's structurally
sound, often clever, and features comedians
at the top of their games.
(Image via Screenrant)

Four decades, three sequels, two animated series, one reboot, and a very brief animated revival of the Filmation series that wanted it known they had the name first, Ghostbusters is still with us. It remains a beloved classic despite the fact that its leading man is a creep, and that it came out at a point in time when the Environmental Protection Agency could be played as villainous bureaucrats. How is that possible? Why is Ghostbusters the best sci-fi/fantasy series of 1984, over Inception-precursor Dreamscape, creature feature C.H.U.D., Helen Hunt’s breakout role in time travel epic Trancers, or that other time travel movie from 1984 that can’t decide if the past can be changed or not? (Seriously, we are six movies in, are Skynet and the resistance sinking incalculable energy and effort into a prophecy trap or aren’t they, pick a side.)

First of all, Band-Aid off, elephant in the room… it is so funny. It is unbelievably funny. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, these are comedy legends at the height of their powers, with Sigourney Weaver doing some Margaret Dumont-level straight-woman work to keep the hijinks grounded. The only movies as endlessly and iconically quotable as this movie are fellow immortal classic Casablanca and ’90s western Tombstone, but in the case of Ghostbusters the dozen lines anyone can quote are all banger laugh lines, from “If somebody asks you if you’re a god, you say yes!” to “Yes it’s true, this man has no dick” down to less famous but loved by connoisseurs “I looked at the trap, Ray” and the perfect deadpan of “That ought to do it, thanks very much, Ray.”

But there’s more to it. This is a story of underdogs, dreamers that the system gave up on. Ray, the enthusiast, determined to dig into every aspect of the supernatural for nothing but the love. Egon, the academic, seeing the greater dangers society ignores and devoting himself to find the solutions no matter the cost. Winston, the everyman, proof that heroes can arise from anywhere when the call is made. And Peter, who… okay look, somebody here had to care about monetization, so if that means you need an opportunistic huckster with a heart of gold on the team, so be it.

Nobody wants to believe in the Ghostbusters. The university kicks them out, the government bureaucrat shuts them down, then refuses to accept that the ensuing chaos is his own fault for disrupting a vital agency just because he himself doesn’t believe in it. But they believe in themselves, their science, their mission, and become the only people who can stop the apocalypse and save New York from a giant marshmallow man.

The third-act reveal of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow
Man hadn't been undermined by studio marketing.
(Image via Screenrant)

Oh my god, we haven’t even talked about the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Such an iconic third-act reveal, so perfect a generation of kids were slightly stunned to find out Stay-Puft Marshmallows weren’t actually a thing, that someone on the production team just said “Pillsbury Doughboy but gooier.” And that was not in the trailers. That was kept as a surprise reveal. Modern Hollywood could never hide this — today, the third-act reveal is getting spoiled no matter what because the studio wants to sell an extra Funko Pop, so just put Red Hulk in every trailer, who cares. No. That giant candy monster was kept secret, and what an entrance he makes.

And there are no Chosen Ones like fellow 1984 releases Dune or The Last Starfighter or Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. Anyone can bust ghosts. Sure Egon is a unique genius, but Ray just needs passion, Winston has drive, Venkman belief in his ability to profit. You can be this kind of hero. We learn that nightmares, bad dreams, can be beaten. It only takes a brave man to stand in defeat. Yes, you must be the bravest, the bravest and most… you must be able to say I ain’t ’fraid of no ghosts. If you can find that strength within, then you, too, can be dusting off ghosts like true ghost dusters.

Many an ’80s comedy has aged badly, from Animal House being so loose and sketch-like it ends up kinda mid, to Revenge of the Nerds being a comedic celebration of truly unforgivable sex crimes. Not so Ghostbusters, Ray will never not be funny. Many an ’80s sci-fi flick struggles with outdated effects; Gen-Z cannot understand the appeal of the original Tron, because they cannot pretend those basic prototype attempts at computer effects look anything but cheesy. Not so Ghostbusters, the effects barely needed an upgrade 38 years later for Afterlife.

It’s one of those lightning-in-a-bottle masterpieces, like 2001’s Ocean’s 11, so singularly great that the exact same cast and creators struggled to recapture the magic. But one thing remains true these many, many years later: if you need two hours of near-constant good times… then there’s just one question.

Who you gonna call?