“A movie with no emotional core, no character arcs, or growth. No one learns anything. It’s not saying anything. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it’s perfect. No one has been able to replicate it and they should stop trying”
– Patrick, 5 star Letterboxd review
Even the most ardent supporters of the film presumably agree with this, considering that the above review is the most popular review of Ghostbusters on the biggest film social media site. Yet, is this argument not fundamentally flawed? There is no piece of art that says nothing. (though, calling Ghostbusters art is hyperbolic)
“It shouldn’t work”, and it doesn’t: The pacing has all the rhythm of a middle school percussionist, the jokes are missing the laugh tracks they belong with, and the script reads like it was written by prep school students who haven’t felt a woman’s touch since their own birth. Nobody can replicate it, not because Ghostbusters is a masterpiece of the likes that could never be made again. No, it can’t be replicated because of the historical situation surrounding it. This was at the time when Ronald Reagan was the president, when the vast wealth gaps were rapidly pulling further and further apart. Americans needed a film that could support their delusion of the American Dream, the fantasy that one could become rich through sheer determination, grit, and hard work. Yet, just that wasn’t enough. They needed protagonists that seemed relatable, protagonists that they could see themselves in. Is it a coincidence that they happen to be white, misogynist, middle aged assholes that are rather incompetent at their job, coasting through with their charisma in absence of any actual skill? Is it a coincidence that the women are relegated to damsel in distress roles, seemingly having zero agency for themselves and that the protagonist ends up with one of these women, even when she clearly doesn’t feel anything for him? Is it a coincidence that the antagonist is an environmentalist?
No – Ghostbusters is the ultimate Republican fantasy, an irredeemable film that has helped justify hatred and corrupt systems for two too many generations, a clear representation of the self-deception middle class America was living in at the time, a sort of film that only works as satire and is yet not presented as one. It’s not surprising then, that the same fans of the original would riot over a reboot that cast women as the leads before the movie was even released. And for all the sins that Ghostbusters (2016) may have committed, at least it didn’t commit the deadliest one: Glorifying America under Ronald Reagan’s rule.