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What ‘Ghostbusters’ (1984) is Really About
The real theme is cynical and darkly hilarious.
So, a while back, I caught a video on good ol’ YouTube titled “Ghostbusters: A Movie About Nothing.” Basically, the video essay posits that the 1984 comedy classic lack a unifying theme. If you scroll down through the comment section, there are over 2,000 comments of people giving their own take.
As someone who watched this movie religiously as a kid for years, like many children of the ’80s, I was actually stymied by this video’s stance. Even rewatching the film as an adult some years ago, the idea of there not being a theme never caught my attention. To me, the film always just represented pure entertainment. A silly premise played straight by three comedians at the top of their game. A perfectly executed comedy, well-directed, with cutting edge special effects for the time.
Most comedies don’t have much of a theme, or much to say about anything, really. You think of the comedy classic Airplane! with its slapstick spoof absurdist humor. What social message or statement on the human condition is that movie…
