Another 31 Days, Another 31 Screams: Day 2 (Ghostbusters 2)

Modern art.

Not even two days in and already we hit a wall of "Holy shit what the fuck do I talk about for hundreds of words with this one?". Damn it all. I literally just finished watching Ghostbusters 2 as I write this, and I have no idea what I'm about to ramble out of me. There's a lot of cool things in the climax, but there's a whole movie before that happens. The weird capitalist readings are only there in the first act or so, as the fallout between movies gets resolved and we get the team back together to catch more ghosts. Let's start there, I guess. The first movie made it textually clear that the literal end of the world as brought about by Gozer's reckoning was the reason the Ghostbusters were so successful with their ghost-catching business. In between movies, of course, we learn that they got sued into oblivion for all the property damage and everyone basically thinks they were fraud hacks. I'm reminded of a 7th Doctor line about humanity's amazing skill of forgetting their brushes with the extraordinary here. The movie goes the extra mile here in putting the Ghostbusters on the back foot so they can start from nothing again, but it really didn't have to. Like I said, they only have big business when a calamity generates a shitton of psychokinetic energy and makes ghosts run rampant throughout New York. No end of the world, no ghosts to catch, no money coming in. They fold. Of course, this being a second Ghostbusters movie, they're going to come back. The means by which they come back is fair enough, I suppose. No real complaints here... so let's talk about the new elements. Let's talk about slime and art.


So some sort of Vlad the Impaler ghost trapped in a painting of himself is channelling psychoreactive slime under the museum he's in so he can revive himself and possess a baby to live again and rule the world. Uhh. Okay. This was a lot simpler when Gozer just wanted to bring about the end of the world because Bad God. Vigo is... complicated. This stuff all works fine when you watch the movie, but sitting down and trying to write about it after the fact? I have no goddamn idea what he needed the slime for. Was it there already and it just woke him up once they took his painting out of storage? Did his power create the slime and let the negativity in New York make it multiply and flow under the city? The movie doesn't say. Like I said, it doesn't HAVE to say it for it to work as you're sitting there watching the thing. This is not needless nitpicking to say that the movie sucks. This is just me trying to say something about the movie and wondering about its further machinations and ramifications and whatnot. We're all caught in it, the dooming death spiral of late capitalism that created a sequel to Ghostbusters and doesn't quite know what the hell to do with it. Remember that moment in the first movie where the film's logo is the Ghostbusters company logo? The Ray Parker Jr. song is an actual thing within the movie's world. The lines are bleeding over. It's this massive mess of art. Is Ghostbusters 2 a well-loved movie? I don't know for sure. I know that I think it's okay. Not as good as the first one to me, but solid enough. My attention didn't wander while I watched it just now. It's wandering now as I'm rambling, but the hell with it. These aren't meant to be deep dives. Let's wrap this up and talk about the ending bits, which are the most interesting part.


Pity that like 80 minutes had to pass before we got to this wild stuff, but we'll let it slide. The slime is charged with negativity, but it can be charged with positivity... which makes it jiggle and move stuff. The Ghostbusters, unable to bust through the wall of slime blocking the museum, need a different approach. An idealistic one. You don't blow up negative slime. You heal it with positivity... and what's a symbol of positivity in New York? The Statue of Liberty. The Ghostbusters coat the inside of the Statue of Liberty with positive slime, play its favorite song to make it move, and control the goddamned thing with a Nintendo joystick to lift the spirits of the city and break through the slime wall. Where do I even begin? Using a Nintendo controller? Dear god, it's like the Nintendo Project all over again. The alchemy of video games rings true here and lets the Ghostbusters save the day. More to the point... the Ghostbusters have learned from five years ago. They're mirroring Gozer's little trick and using it to stop Vigo! The first movie had Gozer use a corporate mascot to stomp through New York to instill terror on the masses and bring the end of the world. The second has the Ghostbusters use a symbol of America and New York to instill positivity to all the people of the city and save the day. Hell, it almost has to be this way. What is the Statue of Liberty, if not a gigantic piece of modern art sitting out there in New York City? A piece of art that instills positivity defeats Vigo's negative energy, and then they hose down his stupid monster head and blow him up. Yay. Then his painting becomes a painting of them? The Ghostbusters become art? Yay. I guess. That's Ghostbusters 2. It's fine. It's just fine! It's not as good as the first one but it's just fine. We're not done with catching ghosts yet, though. Oh no. They made one more, didn't they. Oh yeah. We're going there. Buckle up. Tomorrow is going to be a ride.