When put in context of all of topics, events and concepts worth exploration and deconstruction, it seems almost trivial to underscore how excited I am that four hilarious women have been cast in the “Ghostbusters” reboot.
Gov. Paul LePage is selling his budget around the state, the Doomsday Clock has been moved 2 minutes closer to midnight and I am psyched to see Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones will portray paranormal exterminators in the Katie Dippold-penned, Paul Feig-directed film. Popular culture is pretty important, but sometimes we don’t give it enough credit. “Ghostbusters,” in particular, was an important pop culture phenomenon for me, and I have high hopes for the new life it has been given.
Most important to this reboot is that everything about it promises to be funny. Will it be as funny as the original, which, in my opinion, is the funniest movie ever made? That expectation might be unfair. That said, Wiig and McCarthy notoriously are hilarious — especially McCarthy in “The Heat,” which also was written by Dippold.
McKinnon and Jones have been described as scene-stealers “Saturday Night Live.” Jerry Lewis and Christopher Hitchens arrogantly claimed “women aren’t funny” and have been proven embarrassingly wrong every minute of every day, especially by these five comedic writers and performers.
Paul Feig, who directed “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” and created “Freaks and Geeks” — acclaimed as one of the greatest television shows ever made — brings additional promise to the venture. His creation of “Freaks and Geeks,” in particular, which expertly blended drama and comedy, illustrates his ability to pull this off.
Why assign so much importance to popular culture?
“Narrative is the way humans discuss ideas,” science writer Matt Phelan told me last year when I interviewed him. “In that respect, it is a great shorthand [for how we discuss issues] and it is very useful.”
Phelan’s expertly written, tongue-in-cheek examination of the environmental and civil libertarian themes ever-present in “Ghostbusters” is the perfect example. The full version appeared in December 2013 on the website The Awl, after first appearing in the Atlantic Monthly in 1984.
Pop culture is the narrative; it’s a common language. Case in point, a New Yorker cartoon this week used the “Ghostbusters” actresses’ likenesses to comment on the gender pay gap. Jezebel used the news to inspire an ironic sexist rant.
Fans have been cautious. For a long time, there was talk of “Ghostbusters 3,” which was trapped in development hell. The concept belonged to series co-creator Dan Aykroyd and would have included the original cast, though Bill Murray long suggested he wanted no part. At some point, talk of a sequel that involved the older cast training a new one — a similar, predominantly male cast — was floated as well. It was sad to think that the beloved title, instead of becoming a broader platform and common language, might become a failed attempt at keeping nostalgia alive for its own sake.
But it turns out Murray and Aykroyd equally are enthused with the new direction. Murray already was lobbying for Wiig’s and McCarthy’s involvements, and Aykroyd issued a statement of support to the Hollywood Reporter. He said he is “delighted by this inheritance of the ‘Ghostbusters’ torch by these most magnificent women in comedy.”
“Ghostbusters” recently made a comeback in my household. It was available on Netflix streaming not long ago, and we watched it with our daughter, who was 4 years old at the time. She liked it, and we watched it repeatedly — sometimes nightly — for the better part of a year. She has Peter Venkman and Stay Puff Marshmallow Man figurines on her shelf.
“It’s funny and silly,” she says, and she “really likes Peter Venkman.”
I told her there would be a new “Ghostbusters” movie, but, instead of men, the Ghostbusters would be women this time. Would she like to see the new “Ghostbusters”? I asked.
“Since the first one was all boys,” she said, “this time the girls can have a try.”
Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was a teenager. He’s an owner-partner of a Portland-based content production company and lives with his family, dogs and garden in Cornish.