Two years after its release I finally had a chance to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I also watched the “making of” documentary included in the DVD. In the doc, Jason Reitman, the film’s director, explicitly stated this is a love letter to the original. To that end, he very much succeeded. But it also begs the question: what is Hollywood’s deal with sequels, remakes and love letters?
The film opens with Egon Spengler (Oliver Cooper filling in for the deceased Harold Ramis) baiting an unseen Gozer - the world-destroying bad guy from the first film - into a large ghost trap. When she is in position, Egon steps on the activation pedal. However, a series of electrical towers meant to power the trap fail. Egon is killed. He leaves behind a PKE meter and a ghost trap hidden in the floorboards of his Oklahoma farmhouse.
Cut to Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), a single mother struggling to keep her family supported. They are evicted from their apartment and take up residence in her father’s farmhouse. The youngest, Phoebe (McKenna Grace), discovers the PKE meter and ghost trap. With the help of some friends, a teacher and the ghost of Egon, Phoebe finishes what her grandfather started.
I only had one problem with this movie: is too subtle with its character development. Blink and you’ll miss a small but important detail; or, if you miss a line of dialogue, you won’t understand a character’s motivations. Let’s use Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) as an example.
Trevor discovers the Ecto-1 in a barn. We later see him working under its hood and, indeed, he manages to get it working. That Trevor has an interest in cars or is mechanically inclined is communicated in two blink-and-you-miss-it scenes. First, he is watching a car video while getting a haircut. Second, he fixes his mom's Subaru when it breaks down. As for his motivation for working on a “shit box,” it’s not clear but we can assume it is to pass the time and, later, to impress a girl.
The Phoebe character has other problems. Ostensibly, she is a young Egon who once stated he wasn’t allowed to have toys except for a slinky he straightened. However, Phoebe more resembles Sheldon Cooper without the quirks and flaws that made Sheldon entertaining. Her alleged social ineptitude is unconvincing. We are told she has trouble making friends, but that statement is belied by Phoebe immediately becoming friends with “Podcast” (Logan Kim).
“Podcast” is the best character. He is called that because he produces a podcast. It is largely a failure: he only finds his voice at episode 46 and has one subscriber (this sets up a great callback joke at the end of the film). “Podcast’s” struggle makes the character realistic. His optimism and perseverance make him likable.
Reitman’s love letter to Ghostbusters ends with the touching reunion of the four original heroes. The three living members confront Gozer, but the badie incapacitates them. Phoebe alone stands against the powerful demigod. She is clearly outmatched and losing ground when the ghost of Egon steadies her hand and holds her in place - a beautiful moment, indeed! The others rally. Together, they wrangle Gozer with their proton guns and trap her.
What makes this finale great is the respect paid to the original characters while also passing the proverbial torch to a new generation.
Reitman explains in the DVD bonus feature that he was on the original movie set as a child. Therefore, he claims to be the first Ghostbusters fan. This shows in his willingness to give the fans a movie they’d like.
But what to make of Hollywood’s penchant for love letters, sequels and remakes?
Hollywood is not out of ideas; they never had any. Many major films were based on books: The Wizard of Oz (1939), It’s A Wonderful Life (1947), Psycho (1960) The Godfather (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975) … the list goes on and on. Sequels were also popular. The Godfather produced two sequels, The Exorcist four and Jaws three. Films and TV are still being made based on Psycho. And these are just a few examples.
Too many choices is bad for original content as Adam Mastroianni explains:
As options multiply, choosing gets harder. You can’t possibly evaluate everything, so you start relying on cues like “this movie has Tom Hanks in it” or “I liked Red Dead Redemption, so I’ll probably like Red Dead Redemption II,” which makes you less and less likely to pick something unfamiliar.
Another way to think about it: more opportunities means higher opportunity costs, which could lead to lower risk tolerance. When the only way to watch a movie is to go pick one of the seven playing at your local AMC, you might take a chance on something new. But when you’ve got a million movies to pick from, picking a safe, familiar option seems more sensible than gambling on an original.
Hollywood is doing the same math: why gamble on original content when the familiar option will get a guaranteed large audience? The more films that appear on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ or any streaming service, the less original films Hollywood is likely to make.
The love letter takes this to the next level. If audiences would rather watch familiar content, then they’d especially watch familiar content that also celebrates itself. Hence we get Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Ghostbusters also got a remake: the disastrous 2016 film with an all female cast. It is too simple - and incorrect - to dismiss the criticism of that film as misogynistic (like the Atlantic did). It just wasn't a very good film. It was funny, but too cartoony. It was less Ghostbusters and more Scooby Doo. It also lacked basic film-making techniques as YouTube film critic The Critical Drinker has noted.
The difference between Ghostbusters (2016) and Ghostbusters: Afterlife is that the former deconstructed the franchise in true postmodern fashion whereas the latter was a celebration of it.
In conclusion, with limitless options audiences will go to familiar content that celebrates their heroes. Jason Reitman gave them just that.