jimminy
Freaked Out
Re: Blitzway - 1/6 Scale Ghostbusters - Collectible Figures and ECTO-1
Another key thing Winston does: he re-grounds the movie just as it needs it.
The guys have trapped Slimer. They are a big success. They have created genius, science fiction tech. They have proven that ghosts are real. They have moved far beyond the everyday human experience. The movie could easily go off the rails here. It could become a story about people enjoying fame and fortune, or it could be a movie that begins to face the huge questions raised by the existence of the paranormal. It could turn into a 'look at all these ghosts!' movie. It could become all about colourful lights and technology. It could move past the everyday and the human and it could lose its soul and its charm.
But nope, Winston shows up, and he is just an average guy doing a job, and he's not particularly impressed by anything, and he's just working hard and getting things done. He's learning how banal and blue collar all the tasks are. You put the trap in a thing, you pull some levers, you wait for a light to change, and the machine cleans the trap ... You do all this at the end of a long tired day as your work coveralls are filthy ... It brings everything back to the earthy realism that the film establishes in the first half and risks losing at that point. Winston puts the soul of the movie back in place. If it wasn't for him, the whole film would have a different feeling. It's key that he isn't a scientist, because at this point the audience needs a new emotional anchorpoint. We need a new POV character as our way into this now-unfamiliar world.
Of course, it kind of makes no sense that the now-famous Ghostbusters wouldn't have applicants banging at their door, but still. For the sake of the 'feel' of the movie and the world it establishes, it's vital that Ghosbusters has one thing about a third of the way through: an injection of Winston. Winston's us, getting to hang with Stanz, Spengler, and Venkman.
Another key thing Winston does: he re-grounds the movie just as it needs it.
The guys have trapped Slimer. They are a big success. They have created genius, science fiction tech. They have proven that ghosts are real. They have moved far beyond the everyday human experience. The movie could easily go off the rails here. It could become a story about people enjoying fame and fortune, or it could be a movie that begins to face the huge questions raised by the existence of the paranormal. It could turn into a 'look at all these ghosts!' movie. It could become all about colourful lights and technology. It could move past the everyday and the human and it could lose its soul and its charm.
But nope, Winston shows up, and he is just an average guy doing a job, and he's not particularly impressed by anything, and he's just working hard and getting things done. He's learning how banal and blue collar all the tasks are. You put the trap in a thing, you pull some levers, you wait for a light to change, and the machine cleans the trap ... You do all this at the end of a long tired day as your work coveralls are filthy ... It brings everything back to the earthy realism that the film establishes in the first half and risks losing at that point. Winston puts the soul of the movie back in place. If it wasn't for him, the whole film would have a different feeling. It's key that he isn't a scientist, because at this point the audience needs a new emotional anchorpoint. We need a new POV character as our way into this now-unfamiliar world.
Of course, it kind of makes no sense that the now-famous Ghostbusters wouldn't have applicants banging at their door, but still. For the sake of the 'feel' of the movie and the world it establishes, it's vital that Ghosbusters has one thing about a third of the way through: an injection of Winston. Winston's us, getting to hang with Stanz, Spengler, and Venkman.
