Ghostbusters observation
 

I was watching one of my favorite films, Ghostbusters, the other night and then checking the web for reviews when I came across this at Doug Pratt's Laser reviews:He makes a really good point that I hadn't noticed before. The ghosts are linked with junkfood a lot:

-the green slimer ghost is a glutton who eats and drinks everything in sight

-In Dana's kitchen the ghosts manifest themselves by cooking the eggs

-Dana sees the devil dog in her refrigerator

-when Peter looks in the refrigerator he comments, "look at all this junk food! Do you really eat this stuff?"

-Egon equates the sum total of all of New York's ghost population to a 500 foot long 30 ton Twinkie

-the slimer ghost pops out of a hot dog cart with a mouth full of hot dogs

-Lewis undergoes a transformation where, in the begining of the film, he is the only person who is healthy (he tapes 20 minute work out and watches it in fast forward, he has plenty of Nova Scotia salmon and low sodium mineral water), but he becomes a slob

--when Lewis becomes the Key Master he seems to have a strange fixation with food, he sniffs a jar of popcorn and rubs a pizza on his face

--------------------------Edited to Add:-------------------------------------------------------

-In the end of the film, the supreme force of evil transforms himself into a 400' icon of a junk food company: Stay Puft Marshmellows

-The Ghostbusters spend their last $ on food, "This feast represents the last of the petty cash."

-The Ghostbusters blow up a wedding cake while trying to capture the green ghost

-Peter makes comments to Janine that she could easily find work in the food service industry.



There are probably others. What do you guys make of this?

Don't forget the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man!

I just observed that the pan-and-scan on this movie is particularly awful.

Yep. This is one of the few comedies where P&S will totally ruin it.

Interesting points indeed. I never thought about this observation. This guy seems to be on to something.

Great observation. I've seen this film countless times, and never picked up on that. Of course now that you mention it, it's extremely obvious. I'll remember this from now on, and hopefully this will make my dieting easier. I only hope I don't become overly paranaoid about opening the fridge.;)

You're right!

-In the end of the film, the supreme force of evil transforms himself into a 400' icon of a junk food company: Stay Puft Marshmellows

Think of what the Ghostbusters are doing when they get their first call!

"This feast represents the last of the petty cash."

Notice how they're called away from their Chinese food?

Careful! You're all attaching the dreaded, reviled and infamous SUBTEXT to this film.

There's also the exploding wedding cake in the ballroom.

And then doesn't Venkmen tell Janine, their secretary, that she could would be able to find plenty of work in the 'food service industry'?

? :eek: ?

On the sequal front, Ghostbusters 2 contains several references to Jell-o. Are there anymore in part 2?

:) Very interesting stuff, indeed. What about when Venkman rewards Egon with a candy bar early on in the movie?

That's a good one

[strrrrrretch]

Bill Atherton's character (the EPA inspector) is named Peck, which means, among other things, to "eat reluctantly in small bites."

[/stretch]

Alright.. now that's pushing it.. :D

Has anyone listened to the commentary track to see if this subjects been touched upon?

I did recently, but I don't recall it being mentioned.

Dude, there's one of the best exchanges about food ever. Let me pop in the DVD and transcribe it. It's great...gimme a sec!

Ray: So, what do you think? Chinese?
Egon: Uh...how bout Thai?
Ray: Nah, too spicy. Greek?
Egon: Uhh...Mexican?
Ray: Pizza.
Egon: Thin or thick?
Ray: Chicago.

rotfl

And let us not forget the scene when they interrogate Dana. What is Egon doing?

<img src="http://homepages.nyu.edu/~lb620\cheezit.jpg">

Probably had something to do with him trying to get the spirit of Zuul out in the open.

Oh my GOD and I ate popcorn while watching this movie. Yet another association with food. How did they know?

Listen... you smell something?

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Due to the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II anniversaries lately I've been searching through old threads about these great films. I found this old thread that points out something I've never noticed before: This obvious connection between food and the ghosts.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

I'm amazed this photo is still up almost 12 years later.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

I see no photo

EDIT: Nevermind. I switched to a different browser and it's there. Firefox doesn't like it for some reason. Not even a broken link to let me know something should be there.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

It's hosted on an NYU server. You can still find stuff from 20+ years ago buried on the internet. Those sites become relics of the internet that was.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

A lot of this has more to do with product placement than subtext.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Ghostbusters II is a great film? :lol:

It's more or less the same movie as the first one, so if you like that one.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Is there junk food in the library?

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

C'mon....really? Never heard anyone make that argument.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

The librarian has "junk in the trunk".

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Are you, Groucho, currently menstruating right now?

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Is that where they give Egon the candy and say "go on...you've earned it"? Or is that just after the library.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Cheezits (and twinkies) aside there's not much product placement in the examples that the op gives.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

It's certainly no where near as good as the first but it's a respectable sequel.

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

There wasn't any actual promotion in regards to branding (like fast-food, soft drink or food tie-ins). There was a promotion with Coca-Cola in Europe, but that was about it. So if there was going to be any product placement in the film, it should have been Coke.

I guess technically you could throw Wise brand potato chips in to the mix (there's a bag in plain view behind Venkman when Walter Peck comes to the firehouse to talk to him).

Re: Ghostbusters observation
 

Stay Puft paid god money to have their mascot become the destroyer of worlds.

I don't mean it in a bad way, necessarily, I just mean that the second film was basically a rehash of the first with little interest in messing with the formula. Given how successful the first one was, I can hardly blame them, and given how many fans it has, it's clearly not an issue. More of the same when you like the same isn't a bad thing.