Ghostbusting Lovecraft

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An interesting article on Lovecraft in Ghostbusters, and how the film confirms the Lovecraftian world view, whilst also providing an antidote to it.

It being the 30th anniversary of the film, and with it coming out on Netflix, I re-watched it recently. There were many things that passed me by when watching it the first time round, one of which being Bill Murray's character, Venkman. One thing that struck me was how much of a sex-pest Venkman was. It was almost enough to spoil the film for me. My world view, and I hope that of films in general has moved on a lot since 1985, and what was acceptable then, and what I failed to think twice about now strikes me as just wrong. This is but one reason why I am so very glad that the remake of the film that is planned has gone for an all female cast.

Still, in many ways, Ghostbusters is a classic, and much as Lovecraft's racism now strikes readers but is not enough to stop them from enjoying the rest of his prose, Venkman's misogyny is hopefully ot enough in itself to stop the enjoyment of the rest of the film, as it truly still has may things to offer.


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