We apologize for the quality of this month’s audio; we did not discover the error in our recording until after our holiday travel had started, and by then, it was too late to re-record.
In 1984, thanks to the efforts of eccentric cultist Ivo Shandor, New York City was invaded by ghosts. As often happens in Hollywood, an eclectic group of misfits gathered together and formed the Ghostbusters. Along the way, they trapped spirits, opposed an ancient Sumerian deity, and blew up a 112 ft marshmallow monster, showering over 150,000 cubic feet of marshmallow fluff down on the streets of Manhattan.
Flash forward 30 years to the town of Summerville, OK. The unknown scions of Ghostbuster Egon Spengler have moved into the house they inherited upon Egon’s death. They have their hearts set on starting a new life, but it turns out that the Egon did not move to Oklahoma for no reason. Summerville is where Ivo Shandor had been engineering another attempt to bring Gozer into the world. Egon died to prevent it, and now his grandchildren were going to risk everything they had to stop it from happening. Once they figure out who they are and what a ghostbuster is.
This month, Eve and I [don’t just] watch the new movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by Jason Reitman and starring Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, and Mckenna Grace. Ghostbusters: Afterlife was my Dune. I’ve been following the production and waiting for its release for more than a year. I’d seen the original Ghostbusters in theaters back when I was a teenager, and I was excited for this movie for two reasons: First, two eliminate the poor taste that the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters had left in the collective mouth of expectant moviegoers. Second, to return to the Ghostbusters universe with a creative team looking to both build on and honor the legacy of the first movie. Thankfully, they succeeded on both counts.
The music was by a composer that we’ve not encountered before, the talented Rob Simonsen. Although the music doesn’t quite carry the same weight as the original movie, it does a good job setting the mood. It has hints of both comedy and haunted house. Simonsen integrated the original score and Ghostbusters theme song into the music for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which felt appropriate.
Initial Reactions
Ghostbusters: Afterlife does an admirable job of embracing the campiness of the original films and invoking nostalgia. It doesn’t try to be high-brow, intellectual comedy. The preteen main character, Phoebe, embraces what you might call “dad jokes” as a tool for making friends in her new home. The jokes are all old, but she tells them so that it endears her character to the audience and works well within the story.
The movie nostalgically embraces the ensemble formula of the originals as well. Phoebe is the spitting image of her grandfather, Egon. The delightfully humorous character of Podcast could easily be mistaken for a younger version of Ray. Phoebe’s 15-year-old brother, Trevor, clearly has romantic aspirations that drive many of his decisions, making him the Venkman-esque addition to the group. The group is rounded out by a latecomer and outsider (and target of Trevor’s affection), Lucky, mirroring Winston Zeddemore’s addition to the Ghostbusters team halfway through the first movie.
Interestingly, going back and rewatching the original from a Christian worldview, it is clear that both movies are blatantly humanistic, despite the repeated use of scripture to set the tone. The combination of the humanistic philosophy and the off-color humor make this film (and its original) inappropriate for younger children. However, even with older kids, it bears discussing how the movie reflects worldview elements in line with modern society but at odds with the Christian faith—and good sense.
The characters of Phoebe and Podcast are the standouts of the movie for us. Both actors did a great job with their characters, creating a chemistry that makes them both stand out and be nostalgic.
Despite the importance of heritage and family in the overall plot, the matriarch of the Spengler family comes across as neither a good mother nor a particularly good person. Reminiscent of a divorcee badmouthing the absent parent, Callie viciously badmouths her father to his grandchildren. Worse yet, she does this all after he has died of a heart attack, violating the “don’t speak ill of the dead” rule that permeates most of civilization. Her general outlook is worse than depressing, and she does not attempt to shield the children from this atrocious attitude. It may be that they were trying to show that she was a terrible parent because she had a terrible parent, but if that was their intent, they missed the mark.
In another way Afterlife devalues linage is it makes a big deal over Phoebe being Egon’s granddaughter, but Phoebe’s father is rarely mentioned in the film. Instead, he gets two throwaway references in a dating scene between Callie and Gary. Likewise, Callie’s mother (by extension, Phoebe and Trevor’s grandmother) is never mentioned—even though it is clear that Callie would have to have been raised by her mother alone since around the age of 8. Fans of the first movies might have thought her mother would have been Annie Pott’s character of Janine Melnitz, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. When Janine and Callie first share a scene, it is apparent that they’ve never met.
It almost feels like Afterlife and movies that actively discard familial ties, and parental respect are assaulting a foundation of our society that we should be protecting.
Like a Child
“Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me. (Matthew 18:1-5)
In the space of twenty movie minutes, the character of Phoebe goes from not believing in ghosts to interacting with her grandfather’s spirit as if it were an everyday occurrence. She had a position, discovered and accepted that she was wrong, and adjusted with this new information. This is the kind of faith and acceptance we need to have in God. When He reveals a truth to us, we need to accept it and move on. Like when we teach our children and take what we say as immutable fact, we are the children of God, and when He speaks, it truly is immutable.
For the same reason, we need to be exceedingly careful with what and how we teach our children. Because they have this childlike faith, they are more open to correction and guidance from people they respect and have authority over. Teaching them the wrong things—things that oppose the will of God—is far more damaging than misleading adults. False teachers are rewriting a child’s perception of reality in a way that will affect them for years or decades, if not the rest of their lives.
There was another example of childish behavior in Afterlife that I found far more chilling. As the sheriff releases Phoebe, Trevor, and Podcast into Callie and Gary’s custody, he makes an insulting comment about Egon. Pheobe loses her temper and draws the proton pack on him. Given the incredible and immense damage she has seen this thing do, there should be no doubt in her mind that shooting the sheriff with this device would certainly be fatal.
In the same way that children are more malleable, they also have the dangerous combination of fewer inhibitions and the inability to foresee the consequences of their actions easily. This is why we don’t let children learn to drive until they are well into their teenage years at the earliest. Parents should very carefully consider their children’s maturity levels before making potentially dangerous purchases, like a Red Ryder BB Gun.
This is why both parents must take an active role in raising and training their children. What we see in this scene in the movie could easily be attributed, at least in part, to the influence that Phoebe’s mother has had on her. Callie doesn’t appear to attempt to moderate her emotions or demonstrate restraint. Perhaps, if Callie had been a better role model, Phoebe might be more self-controlled.
Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
Science is the Answer
As mentioned before, both Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters: Afterlife lean heavily on the humanistic philosophy. In a couple of points in Afterlife, we see the characters declaring the beauty of science:
Phoebe: Are you sure this is safe?
Mr. Grooberson: No, history is safe, geometry is safe, science is nuclear and hydrogen bombs, science is injecting yourself with the plague and trying to find a cure in time.
Phoebe: Science is reckless
Grooberson: Science is pure. It’s an answer to all the madness.
If you look at the definition of science, Mr. Grooberson is terrifyingly wrong. Science is “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural behavior through observation and experiment.” The “systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject” is constantly being refuted, changed, and updated by its very definition. Science isn’t the “answer to all the madness”; it only defines the questions’ parameters.
Paul cautions Timothy to guard his knowledge:
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some people have departed from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
Just as we shouldn’t just assume that scientists are out to discredit Christianity, we also have to remember that science is framing the questions that God answers. Science isn’t in opposition to faith; it is complementary to it. It only becomes an obstacle to belief when it is placed in a higher position of authority than the word of God.
This is where Ghostbusters: Afterlife fails. The movie deals with a spiritual problem but determines that science is the solution. They set aside the absolute certainty of God’s authority in spiritual issues and embrace the constantly changing landscape of knowledge developed through the “systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” God is the author of the things we attempt to describe with science. To leave him out of those explanations is to lose a significant portion of what makes up the natural world.
For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:10-12)
To be clear, we’re not mocking science or scientist—not at all. We caution against forgetting that science is the study of God’s creation. Scripture tells us that observation and experiment are the marks of a sensible person:
The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps. (Proverbs 14:15)
Revelations 6:12(-14)
Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood; the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
Both Ghostbusters movie plots are built around preventing the apocalypse, even going so far as referencing John’s vision of the event in the Book of Revelations. Apocalypse and ghosts and demons seem to be considered a little crazy but dealt with believably, yet there is no mention of God or a belief in God other than the demigod Gozer. The idea of the apocalypse from the Bible is accepted as a given, but anything else is ignored. Like before, they divorce the concept of the apocalypse and the recollection of the opening of the seals from who it is that is opening the seals:
Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals. I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne. (Revelation 5:1-7)
The movie tells the apocalypse story but leaves God’s role in it—and His ultimate victory over evil—out of the narrative entirely. It is essential to show that humanity will save the day, that humanity will assume the role of God.
Are you a god?
In 1984’s Ghostbusters, the Sumerian demigod asks Ray, “Are you a god?” and he says, “No.” Gozer immediately tries to execute Ray and the other Ghostbusters. After the battle, Winston demonstrates Ray, “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say ‘YES’!” In 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the returned Gozer asks a much older Ray the same question, to which he replies, “Yes. We’re all gods.” (Gozer still tries to kill everyone, of course.) This is so telling for the attitudes in storytelling today—we are all our salvation, able to overcome all the unfathomable evils of the world through the application of our observation and experimentation. Rather than depend on Him, who is never confused or unprepared, we claim that we, who will never understand all the mysteries of creation, will save ourselves.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. (Ephesians 6:12)
Why would you want any other power?
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)
Differently Social
Egon Spengler, if evaluated today, would undoubtedly be called “on the spectrum.” Incredibly smart but nearly a social invalid. Phoebe is portrayed in an almost identical way. A significant plot point is that Egon figured out that Ivo Shandor was engineering the return of Gozer in Summerville, OK. When he could not convince Ray, Peter (and Winston?) that the threat was real, he abandoned his friends and family, stole all the equipment, and relocated to Summerville, where he spent 20 years devising and implementing a plan to stop Gozer.
It is reasonable to believe that Egon did not possess the social skills necessary to communicate the threat, yet Ray, Peter, and Winston seem to have disowned him, at one point, saying, “Egon Spengler can rot in hell.” For people who claimed to have loved him and knew of his social challenges, they seem to have damned him to hell pretty quickly. As Christians, we need to express our love for one another despite their difficulties. This is hard to do.
In the movie, we might forgive Callie for not understanding the difficulties someone like Egon Spengler might have with social interaction and parental responsibilities. She was likely only eight years old or so when he left. But the other Ghostbusters had known Egon for years and were well aware of Egon’s difficulties in these areas. Yet all three of them condemned Egon for his actions.
Destruction of this fictional relationship should serve to remind us that we are called to love one another because God is in us:
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7-8)
Just because the people around us—our friends and family even—do not embrace God’s truth, it is not an excuse not to show them the love and respect of a man or a woman created in the image of God Himself.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. (Galatians 5:22-23)
If Christ is in us, we should be seeing the fruits of the spirit—of which love is paramount.
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12–14)
There is no limit to the people deserving of God’s love. It is not ours to withhold. It doesn’t matter if they are man or woman, gay or straight, democrat or republican, black, white, or any color in between. Every single one should receive nothing from us but the fruit of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us.
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