History Headscratchers / Casper

* Carrigan passes on because obviously she has no unfinished business, but what bugs me is that she disappears in divine light. Divine light in ghost type movies often means the character is going to heaven. But Carrigan is a villain and did mostly evil things and died trying to kill someone. Wouldn't it be more appropriate if she burst into flames?

*** Either that, or maybe she went to Heaven to be judged before eventually being sent to Hell.

** There are different religions and believes in the afterlife. Some believe in reincarnation, some in other options than hell like limbo and purgatory, some like Jehovah's Witness that there's no hell and bad people just cease to exist. Carrigan's passing might very well be one of such. To properly answer this headscratcher we would have to know which afterlife applies on the Casper universe.

*** There is absolutely no indication that she goes out "in divine light". If anything, divine light is what we see on Kat's mom later on. The light beams and explosion are probably just what happens when a ghost is forced to cross over regardless of whether it was a good or bad person.

** His original unfinished business was just that. Making sure his dad wasn't alone even in death. However according to Kat's mom, whatever god looking after the dead was what granted him temporary life in exchange for sacrificing his chance to be alive. So odds are he was a special exception in that rule since he wasn't hurting anyone and all he wanted was friends, living or dead.
*** Casper's resurrection being "temporary" also brings up another question. Why is God (presumably, what with the whole "angel" thing) bound to Cinderella-logic?
*** It has less to do with "Cinderella-logic" and more with not messing too much with the way of the universe/life and death. Casper did Kat a huge favor by surrendering his one chance to come back to life permanently, so Kat's mother comes to reward him by making him a living boy. But she is not God and she cannot just change the fact that Casper died a long time ago when he was meant to, and that he is supposed to move on to the next world once his unfinished business are dealt with. Which means making him a living boy permanently would go against Casper's predetermined course, as well as alter the greater scheme of things. Whether the decision to reward Casper was God's or Kat's mother's is left unexplained; it could be that she merely asked for and got permission to grant him that wish on the condition that it was temporary and had as little impact on Casper's designed course as possible.

*** Alternatively, Dr. Harvey could be brought back to life because he had been dead only for minutes, and had not been discovered by the authorities during that time. He still had a life to step back into, with a family, a job, bank accounts and other possessions, and means of identification (a driver's license, Social Security card, birth certificate, and records). Casper has none of these things. He has been dead for decades, as has his entire family. If he were to come back to life in 1995, it would be as a child with no identification papers, no school or medical records, no family connections or anyone who can look after him, and no place in the world of the living. As much as we might like Dr. Harvey to take custody of a resurrected Casper -- and Dr. Harvey might be amenable to this himself -- it is unlikely that the authorities would allow that. After all, although Dr. Harvey's unusual career path and itinerant lifestyle is not enough for the authorities to take away his rights as Kat's biological father (unless the other parent is suing for custody, involuntary termination of parental rights is VERY difficult and generally requires the state to prove serious failings such as abandonment, neglect, or abuse -- none of which applies here), they would certainly think twice before placing an unrelated child with him.

** I agree with the above. Taking into consideration the repeating plot of the source material(Casper is lonely - meets someone he wants to befriend - they are afraid of him - he helps them - he is sourrounded by new friend(s)) it seems his unfinished business could be just that: finding friends (obviously one isn't enough or the friendship with Kat would have solved the problem)
** I thought that most of what kept Casper earthbound by the time the movie takes place is that he's pretty much lost his whole memory of his living self. In fact it's possible that he began losing it while his father was still alive.

*** But since Casper's dad did complete the lazarus machine, why didn't Casper just use it so he could be alive and live a fulfilled life with his dad?
*** Casper would have needed a living human accomplice to work the machine, what with ghosts having limited corporeal abilities and all, not to mention someone needing to pull the levers while Casper is inside the machine. We don't know the exact timeline of events, just that Casper's father was talking about resurrecting his son in public ''before'' the machine was complete. So for all we know, Casper's father could have finished building it and then been carted off to the asylum the very next day before he and Casper had an opportunity to use it. And with the implication that the longer a ghost is dead the more they forget about their life and that being around objects and people that they had an emotional connection to while alive can essentially trigger a ghost's memories, it's very likely that Casper simply quickly forgot about the machine once his father was no longer in the house to remind him. It was only being back among his things he'd prized when he was alive that triggered the memory again.

* Apart from sequel bait, why didn't they just take the other flasks of red stuff, most seemed to be quarter to under full, and pour them into one to bring Casper to life? or better yet, take it to a Biochemist or someone who deals with chemical comp? so they know what's in it and maybe make more? and also to point out the obvious reason they might not, they don't have to tell anybody what its for, just what's in it. "found it in an old case in the basement" excuse.
** Because a bio-chemist would be less inclined to personally save Casper as opposed to taking the formula and banking on it. Think about it. The would essentially be revealing the questions and answers to life's biggest questions to some random scientist. That there is life after death and more importantly that death can be reversed. You don't just give that kind of knowledge away. Even if they just asked a chemist to analyze the ingredients, they aren't scientists. It's not easy to create chemical formulas on your own, let alone one that can turn a supernatural being into flesh and blood again.
*** Firstly, a chemist is a scientist who specialises in chemistry. Secondly, there are scientists who are interested in resurrecting the dead [[RealityIsUnrealistic even in real life]]. Furthermore, with [[TechnologyMarchesOn technological advances in chemical analysis]], it would not be that difficult for modern scientists to reverse engineer the formula. Admittedly, the very concept of resurrection is a controversial topic as it could be seen by some as "playing God".

* The "Who you gonna call? Somebody else." scene made little sense to me for the reasons of A) the news report later on Dr. Harvey acted like they didn't know ghosts exist. But, if the Ghostbusters do, then that means the attack on New York did, so why do they still have disbelief? And, reason B) If the attack on New York in Ghostbusters happened in this universe- that mean Ray has gone up against Gozer, a literal god. So how would he be scared off by three prankster ghosts?

** Pneumonia can occur if one contracts a severe form of hypothermia, especially in young children and elderly adults and especially since it's at least heavily implied that Casper lived and died at some point in the 19th century before antibiotics were really a thing. What probably happened is that Casper contracted hypothermia by playing in the snow for too long and it then developed into pneumonia which is what eventually killed him. And yes, to a young boy, especially one who originally lived in (it's implied) at least a century prior, it's very likely that he ''wouldn't'' have understood what was happening to him other than he just "got sick", which is probably how the situation was phrased to him by his father/any doctor that attempted to treat him. After all, a dying 12 year old boy with increasing loss of mental functions and who in life obviously just wanted to play all day isn't exactly going to be thinking scientifically about his diagnosis.

** Through the TV, most likely. Casper is seen watching TV which is how he finds out about Dr. Harvey and orchestrates things so he pays a visit. One should assume the Ghostly Trio also watches TV sometimes and they have seen something about Dr. Harvey before. Alternatively, Dr. Harvey might be well known among regular ghosts that go out and do the usual ghostly things (Casper however stays home most of the time since he's made to do chores by his uncle's).

** There are different religions and believes in the afterlife. Some believe in reincarnation, some in other options than hell like limbo and purgatory, some like Jehova's Witness that there's no hell and bad prople just cease to exist. Carrigan's passing might very well be one of such. To properly answer this headscratcher we would have to know which afterlife applies on the Casper universe.

* Do we know exactly what killed Casper? It was because of sledding at night and he "got sick and his dad got sad". I know about CatchYourDeathOfCold, but a common cold can't kill you. Wiki/TheOtherWiki says it was pneumonia, but isn't pneumonia a lung infection and how do they know it was pneumonia? Or did Casper just say "sick" because he doesn't know the word for hypothermia?