Discussion Franchise / Ghostbusters

Is Winston really a token character though? He seems pretty well-rounded and doesn't revolve solely around his minority status. I think whoever wrote that doesn't quite understand that a token character isn't just any minority character, but that they are minority characters whose sole purpose is to be a minority and represent.

Regarding Winston and rats:

I, Prime Evil, really, really want to list this as a possible reason for his, um, rat-o-phobia, but I can't find any way of saying this without coming off as racist. Oh, well, here but for the grace of God go I:

I've heard it told that Blacks in particular are fearful of rats because of instincts ingrained from their parents/grandparents, who may have lived in kitchenette buildings and other, similarly cramped dwellings. Now, for the explanation: Rats, as we all know, are hungry little bastards. They'll go for anything they can smell—milk, say. What's a good source of milk? Babies who have just fed from a bottle. It's not a pretty picture.

My explanation does have precedent: the beginning of Richard Wright's "Native Son" (Mama, woth a frying pan, desperately chasing a rat and shrieking) and a scene in Disney's Lady and the Tramp—granted, a few of the conditions aren't there, but there ARE rats, and they ARE trying to go after a baby.

I don't think the GB Timeline covers it, but I propose that Winston had a younger sibling, and he saw such a terrible sight, which might explain his almost reflexive fear of rats.

Again, I just don't know how to say this without coming across as an insensitive tosser. Advice, anyone?

I was playing playing the 2009 video game today, and I think that first ghost you catch, the one you let out by acidently shooting the contanment unit is a Shout Out to a skit in monty python's meaning of life. The one one with the extermly fat customer that throws up all over the resturant and then blows up at the end.

Just sayin' - your mileage MAY vary on the subject of "Vocal Evolution" in the game. It's not like I sat down and watched GB 2 the whole way through before I fired up the game, but I personally found it a very, VERY mild case.

I added the following trope, which was subsequently removed:

• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In the first movie, in the midst of all the comedy, there is one serious scene in which Winston and Ray discuss biblical prophecy — particularly a line about "the dead rising from the grave" — but Ray dismisses it as just one example in a long line of ancient myths. When Winston suggests that the increased paranormal activity is because the dead have been rising from the grave, both men grow uncomfortable and drop the subject. While this scene ostensibly validates a mainstream Christian view, take note that the only god who actually makes an appearance in the movie is Gozer, who is Sumerian. The implications of this are never discussed.

It was removed by Fighteer, who says: "that's one hell of a stretch. and it doesn't fit the trope at all." I believe that, on the contrary, it does fit the trope, given that Christian Moral Watchdogs in the United States would complain a great deal if they realized the possible implications underlying the plot of the movie: that Christianity may possibly be wrong, that other religions might be right, or that there may be some kind of pantheon of ancient gods. In any case, Ghostbusters has a fairly anti-theistic message (considering the boys defeat a god with nothing but their technology), but somehow the subtle background to Ghostbusters went unnoticed by the Moral Watchdogs of its time. I believe the scene with Winston and Ray (and a later scene at the mayor's office) mistakenly led contemporary Moral Watchdogs to believe the movie had a Christian message — when in reality the message was the complete opposite.

This article has more writing than I've done on the subject: http://www.overthinkingit.com/2009/06/10/there-is-no-religious-undertone-only-zuul/

I believe the trope should be added as a valid example of Getting Crap Past the Radar.