Rogue One and Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Who you gonna call? Not Darth Vader.

FIRST, LET’S TALK ABOUT ROGUE ONE

I love this film. Of all the newer Star Wars movies, this prequel to the original trilogy I fell in love with as a child is the one that I re-watch the most.

What lies at the heart of this film is a father’s love for his daughter. It is that love that makes the rest of the series possible; it is that love that puts a weakness at the black heart of the Death Star.

The movie also showed something that has—I would argue—never been evocatively depicted in any other Star Wars movie: the horror of Darth Vader. And I don’t mean that the other movies haven’t shown Darth Vader doing horrific things. They have. What I’m saying is that if you do a side-by-side comparison of the scene from A New Hope in which Vader boards Princess Leia’s cruiser with a similar scene from the very end of Rogue One, I think you will find that one specific element is lacking from the first that is present in the second: horror. For the soldiers on board the starship who probably had no direct experience with the Force but had heard rumors of Darth Vader, the guy who single-handedly destroyed the Jedi Council and was arguably the tip of the Empire’s spear, the cloaked, helmeted, red-lightsaber wielding figure that appeared in the shadows before them, was a walking nightmare, a boogeyman of the Dark Side. I don’t think any other film before Rogue One had reckoned with just how frightening it would actually be for a layman to come face to face with Vader.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

Between parenting a toddler and dealing with Covid restrictions, my wife and I haven’t had the chance to go out much, especially not without our child, and especially not to the movies. This is a familiar problem for parents, but one that is heightened by the strictures of Covid. So after having gotten our booster Vaccines, and a baby-sitter, we were finally able to go out to our second movie theatre experience since Covid started. And I’m so glad it was for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

I loved it. It was funny, heartfelt, fast-paced, and didn’t talk down to the audience. It also handled exposition perfectly, due to a particular choice made by the writers: that it doesn’t take any of the younger people (or the young at heart, in Paul Rudd’s character’s case) very long to accept that ghosts are real, and that the plan hatched by Phoebe, the protagonist, to deal with them is exactly what should be done. It’s the adults that have the problem: Phoebe’s mom, the town sheriff, and THAT GUY on the other end of the red phone. You’ll know which guy I mean if you watch this trailer.

It is the emotional baggage of the adults that is the real impediment to the progression of the plot. But it is also that baggage, that emotionally weighted history, that carries the consequences of the story. For Phoebe, the story is one of uncovering that history, and finding connection within it. While for Phoebe’s mom and some other hesitant adults, it is about finally confronting that history instead of running away from it.

But at the end of the day, it’s a story about family. And yes, maybe it did hit harder for me because I have a daughter, and watching the nerdy scientist Phoebe busting ghosts all over town with her proton pack made me think about what trouble and adventures lie ahead for my daughter. And yes, maybe it did hit harder for me because lying at the core of the plot is how parents will do anything to protect their children, even if it causes disruption. But a subtle aspect of the film that I loved, and I imagine many others did too, was Phoebe’s unique way of being.

Phoebe is different from most protagonists you see in movies. It’s never explicitly stated in the film, but she might be neurodivergent. Her mind works in a very specific way. And I’m clearly not the only speculator. If you want a more detailed breakdown of the the potential neurodiversity clues in the film, check out this blog post I found from Dori Zener & Associates: Ghostbuster Phoebe Spengler – The Ultimate Autistic Hero.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the film is that Phoebe doesn’t see her difference as an impediment. Other people do at times—even her mother. But in fact, her uniqueness makes her the most qualified person in the film to deal with the high-stakes scientific and paranormal task at hand. Case in point, when her panicked friend asks her why she isn’t freaking out about the metal munching ghost lurking around the corner of a creepy, abandoned factory, Phoebe lifts the neutrona wand of her proton pack and replies flatly, “overstimulation calms me.”

So, who you gonna call?

WHAT I’M READING:

• The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

• The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

• Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race by T.W. Rolleston

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

• Las Ligas Menores

• Deep Sea Diver, Impossible Weight

• Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher