1920secretsociety

[1920secretsociety]

The way they all enter The Sedgewick Hotel when they are sent to catch Slimer again says so much about them.

Venkman immediately draws as much attention as possible by shouting as soon as he steps into the hotel, making everyone in the lobby stare at the them. This shows that Venkman is concerned about promoting and image not a service, he wants everyone to see them and know who they are. Also by shouting he also shows that the he doesn't really care about the client and their wishes as he publicly announces in the busiest bit of the hotel that they've got a ghost. This could show that Venkman has a not a lot of emotional intelligence as he could not figure out that the client wouldn't want this but I think it primarily shows that he only cares about the fame and attention as he literally has everyone's attention as soon as he steps into the building.

Ray also likes the attention as he smiles when Venkman shouts. However, he knows that there is a job at hand and asks sensible questions, showing that he is still a scientist not just an attention seeker. But Ray lies to the client. He says that they handle these things all the time, which they don't as this is their first time capturing a ghost. This could imply that Ray is just as concerned about the image as Venkman, as he doesn't want them to seem inadequate, but it could also show that Ray is emotionally intelligent because if the client knew that they hadn't done this before he would panic. The emotional intelligence of Ray can be added to by the fact he only expresses his concerns once they are out of the way of everyone. He says that they haven't had a successful test of the equipment in the lift, where no one's around. This might be to save people from panicking or it might be to keep an image of competence.

And then there is Egon. As soon as Venkman shouts he rolls his eyes, knowing that all the attention is now on them and probably because he knew Venkman was going to do it but he hoped he wouldn't as he wanted to keep a low profile. After that a woman walks across the screen and stares at all three of them. Venkman loves the attention, Ray likes it but Egon just gives her judgemental looks while looking uncomfortable. In that small frame of time it's completely obvious that Egon hates attention and fame, he wants nothing to do with it as it makes him uncomfortable shown by the fact he taps his fingers constantly. It's also obvious that he is basically the only true scientist there as he's the only one who asks a useful question that could help them, as finding out if Slimer has been reported before could mean that there is already information on him. It's also shown that he is the only true scientist as he's the only one who is checking out the environment (probably assessing how much damage they are going to cause) but he takes everything into account, like a scientist should. Egon is just concerned about the job.

Another important factor is how they all followed Janine's orders and requests from the client. The orders were that they'd be totally descreet and in simple terms this is what they do:

Venkman ignores them (he shouts before they've even spoken to the client and after they've caught Slimer)

Ray partly follows them (he shouts when they've caught Slimer and shows off the trap but is mostly descreet)

Egon follows them completely (he does absolutely no shouting whatsoever and barely talks)

This scene just proves the actual motives of each one of them when I'm the Ghostbusters uniform.

[1920secretsociety]

'Egon I'm gonna take back some of the things I said about you' - Peter Venkman

What does this mean?

What did he say?

Did he like Egon?

Did he think Egon wasn't intelligent?

Did he think Egon was stupid cause he believed in ghosts?

Did he make fun of Egon cause he's socially awkward?

Did he tell Egon to lighten up?

I need to know what he said about Egon. It drives me insane!

[1920secretsociety]

Let's talk about the prison scene:

This has always been my favourite scene in Ghostbusters. I know it may seem a bit weird to find this scene amazing but bare with me.

This scene is their most vulnerable moment, they are in a state of limbo at whether they are going to jail or walk free. No one is in control here, they have no idea what's going to happen, meaning we see the true and hidden characteristics of each Ghostbuster.

Egon

Egon mostly proves to be everything we thought. He is logical and intelligent, he seems to be the only one who has done any form of in-depth research on Dana's case. He found the architect's name (Ivo Shandor) and all his history while working full time as a Ghostbuster, inventing their equipment and keeping an eye on the storage facility's data, reinforcing the preconception that Egon is a workaholic and incredibly smart. However, it's also a moment you see a new characteristic - confidence. When Egon tells Venkman, Ray and Winston what is happening, Egon is only expecting them to listen, when everyone else in the cell decides to listen you see that Egon is shocked. It's obvious that he doesn't expect anyone to listen but when he comes to terms with the fact the other prisoners are listening, Egon gains confidence. When stating facts about Shandor, Egon becomes increasingly confident and he even stands up at the end to prove the severity of the situation. This is never seen before as Egon is usually subdued, quiet and rarely ever uses body language, and in this whole scene he is completely different. This shows that Egon has the characteristic of confident and that he can command a presence, which is shown by the fact that everyone starts listening to him. He is a confident individual when it comes to his science and facts, especially when explaining them and this is completely shown here. Egon is not always the reserved scientist we thought, he has confidence but just expresses it differently.

Ray

Ray is shown to be intelligent in multiple different ways. Ray is completely involved in the investigation of Dana's apartment as he does his part of the research and learns the foundation that the architecture is weird, it's a conductor and these are all facts Egon builds on. This shows that Ray is a intelligent individual who gives facts that are as valuable as Egon's, and along with this a different type of intelligence emerges. In this scene, Ray is the only one who realises that Venkman has been lying the whole time about studying. This took a lot of intelligence to work out as you usually trust people, especially ones you have known for a long time and come from a credential background. The fact Ray works it out shows that he has a deep knowledge of his friends, proving that he has amazing intelligence when it comes to understanding people. However, it also shows Ray's bravey. Making an accusation that big could have backfired as Venkman may have become deeply offended, if he actually had studied. Therefore, it shows that Ray is an individual who is intelligent and incredibly brave as questioning people's credentials, could result in a massive argument or a falling out. This whole scene shows that Ray has an amazing perception and intelligence of people as he deduces Venkman's lies immediately and that he has confidence in each of his analysis, as he said that Venkman was lying with full confidence, despite the only legitimate evidence being a feeling.

Winston

Winston is showed to be intelligent and logical. In this scene he seems to be the only one whose genuinely concerned about going to jail, as he's the only one who shouts at the guard, trying to get out. The rest are not really bothered, they're more concerned about sharing information on Gozer, but as much as Winston believes in it he understands that being in jail is the more important problem, as they can't stop Gozer if they're locked up. He is also the only one who realises that the reality of Gozer coming is just going to look insane in court, as to the outside world ghosts are not really considered real, never mind a ghost attack. All of this reveals that Winston is intelligent and logical, he is a realist and has an amazing perception of the outside world and social situations. He's as intelligent as Egon but in a completely different way, his intelligence lies in his knowledge of the real world, and this gives him a vital role within Ghostbusters as without Winston's intelligence of the outside world they would have no real idea of how to navigate it.

Venkman

Venkman is shown to be helpful and caring. After Egon is finished explaining that Gozer is coming back all the prisoners are still around him. This would make Egon uneasy as he hates social situations and he has no more science or facts to make him feel confident as he's finished explaining. Venkman knows how uneasy Egon is and helps as he starts singing. He does this to draw attention away from Egon and while singing he forces everyone back, and he keeps going they are all far away from Egon. It's a small thing but it shows how much he really does care about Egon and all of the Ghostbusters. Venkman obviously understands them all on a deep level as it took him about a second to realise that Egon was uncomfortable. This all shows that despite all his faults Venkman is helpful and more importantly caring, he will do anything to insure that the rest of the his colleagues are happy and secure, even if it means embarrassing himself.

This is why I absolutely love this scene. We see glimpses of their personalities that we never see in any other situation. It's the most honest they all are, it shows their character development and more importantly gives us all a million more reasons to love them.

[1920secretsociety]

I just want to delve into a little wormhole about how Egon always pops his collar as it's a small detail that has always interested me.

If we go back to when Egon isn't in the Ghostbusters uniform he wears a suit and tie, making him look like a stereotypical old-school scientist. He is never seen in a t-shirt or a shirt that is unbuttoned which is clear in a deleted scene in Ghostbusters 2 when he is the only Ghostbuster who does all of the buttons up on his shirt when they are committed to the psych ward.

The fact Egon never wears anything other than a blazer, shirt, tie, and trousers when not in the Ghostbusters uniform suggests that he is the most comfortable in these clothes, even if they are considered formal and only suitable for special occasions. This implies that Egon is uncomfortable in more comfy clothes like t-shirts as he has multiple opportunities to wear them but never does.

This means that the Ghostbusters uniform would be a big step outside of Egon's comfort zone as he doesn't wear anything different and if he does, like his pyjamas it still has a collar and buttons. Therefore, popping the collar may give Egon a sense of security and comfort as it reminds him of the collar on his shirts, which is a part of his normal, comforting clothes.

I also think it's clear that Egon doesn't like change as even his usual clothes are the same; he has the same dark grey blazer and trousers on in every scene and more often than not he wears a grey jumper under his blazer. The tie changes (though they are usually in the same colour pallet) and so does the jumper as it's sometimes a different shade of grey, but I think it's likely that the reason it changes is because his usual light grey jumper was unavailable as it was being washed or something, but the main thing is - it's still grey.

It's obvious that Egon keeps to a pattern with his clothes and the Ghostbusters uniform completely breaks this pattern. Therefore, it makes sense that Egon would pop his collar as he would be keeping the pattern of having something around his neck e.g. his shirt's collar, but he would also retain a sense of regularity and comfort as he has a bit of his normal, comforting clothes with him even if he has to create it by popping his collar.

However, there are some instances when Egon's collar is not up but is actually down. Most of these occur because the collar has been forced down by an activity or a movement and he instantly puts it up when he gets the chance which is shown when they get let out of the psych ward in Ghostbusters 2 as in the background you can see (barely but it's there) that as soon as Egon has his uniform on and before he's zipped it up he goes straight to the collar and pulls it up. However, sometimes it is purposefully down and that mostly happens when he is with Ray.

It's clear that Egon and Ray have a great relationship and the strength of the relationship can be verified by the way Egon wears his clothes.

This picture has always fascinated me firstly because Egon has not popped his collar but also by the fact that the zip on Egon's uniform is undone. In every other scene the zip on Egon's uniform is close to the top, so close that you can barely see the black t-shirt underneath but with Ray his zip is completely undone and I think this shows that Egon is the most comfortable around Ray. When Egon is around Venkman or Winston he wears his uniform with a popped collar and a fully closed zip but with Ray he does not do this. When he is around Ray, Egon wears his clothes in a more lazy way, which is a complete contrast to Egon's usual character implying that Ray makes Egon feel relaxed and comforted as he drops some of the formalities within his clothing and doesn't pop his collar.

In conclusion, Egon hates change and has a set of clothes that he finds comforting and deviating from them causes him discomfort so he tries everything to make himself more comfortable, the main thing being popping his collar. The way Egon wears his clothes says so much about his character and the small touch by Harold Ramis of popping Egon's collar says a lot about Egon and his personality.

Sorry for the long post but I just needed to get this off my chest.