Spook Central: Ghostbusters gets the room 237 treatment

[Danny]

sdueGUDmr0o

God i wish this was real. As a film grad myself i know just easily some people sit around, read something out of nothing and blather about "hidden meanings" and semiotics for hours. I think this is a spoof trailer, but even if this was real and not a tongue in cheek parody? it could still be the best comedy in years :lol:

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, that looks more like a piss take than a real thing ... I've not seen Room 237, but would like to (with a salt shaker nearby for the wackiest theories) ... however, to be fair, the theory about space and impossible rooms/corridors etc is justified and real ... but when I heard that one of the theories is about 'ooh, the moon landings are fake', I just thought "oh, piss off".

Yeah - you can read whatever you want into a film. For instance, on a Spielberg/Lucas course we had to do a class presentation about one of the films on the list, and we had "Duel", and we ended up saying that it was a metaphor for male rape ... however, we clued the class in-on-this before the teacher arrived (who was reknowned for reading total smut into Disney films), in that we were making it up as a joke ... anyway, the teacher took it seriously, lapped it up and we got a good mark.

You could certainly read a theme of masculinity into Duel - the great big industrial truck, and the pokey little red car with the ineffective suburban white collar business man driving it, being forced into action to save his own life and ultimately being triumphant ... ... but, as stated to our classmates before that presentation, our reading of it as a metaphor for male rape was total bollocks.

Indeed, when writing a screenplay, you've got so much to think about, that you wouldn't have enough time to filter in all these intricate 'messages'. I never saw them smoking as a 'filthy habit' in the movie - it just seems like semi-schlubby guys relaxing after work - it was just a part of the time.

There's certainly a sexual element to Ghostbusters, but only so far as a few jokes put in for the adults in the audience - I never got them whatsoever as a child (e.g. Ray's ghost BJ), but when watching it for the first time in years as an adult, I suddenly saw all those jokes. One of the beasty hands does grab Dana's boob at one point, but that's either a case of a crew member who couldn't see shit from where they were hiding, or a crew member who could blame not seeing shit from where they were hiding so they could feel her up.

There's a fine line between bullshit and actual thematic readings of films - in the end it's all theories, but at the same time, different viewers gain different meanings and experiences from the same film. It might be genuine responses to a film - e.g. I once wrote an essay for a 'Photography and the Arts' course regarding the blend of photography and cinematography, in regards to the framing of certain scenes, in the Antonioni film Blow-Up, and how it was visually representing the wider themes (and character arc) present in the film.

Another example would be an essay I wrote for the Canadian & Quebecois Cinema course, where I analysed David Cronenberg's "Rabid" (and "Shivers", to an extent) in the socio-political context of 1970s Canada ... or how I analysed the technical details of the "soldier's eye view" of the beach landing in "Saving Private Ryan" (I spent hours, going frame-by-frame, over that sequence ... tiring, alright :D).

On the other side of the spectrum you've got 'he was trying to say the moon landings were fake!' ... and if Twinkies are so bad for you, then how come Egon is a goddamn genius? :p:cool::D

[shootemindehead]

- you can read whatever you want into a film. For instance, on a Spielberg/Lucas course we had to do a class presentation about one of the films on the list, and we had "Duel", and we ended up saying that it was a metaphor for male rape ... however, we clued the class in-on-this before the teacher arrived (who was reknowned for reading total smut into Disney films), in that we were making it up as a joke ... anyway, the teacher took it seriously, lapped it up and we got a good mark.

Ha ha...you cheeky buggers.


I'd have failed you on the spot!

[MoonSylver]

Hm. Makes me think of all those times the truck rear ends him in a whole new context. :eek: :lol:

[MinionZombie]

Ha ha...you cheeky buggers.

I'd have failed you on the spot!

:D:D:D


Hm. Makes me think of all those times the truck rear ends him in a whole new context. :eek: :lol:

:lol::lol::lol:

He was a strange lecturer as well. He was very snippy when you had your own idea for an essay, and then when he presented a bunch of 'essay titles' for the class to choose from if they wished, I did so and then guess what? He was snippy about that title/idea too! His face changed an awful lot when I reminded him that the title was one of his own. :lol::lol::lol: