Schmoozing Jennifer: Part One

Venkman putting his moves on Jennifer.

As the male students marches angrily out of the lab, soft music begins to play as Peter Venkman, seating himself beside Jennifer, places one hand across her back and another on her forearm in an attempt to comfort her.

---

Venkman: “You may as well get used to that, that’s the kind of resentment that your ability is going to provoke in some people.”

---

Venkman is closing in for the kill, using kindness as a foil to groom his prey. Like I’ve mentioned already, Ghostbusters has unusual ingredients for a film widely perceived as one for all the family. Still, it’s funny black humour, though clearly targeting a younger male-demographic.

---

Jennifer: “Do you think I have it, Dr. Venkman?”

---

Asks Jennifer, with sincerity. She seems all-the-more vulnerable to us now that she is alone with Venkman. In his response, Venkman briefly pauses before he says…

---

Venkman: “You’re no fluke, Jennifer.”

---

Words by Gareth Rhodes.

 

Venkman Burn In Hell

As Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters theme-song fades, we arrive at the door of the Paranormal Studies Laboratory inside Weaver Hall. On the glass face of the door, the words “VENKMAN BURN IN HELL” have been crudely dorbed in red lettering that looks like blood. It’s the first piece of character information about Dr. Peter Venkman, played by Saturday Night Live alumnus, Bill Murray. Underneath the graffiti, in an official capacity, the names of Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Ackroyd), Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) and Dr. Peter Venkman are traced on the door. The camera then pans down to the door handle, on which hangs a ‘maid service door hanger’, asking to have the room ‘made up’. We hear the voice of Peter Venkman coming from the room.

Peter Venkman: All right, I’m going to turn over the next card. I want you to concentrate. I want you to tell me what it is.

In this brief establishing shot, we learn that Dr. Venkman is a man with enemies – we’re about to find out why. The maid sign on the door handle is a subtle indicator of a quirky personality at work.

Words by Gareth Rhodes.

Ray Parker Jr.

As Alice Drummond’s terrified librarian screams out, Ray Parker Jr’s iconic Ghostbusters theme song bursts to life as the equally iconic ‘no ghosts’ logo fills the screen. It’s a sudden divorce from the intensity of the previous scene, ushering in a cartoonish tone. We’re only treated to a few bars of the song for now, but for younger viewers, it acts as a pressure release valve from the horror of the introduction and a promise of fun to come.

Ray Parker Jr. sporting the famous logo.

As the song runs, we see an establishing shot taken from behind the Alma Mater sculpture of the goddess Athena, which faces the Low Memorial Library on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University. This maintains gothic continuity with the earlier shot of the stone lions outside the library – a sense of watchful statues buildings.

The goddess Athena in the movie.

A recent image of the sculpture from a similar angle.

We then see another establishing shot, low on the entrance of the university building which signposts ‘Weaver Hall Department of Psychology’. In real life, this building is Havemeyer Hall. Of course, the hall shares its name with one of the stars of the film. Sigourney Weaver.

 

Weaver Hall Department of Psychology, as seen in the film. 

 

In real life, it is Havemeyer Hall – dedicated to science & mathematics.  

 

Trivia: Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters theme song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11th 1984, remaining there for three-weeks.

Trivia: Michael C. Gross designed the ‘no ghosts’ logo, loosely basing it on ‘no’ European road signs.

Words by Gareth Rhodes.