Comments on: Ghostbusters: False Hope for Nerd Integration?

By: Ye Olde Comic Shoppe - Tweets This Week: 2010-06-26

Ye Olde Comic Shoppe - Tweets This Week: 2010-06-26 — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:11:56 +0000

[...] False Hope for Nerd Integration? – http://www.nerdist.com/2010/06/ghostbusters-false-hope-for-nerd-integration/ [...]

By: Bill D.

Bill D. — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:01:13 +0000

I’ve always had a hard time seeing Venkman as a nerd, at least on the same level as Egon and Ray, anyway. He certainly knows his stuff, and seems like the sort of guy who would be brilliant if he managed to actually apply himself, but knows he can coast on charm. You have to figure that psych doctorate was way more useful to him than the parapsychology one.

Also, it just kinda dawned on me that Venkman is basically the Steve Ballmer of the Ghostbusters to Egon and Ray’s Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the guy who knows what to say to people (smarmily or otherwise), and most importantly, the guy who knows how to make money off of this stuff.

By: ModernSophist

ModernSophist — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:39:17 +0000

Fantastic, Mr. Hardwick,

I’m a big fan of ‘altered’ trailers and how keenly they can skew the perspective of a movie’s plot. Really well done. I’d see that film.

By: Clif

Clif — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:59:33 +0000

What irks me about the ghostbusters archetypes is that no one thinks of themselves as Ray! Most nerds who get excited about their nerd focus are just as excited as the good Dr. Stantz. When the Ghostbusters trap slimer for the first time, you can hear the excitement of a true nerd! It’s the same tone I hear from @donttrythis after a successful test run, or from @nerdist when he talks about comedy. The excitement and innocence of true nerdism.

By: Chris Hardwick

Chris Hardwick — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:33:01 +0000

Here’s a video I made with my friend that imagines what if Zeddemore were the ONLY Ghostbuster:

By: Todd R

Todd R — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:28:20 +0000

Haha, I don’t think the nerdiest nerd in the world doesn’t know what basketball is. The hyperlink to wiki definition was very thoughtfull though.

By: ModernSophist

ModernSophist — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:46:02 +0000

@Matthew B.
It’s understandable. I once spent three days fretting the loss of a short paragraph on a Chinese guy I met in line at the DMV who was overly enthusiastic about the Cal football team, all because my editor said my piece was “unruly.”

Meanwhile, you have inspired me to write a Ghostbusters piece of my own, a quiz of sorts, entitled “Which Ghostbuster Are You?” I am guessing you are not a Winston Zeddmore.

By: Which Ghostbuster Are You?

Which Ghostbuster Are You? — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:38:31 +0000

[...] love analyzing the Ghostbusters, in part, because they represent many of the myriad sub-classes of nerds. Asking yourself which [...]

By: Matthew Burnside

Matthew Burnside — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:06:47 +0000

Wow! Glad to see all the comments.

@ModernSophist and everyone – I apologize. This actually started as a ten page paper I wrote a few years ago in college. It was hard to boil everything down to something short enough. I agree with you. Ray is enthusiastic about everything ghostbustin’. Geeking out is something we all have in common. I’ll be doing plenty of it this weekend to and from seeing Toy Story 3. I only cut his stuff for length and pacing issues. Thanks for your input.

By: giddy girlie

giddy girlie — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 23:31:12 +0000

Actually, the Ghostbusters are the prime example of what happens to nerds in any profession: they become marginalized. The Ghostbusters story is actually about how these guys come up with a major scientific breakthrough (to prove the existance of ghosts and then go on to ‘entrap’ ghosts) and what happens? They become Ghost Janitors. The first montage in the movie tells it all — they’re run ragged, all over town day and night busting ghosts and what do they get for it? Nothing. No thanks, no heroics, just exhaustion. That’s why they hire Winston – they need an extra person so that they can rotate shifts and have some down time. They’ve all completely given up their personal lives (none have wives/girlfriends/boyfriends) to succeed in their career – which, ultimately becomes a joke. (Venkman is the only mild exception, in that he is attracted to one of their clients — again, no life outside of work — who reluctantly falls for him) They save New York City and there’s a lot of excitement and then what? They get sued! GB2 starts off with the guys playing a kid’s birthday party because they’re broke from *saving civilization* Even Venkman’s relationship with Dana has fallen apart — and he was the only hope that any of the Ghostbusters had what it takes to have a life outside of work.

How Ghostbusters influenced me: I believe that nerds need good marketing. I’m the on-the-fence geek who really loves some good nerdishness (go on baby, recite pi to me!) but I also am still average enough to associate with the ‘normals’ so I can act as that bridge between the two. Which is exactly what I do for a profession. I work in high tech marketing where I meet with the guys who develop some incredibly intricate stuff that no layperson could ever understand/appreciate and then I give it a nice polish and translate it to every day terms so that the public can look at it and see: shiny! nice! I like it! I want that!

So there’s a lesson in Ghostbusters for us all. If you develop something awesomely cool like a ghost entrapment unit, get a good marketing lady to handle your PR.