For those just meeting me, I’m a Ghostbuster. Check out my bio if you want to know more, but, for those just joining, I know a thing or two about the fandom. For several years now, I’ve attended conventions and events as a Ghostbuster, I’ve seen the excitement, I’ve seen confusion, I’ve seen hate. One thing I didn’t see until this past weekend at Kansas City Comic Convention, was, the look of pure joy and magic…not only on little girls faces, but, little boys as well. These kids look at Holtzmann the way many of us looked at *insert your favorite Ghostbuster here*. You know the emoji with the heart eyes, especially the cat one with the heart eyes, it’s that look.
Holtzmann, as portrayed by the amazing Kate McKinnon, was well represented at this convention. I saw kids, I saw a mom and daughter, and I saw adults doing various incarnations of her character, even in the overalls. Then…then I saw that magic, I see kids recognizing the costume and getting very excited. Tugging on mom or dad’s shirt, saying excitedly “LOOK, IT’S HER!”, normally shy types dropping their guard because IT’S HOLTZMANN!
Say what you will, talk about the numbers, do all that, but, knowing we have a new generation assured, who will with no doubt learn their history and continue to tell the story…well, that’s kind of cool to me. The kids, they aren’t arguing and saying “I hate the old stuff”. No, they’re embracing it and dying to get their hands on anything they can. They got excited when they saw the Ecto Cooler at my table. They wanted to take a pic with my Slimer. They wanted to take a pic with all of that, with Holtzmann.
Long term, for the fandom, having Paul Feig bring this to screens is just hugely beneficial. It’s important to continue to breathe new life into what we love because complacency is a horrible thing. No childhoods we’re destroyed, you’ve got those memories stored, but, these young future Busters…their childhoods could be greatly enhanced. Not all parents are going to pass Ghostbusters on to their kids, so put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you never knew Ghostbusters existed, that it was kept from you. I know that is something I don’t want to imagine. It’s been great for me, so, I’d never want anyone to be denied that.
On the same note, it is important to protect what we love. I totally understand that, but seeing the film myself and seeing many incarnations of Holtzmann, I feel the legacy has been well protected and dare I hope, renewed. Let anyone who has not inhaled a 2016 Ecto Cooler cast the first stone. I’ll wait.
Just my two cents, want to talk about it? Leave a comment below, or find me online.
Another well written article! I couldn’t agree more. Seeing a whole new generation of “Ghostbusters” is fun. I was a child of the 80’s, so we grew up loving all things Ghostbusters.
The Holtzmann character was written well and played wonderfully by Kate McKinnon. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The financial numbers weren’t that bad, and on par with a lot of other big budget movies. I think the before ‘word of mouth’ by those that hadn’t even seen it hurt it wrongfully and woefully. I will be buying it on DVD for sure.
Also, I thoroughly loved the Leslie Jones character!! The commercials did her character a disservice as well. I think overall, the marketing was not what it should have been.