So the other day Moderator Fritz recommended to me the Ghostbusters novelization by Richard Mueller. Surprisingly adds a lot of rich detail to the story, such as this moment when Ray and Winston are in the car together:
“Stantz smiled. He’d like Zeddemore from the first, and since Venkman had gotten involved with this Barrett woman and Egon and Janine had become an item, Ray Stantz tended to spend a lot of time with Zeddemore. A voracious learner, he was happily absorbing Zeddemore’s experiences, idioms, folk tales, and street stories. Earlier that week Winston had taken him home for dinner, and Lucille Zeddemore had fawned all over him. Her younger children–Winston’s brothers and sisters–had pressed him for stories, and he’d thoroughly enjoyed himself. The nicest thing about being out in the real world was that you got to deal more often with people. I was too insulated in the university.”
You know, that is something that had never occurred to me before and that’s a perfect conclusion to his character arc. He starts out preferring the university, but by the end is glad to be free of it (and turns out Venkman was right all along, hehe).
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude that based on his prior experiences in the private sector, Ray preferred the less strict landscape of the University - they had greater freedom and flexibility, and resources were available - however his world view was successfully changed when he got a taste of effectively being his own boss (as well as not having to work with and compromise with stuffy “traditional” academics), and being able to march - with the other three Ghostbusters - to the beat of their own drum.
Good point, it sort of reminds me of Diane Keaton’s Baby Boom (1987). She quits the corporate world but also can’t stand retiring to the country, so she creates a third path, going into business for herself. The more inspirational side of the Greed Decade, lol.
Ray and Winston’s relationship is one of my favorite things about the films, even though its never really made explicit. The scene with just Ray and Winston driving around at night talking about religion and the end of the world is one of my favorite scenes, and one of the scenes that makes GB more than just a comedy because theres nothing in the scene thats going for laughs. It adds extra depth to the film. And I always liked how at the start of the second film, its only Ray and Winston who are still together trying to keep GB alive, even if it means doing demeaning things.
Something I’m always amazed with about movies is they can imply friendship without having to show very much. When done correctly, the audience can understand and fill in the blanks. Like in GBII when Dana’s all “Hi Ray, how good to see you!” They exchanged like one line together in the first movie, lol. But the actors do a good job of convening that they grew a bit closer in the 5 years between movies. Same with Dana and Egon, suddenly they’re* really* close, lol. (Not Winston of course, but what else is new? : P)
