Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
For the most part, the history of TV and movies has been a wondrous and larger-than-life adventure, expanding our imaginations and our emotions. But sometimes that history has gotten weird. That’s where we come in. Welcome to So THAT Happened, a corner of the internet devoted to dredging up some of the most surprising pop culture moments and reminding you how weird pop culture history actually is.
Are you really excited about the new all-female Ghostbusters movie? No? Do you think it’s going to ruin one of your favorite movies of all time? If you fall into the latter category or if you think that Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, and Rick Moranis’ movie is perfect, then I have some bad news for you. Ghostbusters has at least one major flaw — that cringe-worthy ghost blowjob scene.
Don’t get me wrong. Overall, Ghostbusters is an amazing comedy that breathed mainstream life into the horror comedy genre. We owe it so many film and TV tropes, careers, and iconic moments. Can you try on an overly fluffy down jacket without making a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man joke? I certainly cannot. Can you read the words “Who you gonna call” without immediately screaming Ghostbusters? Nope. That being said, nothing is completely perfect, and we can either choose to embrace those imperfections, warts and all, or dismiss a part of pop culture based on its flaws. In Ghostbusters, that wart involves ghost lips and fleshy genitals.
WTF HAPPENED?
Our heroes finally get a much deserved break, but it doesn’t last long for Ray (Aykroyd). While he’s sleeping, he dreams about a beautiful ghost woman who has been dead for a hundred years. So far, so good. She then proceeds to go down on him, and we see move than you would expect. There’s no fake penis but there is an unzipping moment and one of the most uncomfortable orgasm faces that’s ever been filmed.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
The movie constantly plays with the different ways living people can interact with ghosts. This ghostly wet dream is essentially just another extension of that joke — a really awkward version that simultaneously has too much and not enough penis. So in its own bizarre way, it makes complete sense.
NO, HOW WAS THIS POSSIBLY CREATED?
That’s the real question here. For the most part, Ghostbusters is a pretty clean movie. Sure, there are sexual innuendos and there are a couple direct references to sex (“I want you inside me” and “We get this guy laid, we won’t have any problems” come to mind), but for the most part, Ghostbusters stands as one of those movies that kids and parents can kind of watch together. The movie’s PG rating supports that claim. And in the middle of all these ectoplasm antics, there’s an incredibly obvious blowjob scene.
But more than the movie’s ratings or the scene’s appropriateness, that moment just isn’t funny. At its best, the scene feels jarring, and at its worst it’s cringe-worthy and walks the line of needlessly sexist. We only get to see this ghost, commonly dubbed the “Dream Woman,” one time, and she’s given no dialogue. During her one scene, her goal is to give Ray an orgasm. She’s completely a character of fantasy. However, she wasn’t always that way.
The Dream Woman was actually part of a longer scene that took place in Fort Detmerring. In this deleted scene, Ray and Winston (Ernie Hudson) arrive at the fort to investigate a haunting. The pair splits up, and Ray falls asleep in the Single Officers’ Quarters, which is where the paranormal blowjob takes place. According to the book Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, the Dream Woman was originally scripted to be Ray’s love interest. I’ll let Ramis explain:
Aykroyd also had a very interesting take on the scene:
So there you have it. The one thing that Ghostbusters gets wrong about paranormal investigation is that there are more sexual acts. Here’s hoping this summer’s reboot skips over that awkwardness.
Photos: Amazon Video
