Discuss Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released on November 19, 2021 and directed by Jason Reitman.
#4964770
cristovalc wrote: January 5th, 2022, 2:51 pm Wait so that means he wasn't a deadbeat dad because of the whole trying to stop the apocalypse thing, but just a deadbeat dad for deadbeat dad reasons.

That is worse.
It seems so.
Afterlife told us he has left his family because of the Summerville discovery, but that was after the events of GB2. If it happened that way, he was with them the whole time in the 80s. If so, they would have known about him being a Ghostbuster and there would be no reason for him to not communicate with them about the importance of moving to Oklahoma. I mean, you're not going to save the world twice from evil spirits while being with your family and then leave them because you think they won't believe you when it happens again.
But then, we have the photos going back to 1983 and we have Trevor telling his mom, "maybe it's good you never knew your father", suggesting he wasn't there from the beginning. That makes him an ass. Also, Janine was flirting with him the whole time til the end of the first movie, so obviously he never told her about his family and daughter, even though they must have worked together for weeks and months.
Plus, Egon had no reason to not getting concrete with Ray. Ray is the believer, just send him a photo of the Gozer statue or the corpse of Shandor.
It's not just out of character, it doesn't fit. One could almost assume that the writers simply had no interest in making it understandable and wanted to get to the emotional closing moment at any cost. None of this fits in with the three years of PR talk about personal passion and it doesn't fit with what Jason is able to do with characters, and that's all irritating at best.
#4964772
Forgive me as I'm only going by memory from the few times I've seen Afterlife in theaters but has there been any indication as to the status of Callie's mother?

The pictures all seem to be of Callie and yet none feature a "family" setting. If Egon left his wife and daughter wouldn't he have pictures of both?
Everyone assumes he left his wife and daughter but what if he never married Callie's mom and she had Callie after they broke up? Callie's mom received full custody and refused to let Egon see her, causing Egon to become less emotional and attached to others.

Egon could've devoted more of his life to science as a coping mechanism to deal with
Loosing his first love and daughter?
Maybe Egon's deadpan interactions with Janine in the first film wasn't a geeky trait but his way of not getting too close since he was hurt by his ex? He loved Janine but didn't want to go through a bad relationship again?

For all we know Callie's mom was a bad mother that put the idea that her father didn't care and that caused Callie to never want to seek him out. By the time Callie was old enough for him to seek out, Egon was too focused on the return of Gozer and too busy trying to save the world?
#4964775
My Theory;

I'd wager there was a more detailed background for Egon and Callie's relationship in the 80's that painted Egon in a fairly unflattering light. Jason Reitman has a penchant for telling stories about very flawed people, in fact Callie herself comes across as a pretty poor mother in the movie.

Personally I'd be totally fine with the film saying Egon ran from his family due to his personality issues. It's real and believable, and the Ghostbusters should have a little sleaze to them IMO.

But I suspect they worried about how fans would take that (spoiler; you all don't like it), and maybe even concern about how it would look in respect to Harold Ramis. So they just left it in obscurity.
#4965348
So looks like Callie is born in 1982? If Trevor is 15 in the film and Phoebe is 12 that means she had kids in 2006 and 2009 at the age of 24 and 27. Not beyond belief there.

It's said she never knew her father and never met him but that doesn't mean she didn't know about him. She knows her last name and likely what that name represented as she hated science.

I have a feeling that because Egon is not the best discusser of feelings that as has been said by others he did have a relationship and that obviously ended with a child but perhaps the mother felt it would be simpler to have Egon stay out of the picture or perhaps Egon felt it was better if he did?

I try to not delve too deep into if he was a bad dad or if Callie had a bad mom, just that both or one of Callie's parents made choices that ended up with Callie knowing who her father but never meeting him and the resentment grew from there despite him obviously keeping in touch with her mother for the photos and updates on her life.

Is Afterlife a tight character film? Heavens no. Does it have a lot of heart for the characters? yes mainly but there still large gaps. Egon telling people the proton pack is not a toy but oh hey I'll show my 12 year old GD how to use it?....Ray not believing Egon...Egon stealing all the gear including the car...not that he used it as you can see. Podcasts parents? They bail him out? have some thoughts on him hanging out with the dirt farmers family who got him locked in jail? There's some Statue of Liberty slime shell sized holes there for sure. But it's a start.
Last edited by RealGhostbusterJay on January 18th, 2022, 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4965374
Glenn Frederick wrote: January 5th, 2022, 5:58 pm Forgive me as I'm only going by memory from the few times I've seen Afterlife in theaters but has there been any indication as to the status of Callie's mother?

The pictures all seem to be of Callie and yet none feature a "family" setting. If Egon left his wife and daughter wouldn't he have pictures of both?
Everyone assumes he left his wife and daughter but what if he never married Callie's mom and she had Callie after they broke up? Callie's mom received full custody and refused to let Egon see her, causing Egon to become less emotional and attached to others.

Egon could've devoted more of his life to science as a coping mechanism to deal with
Loosing his first love and daughter?
Maybe Egon's deadpan interactions with Janine in the first film wasn't a geeky trait but his way of not getting too close since he was hurt by his ex? He loved Janine but didn't want to go through a bad relationship again?

For all we know Callie's mom was a bad mother that put the idea that her father didn't care and that caused Callie to never want to seek him out. By the time Callie was old enough for him to seek out, Egon was too focused on the return of Gozer and too busy trying to save the world?
Nope, one of the clipping , I think the girl scout one, says her name is Callie Spengler.
#4965513
Her mom could have hidden her from Egon and just sent a batch of all the pictures much later, like when she was 10.

Including pictures of her toddler years. For me that makes sense as to why Egon would be analysing the pictures so much, including her freckle count.

In fact Egon may not have known of her existence until the mid 90's.

Throughout the first 2 movies Egon does seem to be hiding something though. There's a reason he never smiles.

In fact, I can't even blame Egon's wife for hiding Callie from him. You have a guy who is in constant danger dealing with actual demons, would you want your kid anything to do with him? He may mean well but what about the infernal he deals with on a daily basis.
#4965528
The tragedy the movie implies is that Egon gave up on his family to save the world when he found out about Summerville. That's what Phoebe realizes in the temple scene. So the idea is to have Egon as a hero, giving up everything that's important for him for a higher purpose. The theory of a mother who wanted to avoid contact would contradict the emotional effect, his decision and the message of the scene. In general, it's not great writing if you have to create own theories to make something work because the screenplay wasn't interested.
He left his family because Summerville, which is the whole premise of the movie - but he wasn't with them before. Just doesn't work. But I totally can see Jason and Gil playing with the old Kenner Ecto-1 and its gunner seat on the floor, dreaming up wild car chases.
#4965552
New member and first post.

I agree that it should not be entirely up to the viewers to fill in the gaps with fan theory and of course none of this was thought of for the original movies at the time but I think it’s perfectly believable that Egon had a relationship with someone, had a kid and they separated for some reason.

I don’t think this necessarily makes Egon a bad father. They could have mutually agreed he was not ready to be a parent. He was really caught up in his studies and experiments by the first movie and clearly did not have a steady income until opening the business.

That does not mean he did not care. He could have sent money, he apparently kept tabs and he left her the farmhouse which seems to be all he had to leave. It should be elaborated on in another movie but I can buy into Callie not knowing her father. It happens in real life without the threat of the supernatural.
Kingpin liked this
#4965566
WCat2000 wrote: January 17th, 2022, 10:39 pm New member and first post.

I agree that it should not be entirely up to the viewers to fill in the gaps with fan theory and of course none of this was thought of for the original movies at the time but I think it’s perfectly believable that Egon had a relationship with someone, had a kid and they separated for some reason.
Honestly it helps explain why Egon was so aloof and distant in the first movie compared to the second. He was dealing with the aftermath of a divorce.
deadderek, WCat2000 liked this

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