Let's Talk About The Prison Scene:

Let's talk about the prison scene:

This has always been my favourite scene in Ghostbusters. I know it may seem a bit weird to find this scene amazing but bare with me.

This scene is their most vulnerable moment, they are in a state of limbo at whether they are going to jail or walk free. No one is in control here, they have no idea what's going to happen, meaning we see the true and hidden characteristics of each Ghostbuster.

Egon

Egon mostly proves to be everything we thought. He is logical and intelligent, he seems to be the only one who has done any form of in-depth research on Dana's case. He found the architect's name (Ivo Shandor) and all his history while working full time as a Ghostbuster, inventing their equipment and keeping an eye on the storage facility's data, reinforcing the preconception that Egon is a workaholic and incredibly smart. However, it's also a moment you see a new characteristic - confidence. When Egon tells Venkman, Ray and Winston what is happening, Egon is only expecting them to listen, when everyone else in the cell decides to listen you see that Egon is shocked. It's obvious that he doesn't expect anyone to listen but when he comes to terms with the fact the other prisoners are listening, Egon gains confidence. When stating facts about Shandor, Egon becomes increasingly confident and he even stands up at the end to prove the severity of the situation. This is never seen before as Egon is usually subdued, quiet and rarely ever uses body language, and in this whole scene he is completely different. This shows that Egon has the characteristic of confident and that he can command a presence, which is shown by the fact that everyone starts listening to him. He is a confident individual when it comes to his science and facts, especially when explaining them and this is completely shown here. Egon is not always the reserved scientist we thought, he has confidence but just expresses it differently.

Ray

Ray is shown to be intelligent in multiple different ways. Ray is completely involved in the investigation of Dana's apartment as he does his part of the research and learns the foundation that the architecture is weird, it's a conductor and these are all facts Egon builds on. This shows that Ray is a intelligent individual who gives facts that are as valuable as Egon's, and along with this a different type of intelligence emerges. In this scene, Ray is the only one who realises that Venkman has been lying the whole time about studying. This took a lot of intelligence to work out as you usually trust people, especially ones you have known for a long time and come from a credential background. The fact Ray works it out shows that he has a deep knowledge of his friends, proving that he has amazing intelligence when it comes to understanding people. However, it also shows Ray's bravey. Making an accusation that big could have backfired as Venkman may have become deeply offended, if he actually had studied. Therefore, it shows that Ray is an individual who is intelligent and incredibly brave as questioning people's credentials, could result in a massive argument or a falling out. This whole scene shows that Ray has an amazing perception and intelligence of people as he deduces Venkman's lies immediately and that he has confidence in each of his analysis, as he said that Venkman was lying with full confidence, despite the only legitimate evidence being a feeling.

Winston

Winston is showed to be intelligent and logical. In this scene he seems to be the only one whose genuinely concerned about going to jail, he is the only one who shouts at the guard and tries to get out. The rest are not really bothered, they're more concerned about sharing information on Gozer, but as much as Winston believes in it he understands that the fact being in jail is the more important problem, as they can't stop Gozer if they're locked up. He is also the only one who realises that the reality of Gozer coming is just going to look insane in a court, as to the outside world ghosts are not really considered real. All of this reveals that Winston is intelligent and logical, he is a realist and has an amazing perception of the outside world and social situations. He's as intelligent as Egon but in a completely different way, his intelligence lies in his knowledge of the real world, and this gives him a vital role within Ghostbusters as without Winston's intelligence of the outside world they would have no real idea of how to navigate it.

Venkman

Venkman is shown to be helpful and caring. After Egon is finished explaining that Gozer is coming back all the prisoners are still around him. This would make Egon uneasy as he hates social situations and he has no more science or facts to make him feel confident as he's finished explaining. Venkman knows how uneasy Egon is and helps as he starts singing. He does this to draw attention away from Egon and while singing he forces everyone back, and he keeps going they are all far away from Egon. It's a small thing but it shows how much he really does care about Egon and all of the Ghostbusters. Venkman obviously understands them all on a deep level as it took him about a second to realise that Egon was uncomfortable. This all shows that despite all his faults Venkman is helpful and more importantly caring, he will do anything to insure that the rest of the his colleagues are happy and secure, even if it means embarrassing himself.

This is why I absolutely love this scene. We see glimpses of their personalities that we never see in any other situation. It's the most honest they all are, it shows their character development and more importantly gives us all a million more reasons to love them.