The other ghostbusters are scientists, right? They’re there because Science!, or maybe in Holtzmann’s case because Boom!. Basically all the plot has to do for Abby and Erin is dangle the chance to do real, replicable science in front of them while removing any excuse to drag their feet. So tangible ghost + fucking fired = done.
But Patty’s not a scientist. Patty’s got a decent job, even if it’s obviously not what she wanted out of life. Patty’s motivation appears to be that she’s basically just a good person and responsible citizen? I mean, obviously she wants some excitement, and to feel like she’s making a real difference, but seriously.
We first see her stuck in her little booth, trying to be cheerful and positive at commuters who appear largely indifferent, until one guy comes along who’s clearly having some sort of mental health crisis. She stays pretty cheerful, she’s kind to him, and then she gets out of her booth and goes looking for him when he disappears and she reasonably assumes he’s in trouble.
Like, she could very easily have called it in and washed her hands of the situation. It’s not her fault/problem that maybe the transit cops won’t get there in time to help if this guy’s suicidal or delusional. I’m pretty sure people doing her job aren’t even supposed to leave their booths on-shift. But no, she gets out and goes after this bro just in case.
And meets a ghost. A terrifying ghost. Who scares the dick out of her.
I mean, what happens in the Aldrich Mansion? The tour guide tells his boss, who goes to Erin. Then they stay as far as possible from the scene while the women investigate. Patty goes herself, on her own time. Maybe her bosses didn’t believe her, maybe she knew she’d be dismissed and didn’t bother trying to explain what she saw, but she knows something’s up, and she takes it on herself to do something about it. And then she goes back to the scene of the haunting with them, to see what happens.
Every time they turn around, she’s handing them useful facts and history about the sites they’re investigating. Her interest in the city is keen and backed up by extensive knowledge. Hell, when she runs into something that shouldn’t be happening and she can’t explain, the first thing she does is head for the likeliest source of expertise to learn about it. She’s excited by it–it’s scary and maybe dangerous, but it’s new and interesting and she wants to figure it out.
Like, Abby might want recognition on top of that, and Erin so desperately wants to be believed that she risks the scientific mission for a shot at it, but Patty just wants to fucking know.
And she feels a genuine duty to help, too.
She might not be able to build a ghost-blasting plasma-cannon, but she
notices when a teammate’s mood is in the toilet and takes steps to
address it. She knows the ghost-booster isn’t supposed to be in her
subway, and that this is important. When things get ridiculously dangerous, and city hall’s smearing their names in the press, and she’s still not getting fucking paid for this, she never even looks tempted to say fuck this shit and go home. Her little monologue about going back to her booth is more to soothe/trick the ghost standing on her fucking shoulders than sincere.
Patty’s first instinct is to pool resources, and look after people, and encourage everyone to bring what they’ve got to the table. She might be disappointed or angry when nobody meets her halfway–the concert crowd drops her, and nobody acknowledges her compliments when she’s in her booth–but it doesn’t stop her from bringing her A-game. When the squad rolls out to save the world, it’s wearing her uniform and driving her car.
hoooo BOY let me tell you my Thoughts on this one, anon. Buckle your damn seatbelt.
Part 1: The Non-Sexualized Costumes
First of all, let me start by quoting from this post that I love from @cloama:
McCarthy, Wiig, Jones and McKinnon in this movie are not funny-hot, like Cameron Diaz dorky dancing in a pair of underoos in Charlie’s Angels. They’re just funny and serving you soft-butch, wild-butch, nerd-chic and (albeit a little too stereotypical) cut-a-bitch realness
It was true before the movie came out and it somehow rings even truer now. How easy (and lazy) would it have been to make the jumpsuits sexy? Skintight catsuits with zippers down to show off maximum cleavage like a Sexy Ghostbuster ™ Halloween costume. Honestly it wouldn’t have surprised me, since even Black Widow and Wonder Woman apparently aren’t allowed to kick ass on screen without wedges are part of their costumes.
But the jumpsuits were baggy and painfully practical and entirely unsexy, and so were the rest of their wardrobes. The way these women dressed was so real; it was work-appropriate and casual and most of it looked pretty damn comfortable. They wear cute rain boots. I love those rain boots. There were no ass-shots or gratuitous naked scenes or that godforsaken scene where Plain Female Character has to get dressed up Because of Plot Reasons and we discover she’s been Bangable All Along.
This movie does not give two shits about the Male Gaze. It doesn’t care if you want to fuck these women.
Part 2: How did all this wlw fanservice even happen
Okay, so idk if ya’ll have noticed but I’ve been devoting a lot of time and blogging to the marvel of modern media that is Jillian Holtzmann, trying to figure out what the hell it is that makes her so appealing. And I think you just nailed the answer: the movie wasn’t trying to present her as sexy at all.
Despite the fact that sexuality and attraction is one of the most fluid, hard to quantify things in the entire world, there’s a very narrow idea of what makes a woman “sexy” in modern media.
…yep, there it is. Performing femininity is key, and that mean immaculate make up, push up bra, revealing clothing, long well-cared for hair. High heels factor into it a lot. And I’m not saying these women aren’t attractive or that they don’t look good, but…
As a woman who sometimes performs some degree of femininity myself, I understand what a pain in the ass it is. More often than not I look at a woman who’s meant to be a sex symbol and all I can think of is how painful those shoes must be, how long that makeup must have taken, is that bra hurting her back? The way most women are presented as sexual is laboriously unsexy, because it’s all so fake by nature.
(This is in no way a slam against real, non-fictional women who chose to present themselves in any of these ways. You look rad.)
You know that gif from Community where Donald Glover is talking about how he prefers women in pajamas over lingerie because he just wants to know that they’re comfortable? It’s like that.
ENTER HOLTZMANN.
Like I said, this movie doesn’t give two shits if you think Holtzmann is sexy. She’s not presented in any of the ways usually used to sexualize female characters. Her wardrobe choices are violently weird and mostly body-concealing (we never even got to see the crop top under those overalls), she makes a lot of weird faces and does weird voices, she’s not geeky in a cute feminine way but in way that likes blowing shit up and doing god-only-knows what with cadavers.
(You’re an ENGINEER, Holtzmann. What the hell do you need a dead guy for?)
And yet. She’s completely and utterly confident in all of this. Kate McKinnon sells all of Holtzmann’s capital-w-Weird with so much confidence that you have, like, zero doubt this is Holtzmann exactly as Holtzmann wants to be. She’s loud and weird and really unapologetic about making sex eyes at her teammates and also at guns. She’s not sexy because she’s in underwear with perfect makeup; she’s sexy because she’s wildly magnetically strange and is having a blast doing it and you want in.
And, yeah, she’s sexy because she’s really REALLY obviously casually confidently gay and hits on her teammates with style and aplomb in charmingly odd ways.
Dear Hollywood: less Sexy Women ™, more women who are so cool and confident and fun that they become sex goddesses along the way. There’s a difference.
It felt so important to me, like it was the amazing lady-scientist movie I wished I had had as a child and am so glad I have now.
Just getting to watch cool, interesting, different women do cool science and just do it because it was who they are and what they’re good at was so brilliant and so important.
And it was hilarious and fun and engaging and so many perfect little nods to the original movie and it was cool ladies being badass and sciencey and it was brilliant.
There’s so much positivity on this gifset, I love it.
