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I can buy that. When I first saw Egon in the shadows during the opening scenes (caught in theater soon after it opened, so I'm sure my memory is off on parts), my instinct was to be offended. That lingered with me for a bit. I think it was after the family moved to the house and things started happening, that I started to warm up to the idea. I guess for me, the tug came in the contrast between how the mom remembered her father and how the uh.... spirit (?) was attempting to interact with the daughter. It was a similar feeling I had when Elliot discovered E.T., maybe. Though I don't particularly care for E.T., there are emotional beats that generally work with me. Anyway, that contrast provided a doorway for the mom to reevaluate her experience from her father's perspective. That's not to say he was right or wrong as a parent, but the point, for me at least, was that this all provided space for a character to step aside from their singular view of a matter to try to empathize with a very different perspective. Again, whether it was right or wrong wasn't the draw for me, but just that she had the opportunity to revisit a closed door from her past from a new perspective. It gave her closure. THAT theme is something that I am always drawn to due to my own life experiences and philosophies of perspective. I've got different baggage that I'm dragging around, projecting onto the screen than other viewers. Makes sense.
Those moments in Afterlife ended up working for me and, as a result, eased my offense and slowly pulled me back in.
I can see that reaction falling either way. I mean as feeling a positive, sentimental tug by the end of it all, or feeling more cynical at the use of Ramis' likeness as a key plot point element, arguably exploiting his name for the sake of ticket sales. I don't have insight to the writers/director's thoughts on all that though. Generally, I would probably lean to the latter. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised to just roll with it. That choice paid off for me.
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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel
"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear