Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Autism in General but Specifically Young Girls
I fucking loved Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I felt seen in a movie for honestly one of the first times. Not only did I feel seen I felt like someone took the time to portray me in a way where I wasn’t a walking stereotype, or worse, the butt of every joke.
Spoilers ahead.
So when we first meet Phoebe her mom is driving her to summer school and asking her how the jokes are coming along to help her make friends at her new school. She tells a very nerdy science joke about matter and atoms. Her big brother is embarrassed and decides to get out of the car and walk.
This is where my joy with this movie begins.
Her mom wants her to have friends like every mom does, but she doesn’t try to change her daughter. She tries to help her daughter use those skills and talents to make friends. She tries to help her share her passion with potential new friends without shaming or belittling her.
When their science teacher Grooberson starts playing Cujo because none of them want to be there she starts wandering around the classroom, as well as meeting a kid named Podcast who is impressed by her knowledge and interviews her.
Grooberson is impressed by how much she knows and they start talking about the scientific details of the seismic waves in the town and how odd they are, considering the location and type of waves. Here was a teacher who didn’t go “Oh god a kid who never shuts up and stops asking questions, she’s trying to out smart me” No, actually, quite the opposite. He was excited to babble with someone who had a passion for science like himself. He got to geek out with this girl and they could have a conversation.
When Grooberson, Podcast, and Phoebe open the ghost box with a school bus and talk about how dangerous science is I laughed at the joy on her face. She was being included. She was being ,made to feel welcome and part of the group. She felt valued and appreciated. Her knowledge was never blown off or seen as useless.
At one point she tells Podcast:
“I don’t exhibit emotions the same way everyone else does.”
This was the point when I began crying. Because that is exactly how I feel all the time. I’m weird and I don’t know how to talk to people...I still want friends and to be included.
She isn’t sure how to talk to people outside of anything but science but her knowledge comes into play when they go to fight the ghosts at the end. Everyone comes to respect her and value her knowledge more than they already did before, which was a lot.
I also felt so seen in the fight with Phoebe and her mom. Oh god, that fight. When Phoebe felt so hurt and angry that someone in her family was an avid scientist and no one told her. She felt so alone and unlike everyone else but she had someone she could look up to and had been denied this person.
(For me this was a metaphor about all the characters no one identifies as autistic or they try and make them the joke and we could have had better representation this whole time. Almost certainly wasn’t their goal but it was how I took that scene.)
I started sobbing when the (very well done) CGI of her grandfather (RIP Harold Ramis) was helping her hold the ghost gun, looking at his granddaughter with pride, and helping his friends to fight the ghosts. The look of pure pride on her grandfather Egon’s face sent me into sobs. He didn’t care his granddaughter was a little different, or that she wasn’t socially gifted. He was proud of her for helping fight evil and using her skills to save the day.
The pride from everyone at her ability to hold her own with these adults and be the one to realize what was wrong was something I can only hope I one day feel. She’s such a breath of fresh air and a joy and a delight. I loved her character. I want another movie with her again.
Please give us more girls like her.
Yes, I love the Entraptas of the world and yes I love the growing representation being shown in these movies and TV shows but this is easily far and above, in my humble opinion as an autistic ENBY/female, the best presentation I’ve seen in my lifetime. She is a scientist and we should have autistic representation outside of that, but she is praised and welcomed for who she is.
That’s what we all want, neurodivergent or neurotypical.
(I suspect Dan Ackroyd had a huge part in her being so well written given his own autism diagnosis, and if he did, thank you sir. Thank you for making me feel seen.)
