10 Great Libertarians Of Film And TV

6. The Ghostbusters €“ Ghostbusters

05 ghostbusters €œPersonally, I liked working for the university! They gave us money and facilities. We didn€™t have to produce anything. You€™ve never been out of college. You don€™t know what it€™s like out there! I€™ve worked in the private sector... they expect results!€ Take away the supernatural elements from Ghostbusters and you have a simple little story about three entrepreneurs that go into business together, find success in the marketplace, expand their business, create new jobs, and then have their progress hindered by the government. It would be a pretty boring movie. Perhaps 2012€™s failed adaptation of Atlas Shrugged should have taken note and included more ghosts and lasers. Attentive readers will by now have noticed the recurring theme of government-as-villain in these texts, Ghostbusters throws in a few jabs at academia for good measure (take that, people trying to better themselves!). The key libertarian themes here are the workings of the free market, as these men find a hole in the market and fill it (there€™s a joke to be made about €œthe invisible hand€ and ghosts, but I€™m too tired for that sort of thing), and a little bit of good-old €œpower corrupts€, here exemplified by EPA agent and villain Walter Peck, who has no dick.
Contributor

Musician, cartoonist and ex-video store clerk.