Casper The Friendly Ghost

Casper the friendly ghost is definitely not your everyday monster. He appears to be a ghost and this scares away most people, since ghosts are frightening, but if they were to stick around long enough they would see that Casper wouldn’t hurt a fly. Casper just isn’t your typical monster as he is only looking to make friends. If you relate him to his three friends Fatso, Stretch and Stinkie he is the complete opposite, they are smelly and useless and don’t care what kind of mess they are making out of things. All three of the other ghosts always attempt to make Casper a “better” ghost by trying to teach him scare tactics and how to be less hygienic, but that just isn’t who Casper is and he feels as though scaring people is mean. In a way Casper seems to have a heart even though that’s impossible since he is indeed a ghost. Compared to the typical monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf man Casper also lacks the physical attributes that would make him more frightening. He is depicted as a small boy and also has the same characteristics as one like enjoying games and typical things a child would do.

Early forms of Casper came from comic books.The publisher of the comics in the 1960's and 1970's said that he was a ghost because of his married ghost parents and death had nothing to do with it. Although The movie seems kid-friendly, considering it is about a friendly ghost, it does deal with serious themes about death. In the film Casper is a 12-year-old ghost whom died from an illness is his “previous” life. Casper feels alone as a spirit. He wants to be human again, not a monster. The little girl in the movie is also an outcast in her new school. She has no friends, so she and Casper are able to connect and find companionship in one another. This theme is relatable to many people, and by using an innocent little ghost, it makes monsters not-so-scary. The concept of bringing him back to life becomes an important part of the plot, but maybe this idea is over the heads of children watching this movie. I think this morbid idea was used to show children that the ghosts were once humans like you and I. A scene where Casper finds a sled that he used to ride when he was alive is touching. It reminds the viewers that these scary spirits are no different than us.

Questions:
1. Stinkie, Stretch, and Fatso were wicked characters in the movie. They were portrayed how many people think of ghosts. Why do you think the movie had them as Casper’s antagonists?
2. What constitutes a monster in your opinion? Does just having the physical attributes make these types of character a monster?
3. Do you think such a serious idea of bringing ghosts back to life should be shown to children? Keep in mind that this film was created in the 90s