Film

The 90s Classic CASPER: Lighthearted Romp or Meditation on Grief?

The Inability to Let Go and the Trope of Unfinished Business

Images Courtesy Universal Pictures

Casper (1995) is over thirty years old — and Lord, that makes me feel old. I had thought it was a 1980’s romp, considering that Bill Pullman is still alive to play Dr. James Harvey and the visuals. Dr. Harvey and his daughter, Kat, move into a haunted house owned by a wealthy lady. Heiress Carrigan Crittenden asks Dr. Harvey to get rid of the ghosts that are ostensibly guarding a mysterious treasure. He’s her last hope after a stream of ghostbusters and exorcisers failed.

After the premiere, critics were divided about the movie, though some admitted it was enjoyable. Viewers disagreed, making it a box office hit. After the 2010s, the movie garnered criticism for not aging well. It veered from the friendly camp of classic Casper. The Nostalgia Critic mocked the movie in his review, describing it as mediocre. Then he chased guest star Casper down in Ghostbusters cosplay when Casper crashed his review.

I disagree with this view. When I think of Casper, I don’t think of the goofy antics or Casper’s three mischievous uncles. I think of how it tackles grief and processing death. We also have the theme of subverting and reversing death, achieving a form of immortality.

Unfinished Business

The movie presents the thesis that unfinished business creates ghosts. In fact, the film Casper is how we have the trope name Unfinished Business; the phrase refers to regrets and unfulfilled ambitions that a person has before they die. If you die without any regrets, you move on to whatever afterlife exists. Any unfinished business will ensure you don’t leave, and you will forget if you stay a ghost for too long. The uncles and Casper initially are living (or undying) proof of that. Fulfilling it, however, means that you get to move on to the next world.

How about otherworldly beings and spirits that aren’t ghosts? We don’t get many details about that part; angels do exist, but we don’t see if devils do. An afterlife or afterlives exist where these spirits commune, as Amelia Harvey tells Casper his father is proud of him.

Why Casper Is Stuck Despite No Unfinished Business

Unfortunately, a corollary thesis appears: if a ghost has stayed too long on Earth, then learning about their unfinished business no longer matters. They can’t move on and thus are stuck on the mortal plane forever. Casper ends up in this situation when Kat helps him remember why he stayed: he didn’t want to leave his dad after dying young. His father has since passed on after building the Lazarus machine to resurrect Casper and getting committed for insisting that ghosts are real. Casper is delighted to remember, but even realizing he can move on to see his dad, he can’t. Not that he wants to leave the mortal plane since it has Kat, her dad, and the objects of his childhood.

Casper goes for Plan B: test out the Lazarus to come back to life. He remembers that his father made the machine and serum, with one bottle having a dose for a single person’s resurrection. That means he can become a boy again. Carrigan and her lawyer’s interference, along with Kat’s father dying in a freak accident, puts the kibosh on this plan; Casper insists that they use the machine and a single dose for Dr. Harvey since Kat needs her father.

Though Casper gets a few hours to be human and cheers up Kat when her date stands her up at the house’s Halloween party, he’s resigned to staying a ghost forever. Moving on isn’t happening if he resolves his unfinished business. Casper doesn’t mind, however; he ends the movie dancing with Kat and her father after his transformation scares the other human guests out of the mansion. He lets go of his need to come back to life, enjoying the present.

Unwilling to Let Go

Meanwhile, Dr. Harvey has become obsessed with the concept of unfinished business. He thinks that if his wife’s a ghost, it’s because of that. Kat is more skeptical, pointing out the number of dead ends he’s hit while bouncing them around the country. She wants to stay in one place, go to school, and maybe date some cute boys.

Meeting Casper and his uncles changes Dr. Harvey. He finds out ghosts are real; while some are hostile, others, like Casper, are friendly. It also means there’s a chance his wife’s spirit is out there. The uncles decide to help Dr. Harvey find Amelia in exchange for him not booting them out of the mansion; they enjoy having him around so much that when taking him for drinks to cheer him up after a prank gone wrong, they want him to be a ghost with them. Dr. Harvey, however, drunkenly says that screw Carrigan and her gig; the uncles are not bad guys and deserve to stay in their home; they abort the murder plot immediately. He’s willing to give up a chance to see Amelia to do the right thing for the existing ghosts in front of him. That sentiment doesn’t die when Casper resurrects him, and he finds out that Carrigan is dead, solving that problem.

Ironically, this decision allows Amelia to come to him and deliver closure. The uncles honor their promise and find her, so Amelia visits. She makes Casper a boy for a few hours before going to see her husband. Amelia tells Dr. Harvey that she moved on to become an angel because her family loved her so much, allowing Dr. Harvey to let her go. It’s a paradox, but it works; Amelia didn’t become a ghost because she had no unfinished business and didn’t try clawing her way back to the mortal plane. She came back because Dr. Harvey almost died forever due to his quest, and he may not be lucky a second time. Dr. Harvey has a second chance, and he can’t squander it.

There’s a reason the movie ends with Dr. Harvey dancing with his daughter and the ghosts. He gets away from his obsession and can move on with living, exactly what Kat wanted. The dancing shows that he is finding out what his next chapter is, and what it means to room with ghosts rather than investigate them.

What It Means to Live and Not Seek the Dead

To live means to engage with the tactile, vibrant world. Kat enjoys something as normal as going to school and exploring the mystery of the mansion. She wants to wear fancy dresses for parties and waltz on the floor. It’s why the movie makes her the emotional center and why Dr. Harvey dancing with her is a happy ending.

Casper ironically learns to live properly through this movie. After an afterlife with just his uncles for company, as everyone else ran away, he finds people who want to stay with him. They also get over their initial fear and see the playful boy beneath the surface.

We all are going to die. But we still need to remember to live. Otherwise too many obsessions tether us to unhealthy activities. We need to know when to let go and take that dance.

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Interstellar Flight Magazine publishes essays on what’s new in the world of speculative genres. In the words of Ursula K. Le Guin, we need “writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope.” Visit our Patreon to join our fan community on Discord. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.