Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Peter Venkman

In a lot of adventure stories, the funny guy is the sidekick while the hero is the more serious get-the-job done kind of guy. Ghostbusters totally flips this, giving our main man Dr. Peter Venkman all the laughs and all the glory. Venkman is a protagonist that seems totally inspired by the old horror comedies of guys like the Bowery Boys, where the heroes are lovable incompetent bumblers.

Check out Peter's character analysis for more on this, but the point here is that Venkman is our hero/funny guy combined. From the very first scene we focus on him as he tries to seduce a young co-ed. Then, in the first encounter with a ghost, Peter voices the audience's skepticism about the supernatural.

Later, it's Peter's idea to start a ghost exterminating business, and we get caught up in quest to date Dana and his quest to rescue her from Zuul. To top it off, the movie ends with Peter giving Dana a big old kiss.

No doubt, Peter is our main Ghostbuster here.