She is Zuul: hear her roar!

A few days ago, something brought to mind the famous quote from the 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters:

Gozer the Traveller will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldronaii the Traveller came as a very large and moving Torb. Then of course in the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him, that of a Sloar. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day I can tell you.

I couldn't remember it precisely, so I looked it up. Some are more into this than I am. (Try Googling Sloar or Sloarism!)

So this has been rolling around in my brain for a few days, something that you'd suspect would be a complete waste of brain. That may in fact be so. Still, some of the thoughts you get can be interesting.

Some context before I go on, for the non-Sloarists out there. Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis, is the nebbishy accountant neighbor of Dana Barrett, played by Sigourney Weaver. Louis and Dana have each become possessed by the demonic spirits who pave the way for a malevalent Sumerian deity, Gozer, who is coming to purify humankind with fire. Louis is taken over by Vinz Clortho, the "Keymaster," and Dana by the "Gatekeeper." Their conjugal union will allow Gozer to take material form.

I had never caught it before, but the explanation of the Sloar also reveals something of the language of the spirit world. Possessed by the Gatekeeper, Dana says, "I am Zuul. I am the Gatekeeper." I had thought Zuul was a proper name, like Vinz Clortho, which I still assume is a proper name, or at least a title.

But look at this: "Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar..." At first, it made no sense. Zuul again? Is it a name or a noun? Then I got it. Shub=Man, Zuul=Woman. Dana, translated, says, "I am Woman. I am the Gatekeeper."

It's kinda cool. Like triangulating on the meaning of "gulliver" (supposing you are unfamiliar with the Russian "golova") in A Clockwork Orange as recommended in the author's afterword (one is kicked in the gulliver; when a beer is later observed to have a gulliver on it, it becomes clear that gulliver means "head").

Maybe it's still a waste of brain. But it was cool to figure out something, even if it was something useless.