(Disclaimer:
Literally just a day after I started writing this, a second trailer for the new
Ghostbusters film was released online.
I’m only going to mention it here for now but the reaction that I have to the
first trailer will basically apply to the new one as well.)
As a film critic, I strive to be as open-minded as possible
when it comes to every new film that I see. Even if I feel that the film
doesn’t look very good based on what I’ve seen from its trailers, TV spots,
etc., I still give it the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Because
if you ask me, it’s both fairly cynical and quite unfair to immediately write
off a film before you even see it. Unless you have a time machine that allowed
you to go forward in time to when a certain film is released, which I’m 100%
certain no one actually has yet, there’s really no way in knowing that a film
is going to be good or not solely based on trailers and the film’s marketing.
And that’s exactly what has been going on with what has easily been one of the
most controversial productions in recent memory; director Paul Feig’s upcoming
reboot of Ghostbusters. In fact, this
film has been so polarizing amongst internet folk that it recently become the
most disliked film trailer in the history of YouTube; no other film trailer is
even close to having that many dislikes. Damn! Clearly a lot of fanboys aren’t
too happy with this female-led reboot of the iconic Ghostbusters franchise… and I’ll be perfectly frank in saying that
all of this vitriol is rather embarrassing because all of these angry fanboys
are prematurely judging a film without even seeing it just because it’s trying
something with their beloved franchise that they don’t like. So today on Rhode
Island Movie Corner, I’ll be addressing the two primary reasons as to why the
new Ghostbusters film is attracting
so much negative attention online. And with that in mind, hopefully this post
will serve as some kind of encouragement for people to actually give the film a
chance instead of just writing it off right off the bat, which is what the
majority of the internet has been doing so far.
The Ghostbusters franchise
obviously needs no introduction. It’s one of the most famous franchises in pop
culture history. What started with the 1984 titular film written by the film’s
stars, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, ended up becoming a worldwide phenomenon,
spawning a 1989 sequel, a hit TV series in the form of The Real Ghostbusters, and a wide array of merchandise ranging from
toys to video games. As far as the films were concerned, over the years there
were many attempts in doing a potential third Ghostbusters film. However, this planned sequel ended up facing
numerous setbacks over the years, namely the fact that franchise star Bill
Murray routinely expressed disinterest in returning. Ultimately, with the
passing of Harold Ramis in February 2014, it seemed as if this Ghostbusters III wasn’t going to happen,
especially after it was announced that Ivan Reitman would not return to direct
the film. And then, in August of that year, things changed when it was
announced that Paul Feig (Bridesmaids,
The Heat, Spy) was going to direct a new Ghostbusters film that would star an all-female group of leads. Melissa
McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones were then subsequently cast
in the main roles for a film that will serve as a ‘reboot’ of the franchise; in
other words, it seems as if the film will not be taking place in the same
universe as the original films. So now the big question is this; Why is this
new Ghostbusters film being subjected
to some of the most vitriolic scrutiny that you’ll ever see, arguably even more
so than some of the most hated films of all-time? Well, there have been two
main reasons for this and the first is fairly obvious.
REASON 1: IT’S A REBOOT
Like any major reboot, this new Ghostbusters has been criticized by fans for one major reason; why
reboot a film franchise when the original is so beloved (the first one, at
least; the sequel, not so much)? Obviously this is a problem that a lot of
people have whenever a franchise that they love gets some form of continuation
but this has clearly been the one reboot, more so than any other, that a lot of
people simply couldn’t tolerate whatsoever. But as for me, I’m not really part
of that crowd. I guess you could say it’s due to the fact that I didn’t watch Ghostbusters until I was older. But you
see, there is this stigma that the internet creates when it comes to sequels,
reboots, and remakes in which fanboys claim that one ‘bad’ film ‘completely
ruins a franchise’. In reality, though, that’s not really true because the previous
beloved films in a series are still going to be there afterwards; it ain’t like
they were destroyed in a fire or anything. If you didn’t like one entry in a
franchise, just ignore that one and stick to the other films. Same goes for
that argument of ‘[insert film here] destroyed my childhood’. No, your
childhood wasn’t destroyed because of one film based off of a franchise you
followed when you were a kid. So to put all of this into perspective, imagine
this scenario. I’ve made it clear in the past that Back to the Future is my favorite film of all-time. A few months
ago there was some talk about a potential continuation of the franchise which
was quickly shot down by creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who said that
it’ll happen ‘over their dead bodies’. But if a Back to the Future remake/sequel/whatever does end up getting made
some day, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be all pissy about it and condemn
the new film before I even see it. I will, at the very least, give it a chance because
it at least deserves that. And so does this new Ghostbusters film.
But unfortunately
there’s another big reason why this film has been getting a lot of backlash…
REASON 2: IT STARS WOMEN
Yep… as much as some have tried to deny it, which basically means
that they’re only further proving it true, one of the major criticisms that
fanboys have had with the new film is the fact that the film stars a group of
women in the lead roles. Don’t believe me? Need I remind you of when Mad Max: Fury Road came out and there
were a minority of fans who were angry at the film for having a feminist slant
given the greater focus on characters like Furiosa and the Wives? Well the same
thing is happening to the new Ghostbusters
film… and this one isn’t even out yet. It really is pathetic that this is
one of the main reasons why the film has been getting a lot of vitriol directed
towards it. Despite all of the advancements over the years in regards to lead
female roles in film, here’s one instance where the internet just can’t let
that happen for one of its beloved franchises (Imagine how angry the internet
would be if this happened to other male-centric franchises). That was even more
evident when another Ghostbusters film
was announced in March 2015 that was going to have a cast of male leads and be directed
by the Russo brothers. While it looks as if this potential film isn’t going to
happen due to the Russo brothers departing the production, I saw quite a few
comments online from fanboys when it was still in development that said
something along the lines of “I’m more interested in that than the female Ghostbusters film”. No joke. That’s seriously
what some people were saying.
Now obviously there’s a bit more to this backlash than the
two reasons I listed above. It also has something to do with how people have reacted
to the first trailer. Now as far as the actual trailer for the film is
concerned, I’m not saying that it was a particularly ‘great’ trailer but it’s
far from being the worst thing either. It definitely isn’t worthy of all those
damn dislikes, that’s for sure. Yeah there are a few scenes that are clearly
being lifted from previous films but the visuals do look pretty darn good and I
found that there were genuinely a few laugh-out-loud moments in the trailer,
particularly at the end when Leslie Jones’ character continually smacks Melissa
McCarthy’s character in order to get the ghost that has been possessing her out,
even after said ghost has already been forced out (“THE POWER OF PATTY COMPELS
YOU!”). I mean at the end of the day I’m fully aware that this could end up
being a disaster. I’m not denying that. However, a good chunk of the backlash towards
the film is quite pathetic; not the part about it being a reboot, because that
was inevitable no matter how well the first trailer was received, but the part
about the film starring women in the lead roles. Seriously internet, it’s 2016…
grow the hell up, will ya? What’s so wrong about a bunch of women being
Ghostbusters, a franchise that has been fairly male-centric for pretty much the
entire duration of its existence? I for one am excited to see how this new film
is going to turn out. It certainly has a good cast and crew attached to it and
at the very least it has the support of Ivan Reitman and the original film’s
cast, many of whom are making cameos in the film. And yes, they even managed to
win over Bill Murray as well, which I think is at least a good sign. You can
rest assured that I will be seeing this film when it comes out. In fact, I
might even end up seeing it twice if only to support it in light of all of the
unfair hate that it has been getting.
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