Guess what? I’m excited about the new Ghostbusters movie. I’m very excited about it. I’m even more excited with the release of the movie’s awesome new UK trailer which premiered online this week. Check it out…
Watch the new #Ghostbusters trailer now, and see it at Cinemas July 11. https://t.co/qrCKuEc39d
— Sony Pictures UK (@SonyPicturesUK) May 20, 2016
I gave a shot-by-shot dissection of the first Ghostbusters trailer back in March, but I’m not doing that this time. This time, I’m asking for all of the trolls out there to wise up. Yes, I agree that there are far too many remakes and reboots out there in film and television. I agree that it would have been great to have seen a third Ghostbusters film with the original cast before Harold Ramis’ passing in 2014. I also agree that the original Ghostbusters film, one of my all time favorites, is a classic that stands on its own. If any of those points and those points alone have you on the fence about this new film, then fine. Fair enough. What I don’t agree with, however, is using any of these points as cover for the deep-seeded misogyny that exists on the internet today.
Why is there a war on Ghostbusters? The first trailer for the film is now the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history. It’s clear to me, as GamerGate is still very much alive and internet trolling continues to relegate women, that this is far more than an issue of preemptive criticism or nostalgic pants-wetting. Had this been an all-male Ghostbusters team I highly doubt that the backlash would come near what it has for Paul Feig’s female team. Misogyny takes on many forms, and oftentimes those responsible don’t even recognize or understand that their criticisms could be coming from a place of sexism. As arguments against traditional gender roles are finally, more publicly coming into focus, and things are slowly becoming less black-and-white, less male-or-female, there is a lot of pushback from those who strongly buy into the ideal of defined roles. The very idea of assigned roles is a form of separation, and that’s something I think we’ve come too far to let persist.
In 2016, I shouldn’t even be writing this. As the father of two daughters, I constantly look at the media landscape and shake my head at how far we still have to go. The debate has gone on and on, from the lack of a female-led superhero film to controversies like the #WheresRey campaign for more Rey toys around the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So now, a studio finally makes the right move and casts a female Ghostbusting team and the result, two months before the movie is even due to hit theaters, is a record for the most dislikes on YouTube. One step forward, one step back. I just hope the film does well at the box office, otherwise, studios will continue to indulge only the younger male demographics and subconscious sexism will prevail for another generation.
Let’s go back once more to the nostalgic pants-wetting and preemptive criticism arguments. Preemptive criticism is nothing new. I’ve been guilty of this myself in the past, speculating about how bad something might be before seeing it. But I never fully dismiss something before having seen the final product and giving it a fair shake. If I dismissed something on principle alone I’d be a hypocrite. How can I tell my kids “you don’t know unless you try” if I myself refuse to choke down Dawn of Justice before I find out it’s indeed hard to stomach? It helps to see things from another point of view. My girls love the original Ghostbusters film, but they are thrilled that this new team is a group of women.
Look, I don’t doubt that there are a ton of people out there whose dislike of the very idea of this film comes from a genuine belief that they have a stake in the nostalgic ownership of the Ghostbusters franchise. Well, this meme pretty much sums up how I feel about that…
At the end of the day, Ghostbusters could end up being a bad movie. You never know. But before you boycott it, at least give it a chance. Don’t let your preemptive negativity feed the internet trolls and misogyny. It may not be your aim, but sadly, this is where we find ourselves.
” What I don’t agree with, however, is using any of these points as cover for the deep-seeded misogyny that exists on the internet today.”
Give me an example of this. This new movie looks horrible. What about all the hate that was aimed towards Batman v Superman or Zoolander 2? Is that misandry towards men? If the answer is no, then you’re argument is void
https://geekdad.com/2016/05/i-aint-afraid-of-no-trolls/
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/derail-using-education/
Thanks for writing this. I’m also the father of two young girls, and realize I already have a Ghostbusters movie for my generation, so I want them to have theirs. Irrespective of that, I wrote about how the new Ghostbusters is important for another reason, the use of SCIENTISTS as the heroes. Here it is if you are interested: http://www.nerdsonearth.com/2016/04/nerds-everywhere-need-ghostbusters-reboot/
This movie will not be for your young daughters. It’s not even rated yet, because they haven’t even finalized how offensive it is. It;s going to be the typical Paul Feig dose of vagina jokes and crude language. Not for young eyes
If you want you can still sit down with a kid, watch the original, and see a ghost perform oral sex on Dan Akroyd.
First trailer was awful. The second trailer was a bit better, but not by much. You can’t assemble some killer lines from a two-hour movie? I got more laughs out of “The Boss” trailer, and that movie was the worst of McCarthy’s career.
This whole misogynist argument is nonsense. Stop defending mediocrity. Hollywood has a gender issue — no doubt. How to fix it? Crank out great movies featuring wonderful actresses, written and directed by talented women. How not to fix it? Blame lousy trailers like the “Ghostbusters” clips on misogyny.
“But it’s true. The movie looks bad”
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/derail-using-retaliation/
Its a reboot, its a not funny trailer, and honestly a boring premise. The gender of the characters is immaterial.
You post a picture of a child hoping to exploit children as advertising for this movie, but I wonder if you realize what you have done. You are using a picture of a child in reference to a movie that hinges on dirty vagina jokes. Most people would call CPS if you set that child up for exposure to that material.
This movie still has not been rated. That is because they can’t get a critical review team to actually finish it without committing ritual suicide. Much like your completely stupid article. Your opinions on misogyny, gamergate, and feminism are all indicative of your how insufferably ignorant you and this site has become. Just sad…
I honestly couldn’t care less whether the new team is made up of men, women, or anthropomorphic wildlife. I don’t feel the trailer is terrible because its a different version of the Ghostbusters than what I know/like. Its just a REALLY bad trailer, which indicates (usually) that there isn’t enough quality material in the film to pull from. Certainly not always the case, but more often than not a poor trailer is a harbinger of the final product to come. I do think there is massive potential in a Ghostbusters film with this exact casting, and was excited to see what they would do. Then the trailer(s) were released, and I am no longer looking forward to this. Not because they are women, or because they are trampling on some people’s notion of a sacred cow.. but simply because it looks like terribly unfunny and derivative film.
While I appreciate the author’s sentiment, he’s picked the wrong tool with which to charge this particular windmill.
Ghostbusters is my all time favorite movie! Millions of diehard fans hate this whole idea, for many reasons. It was Filmed in Boston instead of NY, 1/2 the cast as never beer in a movie before for more then 3 minutes. Paul Feig is way too much a feminist to make an objective movie. I joked with people Ghostbusters 2016 is “HillaryClinton” the movie.. Last week I find out she’s on the Ellen show w the Female Ghostbusters I literally laughed.
I hope they take your favorite movie, put a gimmick behind it that you absolutely despise, like the PC cloture, and they turn that once fav movie into a Huge punchline.
Didn’t they already turn your favorite movie into punchline with Ghostbusters 2.
Hi Andredal, while you have a point, his argument isn’t completely void because those movies didn’t have the most disliked trailers of all time (Zoolander 2: 5K, Bman vs Sman: 16.5K vs. over 800K!). I thought the first trailer looked pretty good, but I also have to admit I’m big fan of Kate McKinnon on SNL. Wiig & McCarthy were both decently funny in the trailer, and have already proven themselves to be great comic actresses (Bridesmaids wasn’t a great movie, but was worth it just for the bathroom scene). Leslie Jones didn’t start out that funny on SNL, but she’s slowly improved, and in the trailer, she fit in well with the other three, just like Ray fit in well in the original. Anyway, the trailer wasn’t nearly bad enough to deserve being the most disliked ever, and has clearly become the current battlezone of a culture war.
To GeekDad: I’m also the father of a daughter, and we recently watched GB1 & 2. We both liked 1 a lot & felt 2 was pretty terrible (written more by Ramis than Akroyd I think). Having a daughter made me realize how male-dominated geek culture is, so when I go to introduce her to my favourite things, she likes them, but something is missing. I don’t think this is misogyny, which literally means ‘hatred of women’. When people (men) dislike the GB trailer, I don’t think they hate women. It’s a backlash, they feel that something’s being shoved in their face and/or down their throat, and that it’s not being chosen for merit or maximum profitability – and to some degree that may be true – but in this case, the merit seems to be there (IMO at least). Anyway, please don’t use the term misogyny unless you really mean it – this is just a temper tantrum, not actual hatred.
Finally, the idiom is ‘deep-seated’, not ‘deep-seeded’, but the confusion is understandable: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=deep-seated&allowed_in_frame=0