The new all-female Ghostbusters movie won't be out until July, and it's only March–but we're already being told how we're supposed to feel about it.
We're supposed to love it. Or else.
Or else be branded as "haters." Or "misogynists."
Actually, the Ghostbusters remake could be good. I became a huge Kristen Wiig fan after she stole The Martian, and her reuiniting with Melissa McCarthy could give the movie some low Bridesmaids humor (same director, Paul Feig). The Ghostbusters trailer released on March 3 looks fairly funny, although not so funny as the original 1984 smash-hit film.
But it seems that some people–mainly guys–think the new version will be a travesty of the original, which starred Saturday Night Live icons Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray. The phrase "pandering to feminists" appeared on many a tweet, and wrote on the mens'-rights blog Return of Kings:
Hollywood has done it again— and by “it,” I mean taking a franchise that features men as heroes and transformed it into yet another casualty of fashionable feminism. This is especially hypocritical considering that this movie is based on a franchise that features men as heroes and was judged as sexist by feminists for featuring only males as the heroes.
Well! You can't say that! Here's Gawker tsk-tsking over the "12 Sexist Reactions to Ghostbusters"
Boys! Some of you are upset because you have heard that there is going to be a Ghostbusters movie made in which the job of busting ghosts, a traditional bastion of masculinity, will be done by women. How can women wear jumpsuits and chase noncorporeal beings? You've seen the movie and you know that's man stuff.
And here's Hollywood Life quoting Feig himself:
‘Ghostbusters’ Director Fiercely Defends All-Female Cast From Haters: ‘It’s Pure Misogyny"
And here's the ever-reliable Bustle:
Still, the fact that we can get to see the famous franchise re-imagined with awesome ladies fighting ghosts was good news no matter how you looked at it… unless you're a sexist, in which case you've been complaining about the Ghostbusters casting on Twitter ever since the news broke.
Taking the cake, however, is Verge schoolmarm Kaitlyn Tiffany femsplaining on "how to talk" about the remake to your chauvinist boyfriend:
The original Ghostbusters has an arcane damsel-in-distress story premise, and extremely unsubtle rape analogies. There are also some implications that women are demons.
That'll turn him around! Then, should you have a blog and some guy posts a comment about the new Ghostbusters that you don't like, here's how to respond:
One: I don't think the argument that any movie could retroactively "ruin" another movie from over 30 years ago is very logical.
Two: Your comment has been deleted because it was hateful and dumb.
That's right–censor him out of existence.
My own thought about the remake is that it looks like Bridesmaids with jumpsuits. Your boyfriend is going to deem another chick flck like Bridesmaids and tell you to go see it on girls' night out. So you'll be all by yourself with no nasty men around, and you can grok on the feminist themes to your hearts' content.