The New Ghostbusters - Part 9

[JtheDreamer]

And then of course the cast and director crack jokes about ruining mens childhoods and stuff which is very unprofessional because while they are mocking people they feel are trolls but they are also alienating those who were not impressed by the trailers and maybe were on the fence about it to likely be put off altogether now.

Then of course there was stuff about sony deleting negative comments on youtube and keeping anything that made it sound like the haters were sexist.

They hardly done themselves any favours here.

Bingo!

 

[BoredGuy]

It reminds me of the situation with Ridley and Boyega with Star Wars, on a much larger scale.

see, I didn't see much of that, I actually saw more people saying "the reaction to this is ridiculous" than I did people complaining about a female or black character taking the reins... I mean, there's always been a lead female character in the SW films, and most of the reaction I read to Finn was, "huh, black stormtrooper, who knew"... but granted, I don't venture into that internet-galaxy too often

as much as I defend my right to hate the hell out of the new GB, I can easily admit the sexist elements have been completely out of line and totally eclipsed whatever bigoted response there was to SW

 

[danoyse]

Yeah, sounds about right. I honestly wasn't on board with this movie to start. I was completely against it really, but after Spy, I decided I was willing to give it a chance. I still don't know if I am going to see it, but the reaction to this film has bothered me, a lot. It reminds me of the situation with Ridley and Boyega with Star Wars, on a much larger scale.

I work a block away from Madame Toussad's wax museum in Times Square, and they have a Ghostbusters display up now. They had the Leslie Jones figure outside for photos (and yes, a lot of people were taking photos with it).

I took a picture of it, and tweeted it to Leslie Jones with ("whoa! there's a Ghostbuster on 42nd St!"). I rarely ever tag a celebrity on Twitter because I think it's pretty silly to do...but I saw how ugly some of the comments she was getting on Twitter were, and I thought it was just something nice.

She responded back with a "Whoa!", and Paul Feig liked it.

It's that ugly, I just thought it was something nice to do.

 

[Kanon]

I think there's a pretty well-rounded discussion going on about all of the aspects of the film here. You don't get to decide which way that conversation goes.

Just giving advice, not commanding anyone. I'd hardly say a conversation when people call each other "sexist", or "grow up" is well rounded, but this can keep going forever for all I care.

Anyone has any info on ticket pre sales? The only theather here that has pre sales is IMAX, and for the 2 showings on opening day (in 3 days) they have sold 6 tickets already (that's three times as much as they had yesterday)

 

[danoyse]

Just giving advice, not commanding anyone. I'd hardly say a conversation when people call each other "sexist", or "grow up" is well rounded, but this can keep going forever for all I care.

I would say it's important that this film has a female cast, and telling people to "stop talking about it now" isn't helping calm down the sexism accusations.

 

[danoyse]

This was one of the slides shown before the RiffTrax Live/MST3K reunion two weeks ago:

 

[Supernova]

I would say it's important that this film has a female cast, and telling people to "stop talking about it now" isn't helping calm down the sexism accusations.

I would ask why is it important?

 

[GuestStar2004]

This was simple. The guy who makes a career off reviewing bad movies and games decides he won't see a very specific movie and makes a video about it. Kotaku wrote a nice article about the obvious contradiction of the entire situation.

But thats his choice, he only reviews the movies he wants to review and the ghostbusters franchise is something he has spoken about alot from videos games to movies so people were gonna expect him to give an opinion on the new movie and if he doesn't want to see the movie he shouldn't have to be told he is wrong to feel that way.

 

[Kanon]

I would say it's important that this film has a female cast, and telling people to "stop talking about it now" isn't helping calm down the sexism accusations.

It has been important, but for a year and a half it has been the only important thing, and that "one note aspect" I believe that is what is puliing people away. The call for a different subject is not about throwing the female cast into obscurity, but to try to highlight something else from the movie. No wonder all people now a few days from release is "all chicks, Thor is dumb, and Slimer has a girlfriend"

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Thats the problem i think sony and the director may have missed as they probably feels its just a reboot of the classic original movie, but there are people that have grown up with the movie aswell as its sequel, the real ghostbusters cartoon and the 2009 video game which is still fairly recent, so there is alot of love for this franchise that goes beyond the original movie also

Id also count in the extreme ghostbusters cartoon which while had a new team it did feel like a sequel to the real ghostbusters cartoon.

And if they had cast men, it would have been. But goddamnt, cooties.

 

[pixen]

Good.

Albeit, I believe there will some sympathy votes/reviews out there by major critics. There's a lot on the line for female-led Hollywood blockbusters being produced. If this one fails, t'would be bad down the road for those opportunities.

It's 76+ fresh on RT. So people are enjoying it. And for the people still wanting the original sequel. Bill Murray didn't want to come back for a sequel to the original so it was never going to happen.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

But then you have the flip like this New York TImes article titled "Ghostbusters: Girls Rule, Women Are Funny, Get Over It", that tries to paint any opposition or distaste to the movie as some sort of chauvinistic, reactionary hatred. Feig has played into this. Both sides are wrong, IMO.

I have no problem with that. Is it strong? Yep. But it is only antagonistic if you actually have a problem with women as the leads. I am a male and I don't think they are directing it at me, because I don't have a problem with it.

 

[GuestStar2004]

And if they had cast men, it would have been. But goddamnt, cooties.

Its funny the ones who accuse of sexism are the ones trying to turn it into sexism.

 

[Nathan]

I would say it's important that this film has a female cast, and telling people to "stop talking about it now" isn't helping calm down the sexism accusations.

This is the thing I still don't get, surrounding this whole situation. Is it that important? Ever since this Movie was announced, people were acting like Movies never had any strong female leads. Which to be frank, is outright bs. I'm still perplexed by the amount of attention the gender of the cast has gotten. Of course it didn't help when the media decided to run with the whole misogynist shtick.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

see, I didn't see much of that, I actually saw more people saying "the reaction to this is ridiculous" than I did people complaining about a female or black character taking the reins... I mean, there's always been a lead female character in the SW films, and most of the reaction I read to Finn was, "huh, black stormtrooper, who knew"... but granted, I don't venture into that internet-galaxy too often

as much as I defend my right to hate the hell out of the new GB, I can easily admit the sexist elements have been completely out of line and totally eclipsed whatever bigoted response there was to SW

As a big Star Wars fan, I saw it a lot. Being around the fandom and news, it became apparent more and more. TFN boards had it, bad. There were plenty who were acting like they just didn't like the character of Rey and Finn (before the movie came out) because of their characters. You know, when they had no idea who they were. Eventually the majority got rid of the pretense and showed their true colors.

Then you had the stuff where people would defend the racism using "canon" saying a Stormtrooper couldn't be black because they are clones. Which is of course, BS. I saw it a lot. The Rey stuff was far more upfront. I get the feeling sexism is a bit more acceptable these days as opposed to racism. Well until Trump came along.

 

[Matt]

And if they had cast men, it would have been. But goddamnt, cooties.

THIS, I disagree with and I think it falls into the other end of the spectrum (and plays into the negativity surrounding this movie).

Imagine if Paul Feig announced a remake that starred:

Andy Samberg
Josh Gad
Keenan Thompson
and
Fred Armisen

The reaction would be just as negative.

Then imagine a trailer is released in which the sole sources of humor seem to stem from Gad being fat and Keenan acting like a loud, obnoxious, black stereotype.

The reaction would be every bit as negative.

Then imagine the director goes out of his way to troll anyone who says anything bad about the movie.

It would all lead to the same exact situation.

I agree with Jake in part, the marketing department is more to blame than anyone.

In fact, a big part of the reaction to this movie stems from having cast members whose humor is overly-broad, terrible marketing , and a director who comes off as very insecure and cannot resist the urge to use Twitter to taunt those who criticize him.

 

[AllEights]

While I'm not as enthusiastically praising this film as this reviewer is, I feel like this review highlights a lot of the things I enjoyed about the movie. Though, I disagree with his love for Rowan. The idea was good, but the actor is just piss poor at delivering the character.

http://www.blumhouse.com/2016/07/10/11-reasons-why-the-new-ghostbusters-kicks-ass/

I am not familiar with the actor who played Rowan but I don't place all of the blame on him, the writing of his character was pretty weak.

 

[GuestStar2004]

Ever since this Movie was announced, people were acting like Movies never had any strong female leads.

This!

There are many franchise with female leads, the alien franchise is always the first that comes to mind for me, but its all gender politics for ghostbusters.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This is the thing I still don't get, surrounding this whole situation. Is it that important? Ever since this Movie was announced, people were acting like Movies never had any strong female leads. Which to be frank, is outright bs. I'm still perplexed by the amount of attention the gender of the cast has gotten. Of course it didn't help when the media decided to run with the whole misogynist shtick.

It didn't help that people were being misogynistic either.

The idea that there is some sort of comparison between the amount of male lead roles and female lead roles in such genres, is disingenuous. More importantly is the amount of women in the same film. Building a cast full of men around a female lead is all kinds of problematic.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

But thats his choice, he only reviews the movies he wants to review and the ghostbusters franchise is something he has spoken about alot from videos games to movies so people were gonna expect him to give an opinion on the new movie and if he doesn't want to see the movie he shouldn't have to be told he is wrong to feel that way.

His choice shows how he is reacting to a female lead Ghostbusters film. Nothing else. Not other horrible movies or games. He picked this one specifically. That it is his choice does not change what his choice says about him. This is not hard to understand. At all.

 

[WorthyStevens]

This was one of the slides shown before the RiffTrax Live/MST3K reunion two weeks ago:

They also made a dig during one of those shorts they riffed on. I believe it was the Talking Car short. The whole theatre cracked up. Great reunion show.

 

[danoyse]

I would ask why is it important?

It has been important, but for a year and a half it has been the only important thing, and that "one note aspect" I believe that is what is puliing people away. The call for a different subject is not about throwing the female cast into obscurity, but to try to highlight something else from the movie. No wonder all people now a few days from release is "all chicks, Thor is dumb, and Slimer has a girlfriend"

I'm a woman, so it's important to me. It's been important to my friends who have daughters. If any of the female bloggers/writers I follow on social media are any indication, it's pretty damn important to them too. We've never had this before.

I bought that Lego car last week because it was one of the first time I remember ever seeing a Lego set with so many female characters included in a single set that wasn't pink and princess-y. I would need to buy 4 different Lego sets if I wanted to get all of the female Force Awakens figures. But here it was, all in one pretty cool-looking set.

It's important to me because women should have the chance to be just as funny and to kick just as much ass as a group of 4 guys chasing ghosts in NYC city. Because we can. It's important to me because I want little girls to see that too. Hell, I want my nephews to see that just as much.

It's important to me, because I'm tired of having the original movie "explained" to me by guys who weren't even born yet when I saw the original movie every time I say I want to see it...because apparently I "can't" understand why it's some kind of crime against humanity. What do us girls understand about movies anyway??

It's important to me because when I posted that Lego set on Twitter, I had to put up with at least three little children who were I angry that I bought a toy. Like I should be ashamed for buying it. Screw those little children.

If you don't want to see it, that's FINE. I don't care. But I'm rooting for it. I'm hoping it's good (maybe it won't be, who knows?)...but I'm tired of having to justify it, or be told I shouldn't think having this cast is important. To me, it is.

 

[Nathan]

It didn't help that people were being misogynistic either.

And I'm not saying that they weren't. But misogynistic men is the only thing everyone focused on. What about all the female geek youtubers, who spoke out against the idea of rebooting Ghostbusters? And thought a mixed team would have been a better way to go, instead of making them all female? Oh, wait, apparently they don't exist.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

THIS, I disagree with and I think it falls into the other end of the spectrum (and plays into the negativity surrounding this movie).

Imagine if Paul Feig announced a remake that starred:

Andy Samberg
Josh Gad
Keenan Thompson
and
Fred Armisen

The reaction would be just as negative.

Then imagine a trailer is released in which the sole sources of humor seem to stem from Gad being fat and Keenan acting like a loud, obnoxious, black stereotype.

The reaction would be every bit as negative.

Then imagine the director goes out of his way to troll anyone who says anything bad about the movie.

It would all lead to the same exact situation.

I agree with Jake in part, the marketing department is more to blame than anyone.

In fact, a big part of the reaction to this movie stems from having cast members whose humor is overly-broad, terrible marketing , and a director who comes off as very insecure and cannot resist the urge to use Twitter to taunt those who criticize him.

People were championing a movie with Tatum...

But forget that. The idea that it would be just as negative says there isn't a huge amount of sexism involved here. That like less then 10% of the response here doesn't involve sexism and on that I don't agree, at all. This is the internet, the place where people make excuses for why there are like two female superhero films. Where people make excuses for the lack of female character merch in "boys" movies. Where the Big Hero 6 only has four members if you are a little boy.

 

[Spider-Fan]

It didn't help that people were being misogynistic either.

The idea that there is some sort of comparison between the amount of male lead roles and female lead roles in such genres, is disingenuous. More importantly is the amount of women in the same film. Building a cast full of men around a female lead is all kinds of problematic.

Some may have been, but the marketing department didn't do this movie any favors with awful trailers. I am shocked it is getting good reviews based on the trailers for the movie that I saw. I couldn't care less that the Ghostbusters are female in this. But easiest way to combat bad press like that is by showing people they were wrong, and having a bad trailer on top of that made the marketing/perception problem worse. Remember, people complained about Ledger as the Joker until we saw footage of him. Good footage shuts people up. I think saying that sexism is the only reason it was being panned by people is an over simplification. Is that in part true? Probably. But I don't think it is the entire reason.