So the wonderful people at Audiences Everywhere recently put up an article by Sean K. Cureton addressing the new Ghostbusters movie and what it would mean if the movie turns out to be bad. Now if you've been following me you'll know that I have thoughts about the new movie and that my feelings have certainly changed since I first talked about it. After seeing this article which mostly addresses trying to remain critical of the movie without falling into the trap of misogyny I felt like I wanted to address what I felt it would mean if the movie is bad. So here it is, read on to find out what I think it means if the movie is bad.
Absolutely nothing other than it is a bad movie.
First let me address something that a lot of people either are misconstruing or simply don't understand. No one is saying that criticism of the movie is automatically misogyny. No one is saying that if you don't want to see it you are sexist. However what is being said is that a lot of the criticism is misogynistic in nature and the sheer volume of backlash is rooted in sexism. Comments on the trailer ranged from calling the actresses "fat screaming banshees" to ones that have since been deleted but claimed that the movie (mind you a movie about a team of people fighting ghosts) doesn't work because the Ghostbusters are essentially firefighters and women can't be firefighters in the real world. These aren't simply one off comments either, these are indicative of the kind of hate this movie is getting. It goes beyond "I don't think it looks funny". Even most of those comments, while seemingly benign, are followed up with "I guess that makes me a misogynist right SJWs?" sarcastically as if to mock the idea that there is a sexist backlash against this movie.
To defend the sexist behavior of either themselves or others I often see this movie compared to Pixels and the hate that movie got as proof that it's not sexism but just criticism of an unfunny movie. Pixels is actually a great example to bring up in my opinion. Compare these two sci-fi comedies and their reception. Pixels was coming out from Adam Sandler after a string of failed and mocked comedies. Ghostbusters is coming from a cast of successful comedy actresses. Yet just compare the comments on the trailer for Pixels. Starting with the ratings Ghostbusters has way more thumbs down than Pixels, in fact Pixels actually has a positive rating. Looking at the comments overall they are positive with people defending the movie and even Sandler. The negative comments are sprinkled throughout yet none are regarding the gender of the cast in any way. Even the ones that dismiss the movie because of Sandler are nowhere near as venomous as the ones on Ghostbusters. Pixels a critically slammed movie and generally one accepted as being not good, one that's actually already released, and one that's based on 'geek' culture, received nothing in comparison to the hate thrown at the new Ghostbusters movie that hasn't even released yet.
I already shared my reservations with Paul Feig as a director especially with comedy. So far The Heat is the only movie from him I have found genuinely funny. I also don't like his brand of humor which seems to be a bit too over the top. Part of the original's success was due to how subtle a lot of the humor was. It didn't merely rely on a series of visual gags or over reactions, although they were in there as well. So while I definitely don't think he's a bad director, I still don't think he was the best fit for this franchise. The cast however is perfect. While I can think of a few actresses that also would have been good, this cast is exactly who I probably would have chosen. Between all of them there is a tremendous amount of comedic talent. That's something that cannot be denied, they have the pedigree. The trailers for the movie have been getting progressively better, with the new Japanese one being the first time I actually laughed out loud, during a scene with Leslie Jones whom I don't generally find that funny (which is not saying "She's not funny") and a mannequin.
So what if this movie turns out to be bad? I wish what I first said about it meaning absolutely nothing other than it's a bad movie was true but we live in the real world. What it means is the sexist assholes on the internet will feel justified, they will all pat each other on the backs and talk about how they were right all along. The people who dismissed it will also feel vindicated and sit on a high throne of smugness any time the movie is brought up. No matter what this movie is almost sure to make enough money to guarantee a sequel meaning we'll get to go through it all over again with the addition of comments about its worthiness of getting a sequel. It'll surely be used as an example of why 'SJWs' are stupid and that 'forcing' progression into media never works out. For those of us who are legitimately excited about the movie but still cautiously optimistic, who have the capacity to actually accept that maybe it will be a bad movie, all it will mean is that it wasn't good and that's too bad.
We're still about a month away from the release as of writing this, so all will be revealed in time. All I know is, especially with each trailer, I keep getting more excited. Similar to my feelings (that turned out to have merit) about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows, it looks like it'll be at the very least a lot of fun and even if that's all it is, I'm totally okay with that.
PS. I wrote this while listening to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack which is still amazing even to this day.
First let me address something that a lot of people either are misconstruing or simply don't understand. No one is saying that criticism of the movie is automatically misogyny. No one is saying that if you don't want to see it you are sexist. However what is being said is that a lot of the criticism is misogynistic in nature and the sheer volume of backlash is rooted in sexism. Comments on the trailer ranged from calling the actresses "fat screaming banshees" to ones that have since been deleted but claimed that the movie (mind you a movie about a team of people fighting ghosts) doesn't work because the Ghostbusters are essentially firefighters and women can't be firefighters in the real world. These aren't simply one off comments either, these are indicative of the kind of hate this movie is getting. It goes beyond "I don't think it looks funny". Even most of those comments, while seemingly benign, are followed up with "I guess that makes me a misogynist right SJWs?" sarcastically as if to mock the idea that there is a sexist backlash against this movie.
To defend the sexist behavior of either themselves or others I often see this movie compared to Pixels and the hate that movie got as proof that it's not sexism but just criticism of an unfunny movie. Pixels is actually a great example to bring up in my opinion. Compare these two sci-fi comedies and their reception. Pixels was coming out from Adam Sandler after a string of failed and mocked comedies. Ghostbusters is coming from a cast of successful comedy actresses. Yet just compare the comments on the trailer for Pixels. Starting with the ratings Ghostbusters has way more thumbs down than Pixels, in fact Pixels actually has a positive rating. Looking at the comments overall they are positive with people defending the movie and even Sandler. The negative comments are sprinkled throughout yet none are regarding the gender of the cast in any way. Even the ones that dismiss the movie because of Sandler are nowhere near as venomous as the ones on Ghostbusters. Pixels a critically slammed movie and generally one accepted as being not good, one that's actually already released, and one that's based on 'geek' culture, received nothing in comparison to the hate thrown at the new Ghostbusters movie that hasn't even released yet.
I already shared my reservations with Paul Feig as a director especially with comedy. So far The Heat is the only movie from him I have found genuinely funny. I also don't like his brand of humor which seems to be a bit too over the top. Part of the original's success was due to how subtle a lot of the humor was. It didn't merely rely on a series of visual gags or over reactions, although they were in there as well. So while I definitely don't think he's a bad director, I still don't think he was the best fit for this franchise. The cast however is perfect. While I can think of a few actresses that also would have been good, this cast is exactly who I probably would have chosen. Between all of them there is a tremendous amount of comedic talent. That's something that cannot be denied, they have the pedigree. The trailers for the movie have been getting progressively better, with the new Japanese one being the first time I actually laughed out loud, during a scene with Leslie Jones whom I don't generally find that funny (which is not saying "She's not funny") and a mannequin.
So what if this movie turns out to be bad? I wish what I first said about it meaning absolutely nothing other than it's a bad movie was true but we live in the real world. What it means is the sexist assholes on the internet will feel justified, they will all pat each other on the backs and talk about how they were right all along. The people who dismissed it will also feel vindicated and sit on a high throne of smugness any time the movie is brought up. No matter what this movie is almost sure to make enough money to guarantee a sequel meaning we'll get to go through it all over again with the addition of comments about its worthiness of getting a sequel. It'll surely be used as an example of why 'SJWs' are stupid and that 'forcing' progression into media never works out. For those of us who are legitimately excited about the movie but still cautiously optimistic, who have the capacity to actually accept that maybe it will be a bad movie, all it will mean is that it wasn't good and that's too bad.
We're still about a month away from the release as of writing this, so all will be revealed in time. All I know is, especially with each trailer, I keep getting more excited. Similar to my feelings (that turned out to have merit) about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows, it looks like it'll be at the very least a lot of fun and even if that's all it is, I'm totally okay with that.
PS. I wrote this while listening to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack which is still amazing even to this day.