A major controversy as of late has been the new remake of “Ghostbusters” coming to theaters this July. Fans of the original series cried out against the remake for a multitude of reasons, one of which, many fans for the new movie assume, is because of the all-female cast.
Before I dive too deep into the rabbit hole, I would like to state my opinion:
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The movie, while it looks like a laughing good time, it seems like it is far too similar to the original all while missing the major point of the eighties hit.
Now, the first thing I personally noticed about the trailer was the likable character. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and the other leading actors are all hilarious and enjoyable to watch. But what made the original so great was how unlikable most of the characters are. Look at Bill Murray. The first scene with him is essentially hitting on a female student, which then continues a trend of general "ass-holishness" toward the other characters and even the paranormal plot. His character is never a nice guy, and while some of his character traits wouldn’t go over too well by today’s audiences’ standards, that’s exactly what made the movie so great: An unlikable guy, with his crew of social outcast friends, making light of the end of the world, but still being the only ones able to stop it.
Wiig plays a similar role from what I can tell, a quirky college professor in the paranormal field. The other difference is that she’s quirky by today’s standards, the cute awkward that every guy secretly wants after watching their first Zooey Deschanel movie. It’s not a bad thing in a movie, and has little to do with the fact that she’s a girl, but if the movie is going to be a remake (rather than a sequel) why make the characters the same, just more agreeable?
So, what’s my point here? I suppose I’m sick of people complaining about the new “Ghostbusters” remake, and, on the flip side to that, others assuming the complaints about it have to do strictly with the sex of the main cast. Obviously, I haven’t seen it, and can’t say anything about the movie specifically, but I think the release of this drastic remake is a good chance for us movie-goers, as a whole, to examine what we want in the films we spend so much money to see, what we expect from them, and what we can do to understand that while remakes, “Ghostbusters” among others, are separate films from the originals, there will always be that comparison.
Will the new “Ghostbusters” be any good? I have no idea. But I can say that if it does or doesn’t do well at the box office or critically, it has little to do with the sex change and more to do with the film itself (and, regretfully and unavoidably, how it compares to the original).
