I love the diversity of movies I often go to see. I look back in particular over the last year and look at what I've watched and it's quite the proverbial smorgasbord of cinematic goodness.
I've been to see most of the superhero blockbusters (Captain America: Civil War is due to pass my eyeballs this very week as it happens) but I've also seen some very innovative and artisan films such as Birdman, and a very genteel Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes. The recent comedic biopic of Eddie the Eagle was funny and heart-warming, Kingsmen: The Secret Service was bonkers and brilliant, The Revenant was powerful, gripping, intense and gut-wrenching, Mad Max: Fury Road an astonishing, visceral thrill-ride of visuals and social commentary.
I even treated myself to a solo screening of Deadpool, a film that was more fun than watching a wombat in a washing machine. As well as this I have taken in the latest outings of James Bond, and even Star Wars, which isn't one of my favourite franchises, but I enjoyed very much because it was fun, enjoyable and a good old nostalgic blast.
This last point I make is because in a couple of months time, we get another nostalgic reboot coming in the form of a new Ghostbusters movie, with an all-female cast. This was potentially an excellent idea. At the time, all of us who loved the original speculated about our new team of kick-ass ladies able to wield a proton gun with sass and style. Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Tina Fey, Eliza Dushku, Amy Schumer were all mentioned and this excited us. This was a great opportunity to bring the franchise kicking and screaming back to life.
Then it was announced Paul Feig was directing and Melissa McCarthy was leading the cast. We mourned our lost opportunity, we mourned that some great names would now no longer be on board. And we mourned, most of all, because what should have been a great opportunity to breathe new life into a beloved franchise was instead potentially degenerating in front of our eyes into a layer of dressing for a mediocre comedy.
A lot of comic book, sci-fi, and franchise movies get criticised these days for being 'dark gritty reboots', and yes, Marvel have shown with Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool that this doesn't have to be the case, but Ghostbusters would have been PERFECT for that approach. Die hard fans alike have already voiced their displeasure of the film and gone on to slam the new all female cast. Its my interpretation of the film by the pictures and the plot details released that its going to fail not because its an all female cast but rather because the plot seems really uninspired as a Ghostbusters film.
It has nothing to do with the fact they are all female but rather that they all seem to be generic characters. In the original Ghostbusters they were more diverse than that and that’s why made them funny without actually having to try and be funny. Egon was the smart one. Ray was also a smart scientist but also a very warm, identifiable human character, he was the audiences eyes into the world of the Ghostbusters. Venkman was a charming, ducking and diving ladies man. Finally there’s Winston, who wasn’t just the token black guy, he actually represented the everyman. He was just a hard working man looking for a job and got it working as a Ghostbuster.
All this achieved the humour and gave us a memorable movie without ticked boxes and pre-filled demographic quotas, and without the aid of blatant stunt-casting. Already with this reboot I feel as if they’re going with the basic modern comedy formula which will be filled with slapstick, stereotype characters. I feel as if there isn’t going to be that diverse cast of characters but rather four actresses trying hard just to be funny with no other rhyme or reason other than moving the movie forward.
Already with the trailer it seems as if its going to be a lot of trying too hard to make the audience laugh. I feel like its going to be your pro-typical modern day comedy which aren’t really that funny anymore and its not for lack of trying its for lack of storytelling. I feel like everything from character development, atmosphere, comedy, fear, horror, a lot of things could be done better if there was someone different who respected the roots of the franchise.
A different writer and director would have accomplished this. If they did that then the character development would flow right along with the story cause you cant develop a character without first having a story that also flows right along with it. The comedy and fear would be better set up with story telling that gives you a reason to laugh or fear something rather than just having jump scares just because you cant figure out a way to do something that creates that fear or legitimate gritty tension.
And this goes back to the point I made earlier. By making this new Ghostbusters a light-hearted comedy there is no progress with the franchise being made at all, there's no evolution. A 'dark gritty reboot' may not have been to everybody's tastes, but it could have at least learnt itself to more authenticity. I feel this film will fail because its going to try too hard to recapture what made the original great while trying too hard to do something different by making some sort of forced joke or plot detail for a certain piece of technology.
Does this mean I'm sexist ?? Well, the odds are I will go and see the new Ghostbusters because of my nostalgic love for the franchise. The fundamental idea of an all female cast was a GOOD one, and it potentially could have had so much going for it. We had our heroes back in the 80's, and I totally agree that young girls of today deserve the opportunity to discover and be inspired by their heroines too. This new Ghostbusters was the perfect opportunity to do just that, but without squandering the charm of the original and the nostalgic warmth we feel for the franchise 30 years later.
And the funny thing is, with all these popular franchises, there was a time when they weren't part of the comfort zone. There was something about the time we were first introduced to a franchise that made us want to stay there. And unfortunately, that first, energizing experience that bought our loyalty will never happen again within the same franchise.
No matter how much the instalments improve their special effects, no matter how much a fifth sequel boasts of 'recapturing' the original, no matter how many times the writers claim to be 'massive original fans', there can only ever be one moment of discovery.
And for all the controversy, I honestly don’t mind an all female Ghostbusters … but I do mind when the story, heart, and the characters are not there.