Has there been a not-yet-released movie in 2016 that has received more undue shit than “Ghostbusters”? Haters and misogynists have practically declared war on the film simply because the ‘Busters’ this time are female. The movie has received a ridiculous amount of unnecessary vitriol from those that haven’t seen it — the first trailer was voted as the most hated film trailer in the history of YouTube thanks to detractors — and director Paul Feig is getting rather fed up, understandably so.
READ MORE: Watch: Fresh International Trailer For ‘Ghostbusters’ Scares Up New Footage
Feig nearly got in trouble with the virulent fanboys before, when a quote, unearthed before “Ghostbusters,” had looked like he was slamming the faithful for bashing on his film (calling them assholes; he kind of backpedaled later). Feig wasn’t quite as angry at this weekend’s Produced By Conference, but he’s not particularly happy with the backlash either, which essentially boils down to “the new ‘Ghostbusters’ will suck because the protagonists are female.”
“We are struggling every day to go against that bias,” Feig said (via The Wrap). “We still get called in the press as a ‘chick flick.’ We are always referred to as ‘the all-female ‘Ghostbusters.’”
The director added that the movie has been confronted by “the most misogynistic stuff,” and he described the outcry as “chilling” and an “onslaught. It’s just an uphill battle and I can’t believe we are having to deal with it.”
That said, Feig does take some ownership for the character played by Leslie Jones, which has come under fire for being the only African-American and decidedly blue-collar worker of the bunch. “I feel bad that many have taken a bad look at Leslie Jones’s character,” he said. “We originally wrote it for Melissa [McCarthy], and then when we were putting it together, we figured Melissa had played a role like that before. Leslie is so funny at playing this kind of a character that we put her in there. I am the first to admit, while I am a fighter for women, my record for diversity has not been as good and I take responsibility for that.”
Octavia Spencer, also at the conference, was dismayed and baffled by the anti-“Ghostbusters” campaigning. “The fact that there are people who take any type of umbrage with [the movie] is mind-boggling to me,” she said.
The signal-to-noise ratio on the internet is often off, so it will be interesting to see if a) the backlash hurts the “Ghostbusters” box-office prospects, b) it actually gives the movie tons of press and galvanizes the audience, and/or an adjunct-y c) the vociferous and ubiquitous fanboys turn out to be a small, but very loud, crowd that doesn’t impact the movie’s grosses in a significant manner. Time will tell — “Ghostbusters” still has some time to change its narrative before it opens on July 15th.
The trailers beyond the first gave better impressions, making me believe that whoever was tasked with cutting the first together either had never cut a trailer before that time or did so in a rush to get something out there.
It’s odd though that most of the big press about this seems to be focusing on the “assholes”/etc. It’s starting to look as though they’re hoping to go with the “B” scenario you have outlined there.
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1. Amy Pascal, herself, says thats it is primarily intented to attract female audience – Chick Flick!
2. Only chicks (and gays) will find a dumb, sexualized Hemsworth secretary character as interesting – Chick Flick!
3. Only females could relate to its gender pandering jokes (eg: the sexist Ghost with a breast, the sexist/racist “i dunno if its a race thang or a lady thang”) – Chick Flick!
4. Flaunted by the cast themselves as a demonstration of “Girl Power” – Chick Flick!
5. Marketted as a film “With Women in it”, “All female cast”, etc – Chick Flick!
6. Looks, sounds, feels like another typical Paul Feig chick flick film – Chick Flick!
Exactly, it’s an all female movie made for feminist women, do not expect to see too much men there