I Ain't Afraid of No Ghostbusters

When I went to my local movie theater last night, I was shocked to see the throngs of millennials pouring out of the auditoriums showing Suicide Squad. So shocked, in fact, that I felt the need to sit down and start writing this as soon as I got home. You see, the theater for Ghostbusters was completely empty. Granted, it's been out for a few weeks, but still, literally no one was in there.

There's been a lot of controversy about the new Ghostbusters movie. People are very upset that their beloved Ghostbusters is being remade. And I can understand that. It's just the latest in a long line of remakes, from Spiderman to Grease, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Halloween. But these other films didn't receive the same vehement hatred before they were even released as Ghostbusters has. It seems that most people are upset that the main roles have gone to women.

Even though I myself am a woman, I can understand some frustration at this new norm. Recently, the biographical information for a number of characters in film and literature has been rewritten, and I find this problematic for two reasons. First, fictional characters do have biographical information: people know where Santa lives, what school Holden Caulfield went to, what Peter Parker does for a living. These characters are as real to us as historical figures. Changing their biographical information therefore is akin to deciding to make a movie about Abe Lincoln, but casting him as a short fat guy.

Female Thor

Secondly, and more importantly, while I appreciate the frustration that most super-cool characters are white males, I don't think the solution is just changing these characters to be something else. Why not create new super-cool non-white male characters? It's one of the reasons I (and many other people) love the Powerpuff Girls. They're not feminine versions of male superheroes. They're superheroes in their own right. And that's why characters like the Black Panther will always be cooler than recycled white-male heroes like Supergirl. 

Ghostbusters could have avoided this by simply not making this movie a reboot. It would have been much more satisfying if it had been a sequel -- perhaps these women work at another branch of the thriving franchise, or they are replacements for our retiring heroes, or one of the women inherits the firehouse and equipment and recruits her friends to help relaunch the long forgotten business. That being said, these are four very talented, very funny actresses, who all make the roles their own. Even the critics had to admit the film wasn't as bad as they had thought it might be, all thanks to the talents of these actresses. 

It is truly genuinely funny, good natured, keeps the best beats and side characters from the original films (for instance Slimer and the Staypuff Marshmallow Man have cameos), and adds enough charm of its own to be a good movie. So why was the theater empty? And what's with all the teenagers going to Suicide Squad?

Suicide Squad has everything that you would think would drive people away. Based on reviews (the Rotten Tomatoes Score is currently 26%) the writing is bad, it's misdirected, and even the music is poorly selected. The main characters are not only all criminals, but are the villains of other successful stories (how many times over how many years have we cheered as Batman defeated the Joker?). The only reason they're acting heroic is because they're being controlled by a secret government agency. The fact is, if the "heroes" in this film succeed in escaping from the government's control, they'll be free to return to their murderous ways. 

Would you really want to set this man loose in your city?

The cast is mostly white men, and the main female character is scantily clad and overly sexualized. Fans would likely argue that their love of Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie) is due to her being unpredictable, eccentric, and unhinged rather than her overt sexuality, but then why not the same love for Ghostbuster's Holtzmann (played by Kate McKinnon), who is clearly a little unhinged and eccentric herself?

Harley Quinn (above), Holtzmann (below)

Plus, the characters of Ghostbusters have a variety of other qualities that make them much better heroes and role models. They are successful women -- three of them hold doctoral degrees. They are scientists. They want to save the city. And while they may be a little nerdy (ok, very nerdy) Holtzmann still dresses with as much style (perhaps more) than Harley Quinn.

So this weekend, maybe skip the movie about a villain and his criminal friends who would (according to Jared Leto, who plays the Joker) "definitely castrate you and make you eat your own testicles. Just for fun. That’s if he liked you.” (A "fact" that fans of the comic books dispute.)

Instead of seeing the film where actors were encouraged to fist fight each other and received "gifts" of used condoms and live rats to help stay in character, go see the film advised by real-life scientists from MIT's physics department. Why not go give Ghostbusters a try, and show support for the educated, intelligent, female scientists.