Ghostbusters is one of the most iconic film franchises of the 80s. It’s a staple in film pop culture with a beloved cast still praised to this day. Like many loved films, newer studios take on the mantle of creating reboots/remakes in order to bring back that popularity. The Ghostbusters 2016 remake was no different except this time with a major cast change. How was the all-female cast of this reboot received and what did review bombing have to do with it?
Many people from older generations remember Ghostbusters as a popular part of their childhood. Even now the film is played on repeat during the holiday season and is a cult classic 80s movie. The original premise of this supernatural, comedy film from the 80s was based on an all-male ghost hunting group of scientists tasked with saving New York from the paranormal entities wreaking havoc (IMDB). The 2016 remake went with the same plot but in modern day New York City and their star-studded, all female cast (IMDB). The essential plot concepts are same except for the fact the cast are all women, so that should not make much of a difference for the audience, right? Wrong. Many viewers, especially men, review bombed the film before it came out with hundreds of 1 star ratings on IMDB user ratings while Metacritic user scores, as shown below, com to about 2.1 while the true critic ratings are around a 60.
Men seem to be the main drivers of this negative phenomenon when it comes to Ghostbusters. Even before the film came out, the data showed men were the predominant group that gave the lowest overall rating for a film that hadn’t even come out yet. A quote from this journalist perfectly encapsulates the issue, “The movie isn’t even out in theaters as I’m writing this, but over 12,000 people have made their judgment. Male reviewers outnumber female reviewers nearly 5 to 1 and rate “Ghostbusters” 4 points lower, on average” (Hickey). The average IMDb average user rating among men was 3.6 out of 10, of 7,547 reviewers while the IMDb average user rating among women: 7.7 out of 10, of 1,564 reviewers according to Hickey.
“There’s an element of gatekeeperism where fans of the original want things to be how they were in the good old days, which ties into this nostalgia, but it’s 2019, and we’re too far gone to make the same films over and over” (Kizu)
Given the statistics about the ratings above, it seems like male audiences have a strange attachment to keeping films in the past. This is especially the case when it comes to a remake like Ghostbusters. Their version of a remake has to keep everything the same including the gender of the cast. Diversifying it would only mean that the film was not “staying true to the original film.” Leslie Jones, one of the main actresses in the film, received a bombardment of racist posts on social media regarding her role as a Black scientist that caused her to take down her Twitter (Strause). Women of color and especially Black women are the subject of hate when it comes to reboots that attempt to diversity the original take on the film. The whole point of a remake is so viewers can see a different, more modern take on films created 20 or 30 years ago.
The point of a remake is to cast the film in a modern, updated version. This includes diversifying older films when they were created at a time where it was rare to see even a few actors from diverse backgrounds appear in major films. Progress, in this day and age, means adding diversity because it makes it better. Review bombs do not offer the chance for these films, especially the well made ones, to be reviewed fairly and lowers the chances of similar films to be made in the future. It is important to have these beloved film remakes shown in a more diverse, inclusive light.
Source:
“Ghostbusters.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/plotsummary
“Ghostbusters.” Metacritic, 15 July 2016, https://www.metacritic.com/movie/ghostbusters-2016
Hickey, Walt. “’Ghostbusters’ Is a Perfect Example of How Internet Movie Ratings Are Broken.” FiveThirtyEight, FiveThirtyEight, 14 July 2016, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ghostbusters-is-a-perfect-example-of-how-internet-ratings-are-broken/
Kizu, Kyle. “’Ghostbusters’: Why Ignore the All-Female Reboot?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Jan. 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/why-is-ghostbusters-3-ignoring-all-female-reboot-1177318/
Strause, Jackie. “Paul Feig Sparks Twitter Movement after ‘Ghostbusters’ Star Leslie Jones Shares Hate Posts.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Aug. 2016, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/ghostbusters-star-leslie-jones-quits-912167/
