Ghostbusters Reboot - I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghosts.....

via @paulfeig

....OR HATERS!!!!!

 Surprising probably no one, there have been many vocal haters, mostly men but some women too, on social media outraged at the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot film helmed by Freaks and Geeks' Paul Feig and starring Melissa Carthy of the Bridesmaids fame.

I have only really asked one such self-described lady nerd why she dislikes the Ghost-busters reboot from the trailers alone.  In short, she said "they took a movie and put women in place of men.  Gave them the same character traits and personality of the men and now women are supposed to jump for joy?....forces Paul Feig to come up with better schtick (sic) and and original roles for women."

To which I offered this rebuttal , "I don't think Ghostbusters is too sacred to be immune from remakes....I loved what Feig and McCarthy did in Spy, which was original and proved to me they could handle the Ghostbusters franchise."

Action, humor and original roles for women all around. 

Feig and McCarthy know what they are doing.  Spy has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and this glowing review on IGN.com.  You could've hated the movie, but cumulative reviews would disagree with you.  I can add that it was easily one of my favorite movies of 2015, in addition to Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Spotlight.  Oh and two of those movies I just named are sequels or soft reboots.

I get that some men, not all men, feel invalidated by seeing a Ghostbusters sequel without male leads. They feel they are being overlooked as the core Ghostbuster audience to which any and all sequels should appeal to.  What the old audience is slowly realizing is that Ghostbusters have always appealed to a much larger fan-base than just white males that grew up during the 80's.  

I'm excited to see this movie.  I love Ghostbusters as a young girl growing up in the 80's and 90's and am thrilled to see an all female squad.  That does not and will never invalidate the original Ghostbusters films starring Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.  The reboot is it's own thing.  I do not view it, in any way, potentially tarnishing the original films.  A good franchise will always survive. Look at Batman, Star Wars, and James Bond.

Tldr; This Ghostbusters movie was not made for you.  Watch it or do not, but please, get over yourselves.  No one appointed you gate-keeper for the franchise.  Doesn't matter how many cartoons, comics or Ghosbusters toys you bought or your parents bought for you.