{"id":1525,"date":"2014-10-09T15:31:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T22:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2014-10-09T16:04:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T23:04:22","slug":"every-one-of-your-stupid-complaints-about-the-ghostbusters-reboot-shot-down-in-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1525","title":{"rendered":"Every one of your stupid complaints about the Ghostbusters reboot, shot down in flames"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So, new Ghostbusters project is finally getting off the ground. It’s a reboot with a female cast, from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the internet lost its shit.<\/p>\n

I saw a lot of moaning, criticisms, and prejudgments, and conveniently, most are summed up pretty neatly in this GeekTyrant article<\/a>\u00a0by Joey Paur.\u00a0I generally like GeekTyrant’s coverage, but this particular post is as selfish and\u00a0misguided as it gets. Let me break it down:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A third\u00a0Ghostbusters movie has been in the works for a hell of a long time, and I never imagined that it would end up being a complete reboot. I hate the fact that this is the road that the franchise is going down.”<\/em><\/p>\n

You would prefer a script that was never good enough to get greenlit? I don’t hold torches for things that\u00a0clearly had quality issues so severe that the entire multibillion franchise ground to a halt.\u00a0Why would you praise a roadblock?<\/p>\n

“As a gigantic fan of the original movie, I just wanted to see the old gang back together again”<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u00a0got that with Ghostbusters: the Video Game<\/a> in 2009. This was the sequel every fanboy wanted — the original cast, the original writers, the original settings, generous callbacks to both films, the whole thing. If you didn’t play it, do so immediately. It’s $10 on Steam<\/a>, which is less than a ticket to the 30th anniversary theatrical screening of\u00a0Ghostbusters cost you. It’s also several hours longer.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, let’s consider the “old gang” for a second. Dan’s been trying to make a sequel\u00a0happen for years, and I love him for it. Ernie’s been on board, waiting for the phone to ring. Harold’s dead (but hinted\u00a0to me in a phone interview about\u00a0the game that Egon would\u00a0appear as\u00a0a ghost in GB3 anyway). And Bill…he just doesn’t care. Bill’s been saying “no” to a GB film for years and years, but then he shows\u00a0up at awards shows wearing his GB uniform<\/a>. He’s openly taunting fans, and I don’t support that, ever. The truth is that you’re not going to see the old gang together again because the old gang doesn’t want to be together again<\/em>. Don’t blame\u00a0the new film — blame Bill Murray.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know, it seems to me like rebooting the franchise is kind of ruining the memory of the original.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the single most immature and bass-ackwards complaint I hear about older franchises getting fresh life. “I love this thing from 20 years ago and I love it so much that you cannot touch it or everything is retroactively destroyed.” First of all, you don’t need to defend “the memory” of Ghostbusters\u00a0as if it’s dead and cannot speak for itself —\u00a0buy the Blu-ray<\/a>, watch it on your TV today and spread that love. A new film will not change the old film at all, and most importantly — if this is what you really meant —\u00a0your memories will not change<\/em>. Are you planning to change how you feel about the movies you love because you saw a new movie you didn’t? If so, leave the\u00a0fandom now.<\/p>\n

“Look, It’s going to be really hard for me to come to terms with this project because of how attached I am to the original film. I grew up with that movie. It’s one of those movies that played a big part in my life and inspired me to want to be a filmmaker. Forgive me for being so negative, but that’s where I’m coming from.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A filmmaker who cannot comprehend the evolution of story or the reinterpretation of characters is a filmmaker that needs to widen their perspective before they start shooting a project. So…no, you’re not forgiven, Joey. I’m just as emotionally involved<\/a> as other superfans, but I can see beyond the film’s influence on me and only me.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Joey didn’t have any issues with the female cast decision, and I’m not even going to touch the weird sexist “ewww, girls?” silliness I’ve seen elsewhere, because the people saying it are clearly ignorant to the wonderful movies, series, and specials happening all around them starring brilliant and hilarious female comic actors. Looking at all the potential talent, this particular creative choice could not have come at a better time.<\/p>\n

Look, here’s the truth: Ghostbusters wasn’t going to move forward<\/em>. Nobody wanted to make the movies that were pitched for years and years, for budget reasons, creative reasons, and legacy reasons. But the concept<\/em> does not deserve to sit in mothballs just because its original (and for me life-altering) incarnation can’t get out of its own way. Two <\/a>different <\/a>cartoon series, a tabletop RPG<\/a>, a flavor of Hi-C<\/a>, a disappointing\u00a01989 sequel<\/a> (with the original cast from the original writers and the original director) that doesn’t come close to the first movie — none of them “ruined” the original film or the franchise as a whole. A full 30 years later, Ghostbusters is still beloved. It’s not capable of being ruined.<\/em> But the franchise has\u00a0been stuck in neutral; now it gets a chance to live again.<\/p>\n

This fiction\u00a0is stronger than your fandom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, new Ghostbusters project is finally getting off the ground. It’s a reboot with a female cast, from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig. Naturally, the internet lost its shit. I saw a lot of moaning, criticisms, and prejudgments, and conveniently, most … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1525"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1530,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions\/1530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}