The Ghostbusters reboot trailer came out some time ago and anyone with eyes and ears knew it was pretty bad. And a lot of people said it was pretty bad.
In the aftermath, the defense of this pile of garbage fell into two idiotic categories. A- If you didn’t like it you are a sexist. or B- it is not fair to judge a movie based on a trailer.
Both of those defenses are so idiotic I didn’t bother dealing with them here BUT I will in a minute, because…
James Rolfe, aka the angry video game nerd, made a video about why he wasn’t going to go see it..and was attacked with each of these idiotic defenses. I’m a big fan of the AVGN. He’s done probably 100 plus hours of youtube videos and anyone who’s created content that is simply their own opinion can tell you that eventually your true personality comes out. If you are just an asshole, eventually that will become obvious. You can only hide your true nature for so long if you are writing scripts for yourself. James doesn’t strike me as a sexist. He seems goofy, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable of not only video games but of films and film history. He is clearly more than just a “buff” but a well researched expert. He also seems good natured, and easy going. This is made clear by him not responding much to the criticism or getting involved in any twitter wars with people who obviously only watched about two minutes of his Ghostbusters reboot video.
I…on the other hand am NOT good natured and easy going. So I am going to respond on his behalf.
Dopes, who are living in the past have jabbed such stupidity as ” why make a video about what you aren’t going to watch” or “nobody asked you for your opinion , yet you put up a ten minute video”.
AVGN has OVER TWO MILLION FOLLOWERS. I can give you a phone book sized list of basic cable shows that will never SNIFF at two million viewers. Youtube is real. It is a venue millions and millions of people go to for info and entertainment. It’s 2016 and successful youtubers trump yesterdays “celebrity personalities”. Here’s some added perspective for you- those two million subscribers…he EARNED those HIMSELF, FROM SCRATCH. They aren’t the residue of being on a reality show, or some network sitcom, or with a aid an assistance of any studio, not one of his critics can say that. So, I would ask them “Who cares what YOU think?”. Those TWO MILLION PLUS subscribers are there because because they enjoy his content. So, a lot of people are interested in what he has to say, and this is not the first video he has done about films. He’s done many , and they are in depth and insightful and well researched. he has mentioned before his love for the Ghostbusters franchise, so him NOT addressing the new trailer would have been odd. Welcome to the future, if you want to stay here, you’d better get with the program.
As for the – it’s not fair to judge a movie based on it’s trailer-. He DIDN’T. HE SAID STRAIGHT OUT THAT IT VERY WELL COULD BE A MUCH BETTER MOVIE THAN THE TRAILER SHOWS US.
He didn’t..but I will. the trailer looked like crap and that’s a good sign the movie will be a pile of crap. And if drawing that conclusion is illogical THAN WHY MAKE A TRAILER AT ALL? If I am foolish to think a movie is bad because of the trailer and not go see it, than I am also foolish to think it is good and go see it because of a trailer…. so why make a trailer?!
Trailers are put out to TRY TO GET US TO GO SEE THE MOVIE, IF IT IS FAIR TO GO SEE IT BASED ON THE TRAILER , THAN IT IS FAIR TO NOT GO SEE IT BASED ON THE TRAILER. If it is fair to say you are excited because of a trailer, than it is fair to say you are uninterested because of the trailer. Or should I go see EVERY SINGLE MOVIE I SEE A TRAILER FOR, WHETHER I LIKE THE TRAILER OR NOT?! “give it a chance”…I gave it a chance, I watched the best 60 seconds the studio could wring out of what will no doubt be a mediocre effort. Nobody leaked this trailer. nobody hacked into the studios computer and released this before they could refine it. THIS IS WHAT THEY PUT OUT ON PURPOSE, for us to judge and THEORETICALLY go see the movie because of. If they don’t want the movie judged based on the trailer, they WOULDN’T HAVE PUT OUT THE TRAILER. If I have a chance to show you a portion of my book, and I show you what I think is my best representation, and you don’t want to buy it…I CANNOT FATHOM WHINING THAT YOU DIDN’T GIVE IT A CHANCE.
The other moronic defense is that if you don’t like it, you are a sexist. It’s funny that this is the first time I have ever heard of sexist men not going to see a movie because attractive women are in it. Perhaps they are unclear on how sexist men operate. This isn’t Gorilla’s in the Midst, or Joan of Arch where sexist men might feel threatened by a woman excelling in a traditionally male role. It’s a goofy comedy with CGI ghosts, about a job that doesn’t actually exist. I hardly think this is a place anyone is taking a stand/looking at it under to scope of “female roles in society”. But this too falls under the umbrella of THIS IS WHAT THEY PRESENTED. Trailers use gender to sell movies all the time. Am I a feminist hero for going to see Charlies Angels because it had a female cast?! Are women reverse sexists for not going to see the Expendable and it’s all male cast? Moronic.
Let me repeat, this is 2016. Having a female cast or even a female lead is not going to draw the kind or ire that this trailer has. Aliens came out like 30 years ago with Sigourney Weaver as a the lead action hero and people (many of whom were men ) loved it and no one panned it ( not even men) because of the female lead. Since Aliens, I can’t even count the number of sci-fi / action heroes that were female. Seems to me, in fact, Mad Max was universally loved and that parallels replacing male Ghostbusters with female Ghostbusters about as closely as you can. There have been female leads up the wazoo in movies, t.v. shows, and cable shows and but in this one instance sexist men everywhere have come out to pan a movie because of a female cast?…..? Uhm…no.
One more point in regaurds to THIS IS WHAT THEY PRESENTED. They choose an all female cast, it wasn’t an “ops, look all the Ghostbusters are female”. It is as stark a contrast to the original as can be seen in sixty seconds, so why exactly would having an opinion on this be sexist?! Are we all supposed to pretend we didn’t notice?! No one is allowed to have an opinion about it? If I had to guess, I would say the studio went with an all female cast to keep as much distance from a direct comparison to the original as possible…which would be believing that women and men will be judged differently …which IS sexist.
I’ll give my opinion about it right now that IS sexist– Four women working together ? BULLSH*T . Women don’t like each other. They don’t get along, and they’d all hate the prettiest one. There..THAT is sexist. Saying a movie looks stupid, which just happens to have an all female cast, is not.
The defense I have yet to see for this turd is ” This looks hysterical, I can’t wait to go see it”. That tells you everything you need to know about the criticism of James Rolfe. His critics don’t give a crap about the movie either.
So why is the “sexism” tag being thrown around for this movie? I don’t know, but if you are using girl power to defend this atrocity..you might want to pick a different battle. This movie has as much chance as being as good as the original, with male cast, as Dr.Jeckle and Mr.Hyde on NES has of coming back and overtaking World of Warcraft.
AVGN video on Ghostbusters is here.
and a video he did about the history of Horror Movies is here.
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