Why Ghostbusters is important for an entire generation of girls

With one look at the faces of young female fans getting the chance to meet their heroes at the premiere of Ghostbusters this week, it became clear why this movie matters.

Inundated with fanboy hate a year before hitting theatres (the trailer quickly became the most disliked in YouTube history), the remake was nearly buried in sexist negativity with fears that a female cast would “ruin” the original. Meanwhile, the other side of the argument tended to lump any call backs to nostalgia or questions of why a beloved movie had to be reinvented for a new audience – rather than creating something new entirely – all together with the misogynist complaints of fanboys.

But all of the finger-pointing and petty squabbling simply fades away when you see the impact of the Ghostbusters franchise granting a new generation of young girls the opportunity to see themselves on screen. Even five years ago, these empowering representations didn’t exist, but with the new Reys and Supergirls, women are being depicted as strong, do-it-yourself adventurers who are more than just arm candy for the male superhero.

Superman, the most masculine of heroes, has been gracing the screen since the ‘50s, whereas Wonder Woman will be hitting the big screen for the first time next year as part of a new wave of heroines finally getting their turn in the spotlight. Which means this isn’t just diversity for diversity’s sake, but rather about representing an entire world through new characters benefitting from as large a platform as male heroes have enjoyed for decades.

The new cast of Ghostbusters, which includes Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones, is a diverse one, in race, shape and age. As the protagonists of an action-comedy, this remake doesn’t present female characters as props to a male hero, but as heroes all their own, wielding their proton packs like bosses — in coveralls, no less.

Asked about the casting decisions, director Paul Feig told Vulture, “I wanted for little girls to be able to see themselves up on the screen. The original one exists, so you can see boys doing it, but how fun for girls to have this experience!”

You'd think they'd have experts for identifying female children in the movie business.

What's Matrix, Tomb Raider, Street Fighter, Power Rangers, Gargoyles, X-Men, Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Mortal Kombat, Peach in Smash Bros, Resident Evil, Underworld, Parasite Eve, Dino Crisis, Bloodrayne, etc.

Those are totally problematic, cishetscum.

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Ah shit, forgot about them. Thanks user.

I thought its weird how much makeup the little girls have on them and how their hair is done. I'd say thats the Mom doing a photo op.

They think they'll get their big break in Hollywood that way, if they whore them up a bit.

Why do they act like there have never been female protagonist driven adventure stories?

How else do you think lefties get anything done? Misinfo is the only reason they have any power. Give them the opportunity and they would probably tell you none of the disney princesses or their original tales existed and that the live action remakes were the first time it was done.