Need a Safe Space to Work Out Your 'Ghostbusters for Guys' Frustrations? This Is that Space

By Courtney Enlow | Miscellaneous | March 10, 2015 |

By Courtney Enlow | Miscellaneous | March 10, 2015 |

Talk of a third Ghostbusters movie went on for years, in varying stages of fact and fiction. Until 2015, every nugget of Ghostbusters news went something like this: Aykroyd is trying to make it happen; Murray’s not interested. And that was that. Then, an explosion. Paul Feig has signed on to direct! All ladies all the time! Melissa McCarthy! Kristen Wiig! Leslie Jones! Kate McKinnon! Joy! Rapture! Weirdly butthurt men! It was all glorious. Finally, finally, women were getting a piece of this huge thing that’s so important to ALL of us and sure, the wind was taken out of the sails a bit by men insisting that Ghostbusters was a boy movie just for boys (no, it’s a movie that features a cast of boys — better known as all movies) but who cares? WE GOT SOMETHING, FINALLY. SOMETHING THAT WAS OURS BUT FOR EVERYONE!

Sigh.

Then news broke last night that the boys are getting their fucking movie after all because when equality happens, it’s really important men get to be included too, even though they were already included, so now they just get DOUBLE EQUALITY PLUS 10. Because all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Look. As someone who desperately loves Ghostbusters, I would have been thrilled at the concept of a Ghostbusters 3 with Channing Tatum, penned by Dan Aykroyd. I mean, sure, this has been a mess of rumors and jumbled cords for more than 20 years now, and let’s not forget that Aykroyd sometimes makes horrible decisions, but it’s Ghostbusters. Except the Feig Ghostbusters is Ghostbusters, too. And with news about it, we got to play, and we were so excited. And after 20 years or more of NOTHING, of Murray-less radio silence, suddenly NOW this gets the greenlight? So, now we’ll have competing Ghostbusters, pitting men versus women? And we get all these men (IT’S ALL FUCKING MEN) complaining about the deluge of “think pieces” coming or lamenting people daring to think “Ghostbusters for guys” equals “all-male cast” as though that makes a fucking difference? And the absolute slap in the face that was Sony giving the exclusive on this announcement to Deadline’s Mike Fleming, the one who wrote this piece of fucking bullshit about the female-driven one? It’s an embarrassment of terrible riches.

Basically, what could have been delightful news — a Ghostbusters universe similar to the Marvel universe — has been rolled out in just such a way to make it appear reactionary and combative, whether or not it is or was the original intent. I genuinely don’t know if it is or isn’t. The studio, and Mike Fleming as its voice, handled this announcement like Ray handled choosing the form of Gozer the Traveler. Now there’s marshmallow goop everywhere.

So if you want to vent about this and how fucking disappointing it is, and how disappointing it is to be disappointed about getting two movies based on a movie you adore like it’s part of your soul, this is the place.