Look, it’s hard to write anything non-supportive about Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot as a male. Criticizing a project that has an all-female led cast makes me sound like a veiled misogynist, even though that shift in gender focus isn’t why I’m nervous about the film. It’s because it’s a remake of a classic movie that by many peoples’ standards is near perfect. So, if what I say in this article upsets someone, I can’t help that.
The bit of news wrapped up in this has to do with Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. Paul Feig announced through Twitter that Hemsworth will be the receptionist for the new batch of Ghostbusters. Just like the rest of the cast announcements for this film, this is a great get. Hemsworth is a funny dude with natural comedic timing, and I’m sure he’ll be enjoyable to watch.
But, on a story level, I have some issues with this. Now it seems like Feig’s incarnation of Ghostbusters is gender-swapping for the sake of gender-swapping. Considering that Hemsworth is a drool-worthy hunk of man-meat, I’m guessing that a lot of his humor will come from the Ghostbusters over-sexualizing him and him being too naive to recognize it (cue scene of him bending over to pick something up and all of them checking out his tight, tight butt). I would actually support Hemsworth’s casting if his good looks were never mentioned and the Ghostbusters treated him as shitty as the original Ghostbusters treated Janine Melnitz.
Also, wouldn’t having a female secretary be more empowering to the group as a whole, especially if she was smart, strong-willed and integral to the team? How about a scene where she gets fed up with them taking her for granted and shows the Ghostbusters that she’s running the entire business, and without her their whole enterprise won’t mean much when they can’t pay the bills to keep their containment unit up and running?
I want Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters to be good. I think the cast that’s been assembled will guarantee that the movie will be funny (or at least have funny moments), and it’s certainly a good thing that we’re getting a tentpole film that primarily features women, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this film is pitting itself against Ghostbusters. No film should have to do that.
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