As I sat in the dark theater, smelling vaguely of butter and decaying upholstery, I waited in anticipation for the film to begin. A wave a nostalgia hit me as the first keys of the retro theme song overpowered the thunder raging outside. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
This was it. My childhood was coming back to haunt me (pun intended), in the best way possible, just as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and Pokemon GO had done so recently. Only this time it was more real. It was more personal.
When I left the movies, I had taken a piece of the new "Ghostbusters" film with me. Powerful, intelligent women who were not depicted as bitches. Chris Hemsworth poking fun at gender stereotypes of the "dumb blonde". Badass fight scenes and wicked cool weapons. Four unlikely people sticking together to defeat a common evil, and becoming best friends along the way. The film was everything I was I anticipated and so much more. I was hooked.
I was attempting to be a bit more introspective while writing this article in order to get my thoughts organized. I very well couldn't be like "it was great because of everything!" and leave it at that. There is so many reasons that make this film virtually unrepresented and almost one-of-a-kind. There are the few points I stated above, but many more need to be touched on.
Just as this article by "The Oregonian" states, there is absolutely no romantic sub-plot. At all. Whatsoever. There is absolutely no need for an underlying passionate love affair between any of the cast's two leading men (yes, only two!) and one of the countless women actresses. There were only a handful of slightly provocative one-liners from Kristen Wiig's character, Erin Gilbert, directed towards Chris Hemsworth's character, Kevin. The absence of this is meant to amplify the plot and put focus on the platonic connections that the characters form.
Going along with that, and as I mentioned earlier, the women in the film (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon) are not sexualized. Wiig and McCarthy dress as you would assume a chemist and physicist would dress-- buttoned up shirts and bow ties, cardigans and tailored pants. Jones on the other hand, dressed more funky and even stated in one scene "If its a crime to look good, then guilty as charged!" But by no means could her attire be described as provocative. McKinnon's character was the "mad scientist" of the group, being portrayed in paint and grease splattered overalls, scuffed combat boots, and worn out trench coats. While hunting the specters of NYC, the four of them donned baggy grey coveralls that were supposedly mechanical technician outfits. Nothing sexy about 'em. At the beginning of the film there was even a minor comment about Wiig's overly uptight and stodgy fashion sense, once again poking fun at gender stereotypes.
Another point that "The Oregonian" mentions is the diversity of the cast. Each woman is uniquely themselves. There is someone to represent different levels of sexual orientation and race. McKinnon's character is brimming with sly winks towards other women, intense eye contact, and blatant pick-up lines which is difficult to interpret any other way than flirtatious. But what I find interesting is that McKinnon herself is openly gay. I believe that actors (whether knowingly or not) project parts of themselves into their character. In an interview with "The Motto," director, Paul Feig, stated “You know, Kate is who she is... If you know Kate at all she’s this kind of pansexual beast where it’s just like everybody who’s around her falls in love with her and she’s so loving to everybody she’s around. I wanted to let that come out in this character.” Jones's character is African American, but that point is almost irrelevant to the film. The representation is surely there, but it is not a key point in the film. It doesn't matter that she is black. Just like it doesn't matter if the leading characters are women. It also doesn't matter that McKinnon's character could possibly be gay.
It is not a movie about those things. It is a movie about ghosts and saving New York City. All else is irrelevant.
This is why the film was so important to me. It showed me that regardless of gender, race, or any other aspect of who you are, you are possible of anything. It's not just the the dudes that save the world, anybody can. I look forward to seeing the young girls that saw the new "Ghostbusters" grow up to believe that they are capable of anything, because they truly are.
