Reboots and sequels are a hit or miss in Hollywood. The box office does not always play nice to the third or fourth unnecessary installment to a movie that ended fairly well, but that doesn’t stop filmmakers from jumping into familiar territory and stretching out storylines. If you’ve been to a theater in the past five years, than you know what I’m talking about, and if you’ve been online in the past 24 hours than you are aware of the criticism following the recent all-female Ghostbusters news.

Rumors about an all-female Ghostbusters reboot have been circulating for well over a year, but no official details solidified the reboot rumor, until yesterday when director Paul Feig tweeted a photo announcing the newly casted Ghostbusters gang, consisting of funny women Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. Feig, who is best know for his female comedy Bridesmaids, which also starred Wiig and McCarthy, made social media waves, with the hash tag #Ghostbusters trending on both Twitter and Facebook. But just because your new comedy is trending, does not necessarily mean the emotions shared are positive.

From what I can tell so far, reactions to the reboot are not great. As expected, there are many angry Ghostbusters devotees who wished their beloved 80’s classic could escape the greedy grasp of Hollywood’s unoriginal film money pandering, but these reactions are minimal to a stronger reaction shared by many, and that is that having an all-female cast is a horrible idea and act of “gender pandering.” Tweets such as “Lazy Hollywood film making, let’s make a ghostbusters remake but with women!” “Only soccer moms and feminist bimbos will watch that trash”, were not hard to find, and the list of feminist pandering accusations goes on and on. Apparently, the idea of a legendary comedy trusted in the hands of today’s funniest women in entertainment, seems foolish. Hollywood isn’t just trying to score some extra millions in the box office; they’re trying to pander to, as one tweet said, “feminazis”.

Lazy Hollywood film making “let’s make a ghostbusters remake but with women!” Only soccer moms and feminist bimbos will watch that trash. — Joel (@JRwrz) January 27, 2015

The age-old belief that women aren’t funny, or that any movie with a female cast is a “gimmick” seems to come into play here. A reboot already makes news as it is, but news of an all-female reboot reprising roles played by men, stirs the pot more. The same audience who did not enjoy all-female comedies such as Bridesmaids are being vocal with their dissatisfaction, and it seems the majority of this uproar are coming from men.

I first watched Bridesmaids in a discount theater with my then-boyfriend in a sold out room filled with laughs, gasps and $1 hot dogs (a must in any value theater). My boyfriend seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, and though I didn’t pay too close attention to the men and women ratio in the audience, from the laughter I heard, I could tell that most men in the room enjoyed it too. It was, by far, the most relatable film painted by a great female cast and non-filtered script. Never have I been so satisfied by these breakfast talks about the faces men make during sex or the troubles of being asked for oral with such humor, and this is the girl whose seen every season of Sex and the City.

I was surprised to find that my boyfriend was one of the few men to have enjoyed that film, and I mean few. I’ve had debates with grown men with daughters, who did not find it the least bit funny. I wondered how it’s possible men could not enjoy such a milestone of comedy as much as the many women who’ve suggested watching it when staying in with girlfriends, and after much pondering I realized it’s probably because most men felt attacked by it.

A cast of grown women joked about the sexual displeasures they’ve had with men, and they said things that women have thought of, but men were to scared to know. It wasn’t just the usual Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants dialogue such as, “He has mommy issues” or “He can’t commit”; Bridesmaids delivered lines such as “Do we not deliver” as Kristen Wiig motioned her arm to her face as if it were a penis trying to find her mouth. Penis jokes were served at that theater, and men might’ve pretended to be okay with it, but truth may be they just weren’t, because they don’t want to hear the truths and jokes woman will share, the same ones that have been so confined behind the doors of the female bathroom for years.

It can be unnerving for men who are not used to female-centered comedies, but that does not mean entertainment doesn’t need films like Bridesmaids and the new Ghostbusters, it just means we need them more than ever. Refusing to give female comedians a chance to express the real thoughts of women takes focus away from the film, which was likely made to make you laugh, not make you feel uncomfortable or attacked.

An all-female Ghostbusters will either be an okay comedy, a great comedy, or a complete failure, not because the cast is female, but because of other factors played in. Just because the cast is female doesn’t mean the film will be completely centered on penis and tampons jokes, but even if it was, why is that so bad? Women make up more than half of the world’s population, so can’t we just enjoy women poking fun at the daily struggles of being a woman?

The New Yorker published an illustration today of the ladies of the new Ghostbusters holding a check with the line, “I knew it-seventy-eight per cent of what male ghostbusters make.” The New Yorker nailed the gender-centered critique surrounding the film with this witty illustration, by saying “Yeah, just like those pay checks, entertainment has a long way to go too.” Isn’t it time women earn the same pay and praise for their work?

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