Welcome to episode three of The Reboot Chronicles! In this post we’ll be tackling feminism’s part in the reboot epidemic. Click here to check out the first episode in the series over viewing the Reboot dilemma and click here for episode two which discusses Disney’s live action cash grab.

I’d like to start by saying that I am aware that attacking the all female reboot concept will probably label me as a misogynist and piss off a lot of people but that doesn’t change the fact that the new Ghostbusters sucked. I’d also like to mention that I’m all for women rights. Men and women are and always have been equal and it’s great to see that equal treatment is becoming the norm because I am sick of fronting the bill on all my dates. I’d like someone to get the door for me for a change, HOWEVER, just because women are equal doesn’t give Hollywood a free pass to start rebooting movies sold on the simple premise that women are in it instead of men.

Let’s take the new Ghostbusters. Here’s the entire plot: They are ghostbusters… and they are women. That’s the movie. All of the critics hailed the movie as a triumph for woman and how it was a revolutionary idea to do a gender swap.Why was it funny? To quote the “esteemed” NY Times it was funny because “Women are funny, get over it.” Yes there are some funny women, just like there are some funny men but not all of them are funny. That’s why not everyone is a comedian. The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel is an example of funny women in a hilarious show. The Ghostbusters reboot is an example of the shit I took last week. I couldn’t get through the first half of that movie. I think I laughed twice in the 45 minutes I wasted on that movie. Don’t believe me? Check out the 53% it got on Rotten Tomatoes or just talk to anyone who sat through the entire movie. After wasting my time on that train wreck and reading the reviews, I didn’t bother watching Ocean’s 8. I wasn’t willing to risk having one of my favorite movies be ruined. Thank god for that because low and behold, guess what movie failed miserably? That’s right, Ocean’s 8.

There are a lot of fantastic actresses and female writers out there that have done a lot of good in the film industry. Women have a different perspective and could offer so much to the movie industry, which has been a male dominated industry since its inception. I’m all for woman based movies but I think originality is key here. Incredibles 2 was a sequel of 15 year old movie that mainly focused on a man. The reason it worked was because making Elastigirl the center of that movie flowed with the plot and made sense in the franchises overall narrative. Elastigirl wasn’t the focus because she was a woman. She was the focus because she was less of a liability when it came to property damage which flowed organically. Wonder Woman was the first good female lead superhero movie and it was even directed by a woman! What made Wonder Woman so good was that they didn’t rely on the fact that she was a woman. They made an original and interesting movie that built up a dynamic and interesting female hero (which was immediately destroyed in Justice League). Amy Shcumer’s “Trainwreck” was another hilarious movie that didn’t rely on the fact that she was a women. My point is that making females the focus of original quality movies is possible and could continue being done making all female reboots is simply unnecessary.

Rehashing male lead movies sends two possible messages. Either a) it’s the classic “whatever you could do I could do better” which makes women writers and actresses seem childish or b) woman can’t make it on their own in Hollywood and need to ride on the coattails of men in order to make it. Both of those statements are not only wrong but an offense to women everywhere. You want to know how I know that this culture doesn’t help the case that men and women are equal? If they did a gender swap reboot for a classic female led movie Kill Bill” called “Kill Bella: Volume IV” everyone would lose their mind. There is no need to be rebooting these classic movies and there is no reason for us to be wasting the talent of female actresses and writers to rehash nostalgia. Fortunately, it’s not too late. Unlike the live action rebooting that Disney is spearheading, all female reboots have not become a thing. This is largely thanks to the massive failure of Ghostbusters and Oceans 8. Hopefully, this awful mistake will be rectified and we’ll be one step closer to remedying this rebooting disease.

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Click here to read Reboots I: Endless Reboots

Click here to read Reboots II: Desolation of Disney

Reboots IV is coming soon so stay tuned. Scroll to the bottom and subscribe to be the first to know when it’s out!

Comment what issues in the realm of reboots and sequels that you’d like to see tackled! You could also email us at TalkToToiletReads@gmail.com to give your input and ideas!



