Badass women are taking over the cinematic world
The new Ghostbusters has an all-female cast, and people are losing their shit
The too recent reboot of Ghostbusters has four actresses playing the film’s actual ghostbusters. While some said one of the Hemsworth brothers is sprinkled somewhere in the film, we honestly don’t know because after the Ghostbuster’s trailer was release, Twitter fucking exploded.
The same people who said women couldn’t be presidents also said women couldn’t be Ghostbusters. Who knew ghosts were so sexist? But I digress. My point is – for not too long, we’ve only had cinematic men to swoon over. They gave us Indiana Jones, James Bond, Robert Downey Jr. and scientology’s leading man, Tom Cruise. Each of these chiseled chest men played brave, cunning heroes who always saved the day.
Lead men were all Hollywood was offering, so we took it, and then thanked them. These men would adorn my bedroom walls, they’d take my newly cashed paycheck each time they released a film and they always went home with the gorgeous romantic interest.
Even though a hot piece of ass would sometimes grace the screen, she often times lacked enough lines to make me see her as more than, well, a hot piece of ass. At least the hot men I was spoon-fed by Hollywood were complex, brooding and mysterious. On the other hand, the blue-eyed and thin waist actresses seemed to be there to just remind us how kissable their lips were.
This is why films like Gone Girl and Ex-Machina are so damn remarkable. They break the mold of what is expected from the docile and innocent supporting actress. Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne is a cunning manic who frames her husband for her own disappearance and then asks to carry his baby. Oh, and she also kills Neil Patrick Harris, while having sex!
Now that’s commitment, but it’s also why some people labeled the film “anti-feminist,” which is a stupid thing to say. Then there’s Ava, the beautiful and intelligent robot in Ex-Machina, who ultimately betrays her love interest, slaughters her creator and escapes to the outside world. Again, many people spoke in Donald Trump’s dialect and said, “Bad, very bad, feminist women shouldn’t support this anti-feminist film, not great at all.”
Well, here’s my response to these people’s stupid opinions: Women are messy, flawed and beautiful people, which means they need to be represented by unapologetic, hungry masterminds on screen. If you keep expecting cookie cutter representations of the 50s housewife in today’s films, I suggest you plop down in front of a screen and watch some I Love Lucy, although that comedy series may be a tad too progressive for you.
Times are changing. There were the days we cried tears of laughter at the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president but now those tears keep us awake at night, while we brainstorm our plan to move to Canada. The same goes with Hollywood. While there were the days we turned down the idea of female lead films, box office successes can’t lie. Gone Girl did make $369.3 million in theatres and Ex-Machina won an Academy Award at this year’s Oscars.
Let’s face this reality together. Donald Trump will probably win the Republican nomination and Ghostbusters will definitely demolish the box office. So stop your whining, because you know you’ll still see it.