by XvGojira » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:07 am
I'm not keen on the full gender swapping. I like and want diversity, but this feels pandering to me. Like Sony is trying to tap the female demographic which in turn is disregarding, even alienating some, of the male demographic. The same women who enjoyed Bridesmaids and the Heat probably don't overlap too much with sci-fi fandom on a venn diagram. If this was a sequel with Dan and Ernie in play, I'd have no complaints about the all female new bloods. It'd be starting off in known territory to then go on a new adventure. The female demo would be sought after while still placating the male demographic. If it was good they could even do a GB4 with out Dan or Ernie and I'd probably get a pass. Some people weren't too happy with even the idea of an all female GB3 to begin with, let a lone a remake, so if the cast had a mix of genders there'd be no hubbub about that portion of the remake. I think it would almost be expected to have at least one of the main cast be recast as the girl. So a mix gender cast (50/50, 25/75) would still allow the female demographic to be tapped into while also not disregarding the male demographic either. It's a win-win in my book. But then again I don't think stretching the Spider-man property as thin as Sony is attempting is a good idea either, which is why I wouldn't be able to work there.
And I really don't think Feig is a great choice. Feig does have a fairly feminine lean to his movies, his next movies are Melissa McCarthy playing CIA deskjocky turned spy and then a 30-something business woman has girlhood wishing well wish come true. From watching Bridesmaids and the trailers for The Heat, it seems that Feig's limit so far is "Look, it's women doing these things instead of men, isn't that hysterical?" Which for a few gags is good but not enough to carry the humor of a movie. I could easily see him becoming the Tyler Perry for white women.
He also said that he wants the tech to be even cooler, which is a great fear of mine. The tech in Ghostbusters was cool because it look cobbled together in a garage. I bet that they're going to make the new stuff look like something out of Men in Black or an Apple Store, and that'll just break my heart. Just like the new Robocop, when he was decked out in silver he looked rad as hell. But as soon as he went all black he ended up looking like something Tony Stark tossed out.
And how would the tie in merch work? Would they try to make action figures that appeal to females, standard dress up dolls, or just make an all female toy line for boys? And would the toy gadgets (what ever the traps and proton packs look like) try for a pink and purple color scheme like Nerf's girl oriented Rebelle series?
Honestly at this point with it being a remake, all girl cast, "cooler looking tech", and Feig saying something along the lines of not wanting to retread what the original did in fear of tarnishing the first movie why not just make it a new property. Yeah I know, brand recognition blah blah blah. But as a new property no one would give two craps about an all female cast, what the tech looked like, or if Dan, Bill, or Ernie were returning. Sure it'd be just a rip-off of Ghostbusters, but in all honesty I'd take that over a crap remake. I mean Big Trouble in Little China started out as Buckaroo Banzai 2, so who knows how fun Lady Ghost Cops could be?
All that said, I'm still expecting to have my ass in the theater for at least one showing of it.
EDIT: I lost a good chunk of my second pass of elaborating on this so I feel like there's a point or two I missed or said something better before the glitch lost my wall of text.