I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but why in the world has Hollywood became obsessed with the idea of re-branding male led films? It doesn’t make sense to me. There seems to be a never-ending stream of reboots of this kind coming to a cinema near you, but why? Who is asking for these films?
I certainly wasn’t.
Ghostbusters, a Halloween classic from 1984, has been re-branded and re-made to star four female leads instead of the original cast of males. Now, why was this necessary? The original was a classic, and now the 2016 shows the film in a silly and uninspired light. In my opinion, they ruined the film, dumbing themselves down to stupid gag jokes and objectifying a Hemsworth brother, keeping the poor man shirtless as much as possible solely to boost viewing numbers. I do not see a need or want for a re-boot of the original film, proving that Hollywood has run out of ideas and must now result to stealing from the past.
“We want a strong female who is wholly original. Hand-me-downs are not acceptable; we deserve far more.”
It is the same situation with Oceans 11, we now have Oceans 8; where eight bad-ass women pull off a jewellery heist. Are you kidding me? Do writers believe women think of nothing else? It does make my blood boil. The original, Clooney/Pitt film showed skilled con men pulling a huge scam to get revenge and earn their fortune. Well, this idea was repeated in Sandra Bullocks’ version, where she seeks revenge on an ex-boyfriend, deciding that stealing jewellery is the best revenge.
You couldn’t make this stuff up, and clearly neither could Oceans 8’s writers.
I do feel slightly hypocritical as Ocean’s 8 had eight strong, admirable (apart from the crime) women on screen, showing women that they can be as good as their male counter parts, and I did enjoy the film. But still, can Hollywood please stop giving women the men’s hand-me-downs? It is infuriating and I think the characters were clearly written with a male lead in mind and putting a woman in their place was just for the sake of political correctness. What we need is more scripts with strong women as their original leads. We, as women do not need any man’s second-hand script.
Women deserve more wicked and wonderful women on their screens, Charlies Angels anyone? Three strong independent, and let’s be honest, cool ladies who take control of their own destiny. And they never result to the stereotypes of women, fighting over a sub-par man, and ogling at jewels. Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz execute their roles, and targets, with a flawlessness that is rarely seen in female cast cinema.
I won’t talk about the 2019 version, because in one word, atrocious.
We are being taught as young girls that women are not special enough to have a film written with our gender in mind, that we may only have what another man has had first. It is not fair. Everyone can agree that representation on the silver screen is important in society, so why is this not being done? Surely the creativity gene has not skipped our generation, so why are reboots casting women just for the sake of it?
There is no rhyme or reason to the monstrosities these reboots have had inflicted on us in recent years. Let me say, nobody wants or needs a Jane Bond on screen, (James’ sexism was more than enough for this woman to stomach). We want a strong female who is wholly original. Hand-me-downs are not acceptable; we deserve far more.
