The original Ghostbusters, featuring Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson, is an anomaly for a Hollywood blockbuster. In what other movie is a private business hailed as the hero for fighting two meddling enemies: ghosts and government?
Remember, it wasn't just ghosts that were giving the Ghostbusters a hard time. A goon from the Environmental Protection Agency burst into their private property without a warrant and demanded them to shut off the power to their ghost containment system, thereby releasing all the ghosts to wreak havoc on New York City. It's unprecedented, really. The movie has been considered the "most libertarian Hollywood blockbuster of all time" by Washington Examiner's Philip Klein.
A great line he points to in the film is said by Akryod's character, Dr. Raymond Stantz:
"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities. We didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college. You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results."
Well, don't expect the new, all-female remake to live up to its former pro-capitalism glory. The film's new director, Paul Feig, has ensured that his vision for the film is the direct opposite of this "Reagan-era" classic. He told The Daily Beast:
“The biggest theme in the first movie, because it was kind of in that mid-Reagan era, was that it was really about entrepreneurs. I’ve talked with Ivan [Reitman] about this, too. It was about starting a business and going against the government because the EPA was going to shut them down. Me, I care more about underdogs and the idea of people trying to find their place in the world. And on top of that, the idea of legitimacy: How important is it to be legitimate publicly versus getting fulfillment from being legitimate privately?”
One might think that this incarnation would fit quite nicely in this social justice age. However, so far, the trailer for the reboot is the most disliked movie trailer in the history of YouTube. Not to mention that the toys released in anticipation of the premiere have already ended up on the discount rack!
The hate for this movie is strong, with many taking to social media to make their complaints that this is just another Hollywood agenda film getting shoved down the public's throat. And as much as Feig would like to deny them the satisfaction of being right, he admits that his intentions from the beginning were to make this a feminist masterpiece:
“We were in the middle of production and getting hammered on all sides just trying to make this funny movie and I get sent this picture on the internet of this guy who made his daughter the jumpsuit with the orange stripes and a proton pack. This little girl, looking fierce. I burst into tears. This is why we’re doing it. It’s not for all these guys!”
“We want the guys who loved the original to come along for the ride, but there’s a whole new generation that I want to have that same experience that we all had when we were younger, when we got the Ghostbusters fervor,” Feig said.
