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Ghostbusters (2016) Trailer #1 (Feig, Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon, Jones)

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Did I say all?

Do you believe my statement is without the misogynists and GB puritanicals that this video would have zero dislikes?

And you still don't seem to get it's a hard reboot to one of the most beloved movies of all time.

You know just like when people freaked out when Michael Bay was planing to change TMNT into aliens and Shredder into a white guy.
 
You'd be more convincing if you hadn't spent time jumping down the throats of people who had legitimate criticisms of this thing. I mostly (not entirely) agree with your take on the dislikes, but on a visceral level I just want to say you're wrong because of that earlier shit.

Who did I jump down?

Certainly not yours. I had missed your previous post and had just felt it odd that one could go from in board to fuck it all after one trailer. Edit: re-reading I see that I didn't outright acknowledge your point. That was my intention when I was writing it but I was in a hurry but intentions are magic. You made an excellent point and I apologize again for having missed it.


For the record I don't even think it was that great a trailer either. But I liked enough of it and believe in Feig enough to believe it likely won't represent the movie
 
Star Wars isn't Ghostbusters, and Star Wars wasn't introduced to the public via poison-pen narrative by an angry blogger. People might not realize, but the knowledge of this project was broken by a film writer at Deadline who absolutely did not like the project at all, and put the news out there with a decidedly editorialized bent that emphasized the idea that the reboot was being done specifically to tell past fans to fuck off, largely because they were male. That news (and the air around that news) started poisonous, and has stayed largely poisonous ever since, causing the film to be a much more easily rallied-around point of controversy for angry MRAs, whereas Star Wars is a harder hill to fight on largely because of the sheer size of its audience and the brightness of its particular media spotlight. If you're a fucking roach, you're not looking to dance too long in the kliegs because someone's absolutely gonna step on you.

Anyway, you didn't answer a single one of my questions, either.

What's in it for you to pretend sexists have nothing to do with this? What are you getting out of that?

I mean, not to play the slapjack game of counter-example you were trying to run earlier in the thread, but here's one:

In 2014, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got rebooted. Reaction to this was largely negative. People complained loudly, at length, not just in forums/messageboards/twitter/social media, but in various thinkpieces and blogposts throughout the entertainment media. Nobody liked what was happening to "their" Turtles. Aesthetically, it seemed the direct opposite of what anyone enjoying the series up to that point wanted from it. A miscalculation, a misjudgment of what made it good, translated cynically to attract younger, dumber audiences.

Here's the teaser trailer for that, which only cemented negative opinion further that the Michael Bay-produced film was going to be an abhorrent mess of a film that shit all over the '80s/'90s era fun and good times millions of little boys everywhere had with those characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZ0PnDZdZk

Here are the stats for this mostly unliked, poorly-recieved trailer for a movie many fans did not trust to be done right at all:

8 million views
24k likes
3.5k dislikes

This is a trailer for an '80s property scorned by nostalgic fans for its shitty trailer exhibiting a mood and tone that seems to betray everything that made the originals work.

Why isn't it near 50? Why is it even close to 25%

Again, are we really going to pretend that organized online sexism has NOTHING to do with the response here? Why would we do that? What's the point of it?

It's not like you need to disavow the obvious in order to continue to criticize the bad trailer for being bad. You don't even need to discuss the likes & dislikes to go in on why the ad is not great.

So when someone brings up how disproportionate the dislikes are, and points to the very, very, very obvious aspect of sexism in its numbers, made obvious by the last few YEARS of experience in discussing not just the film, but any media event that is closely identified with gender politics specifically as its main talking point - what's the point in disputing that? How does disputing that help you out any?

I never pretended that sexism had nothing to do with the downvotes. I've always said that the idea of a grand conspiracy making the dislike 2-1 over likes because of sexism was a weak argument. I personally doubt it's more than 10% of the dislikes, but even if it were 25%, it would still be disproportionately disliked.

At least the TMNT trailer was a decent trailer. and felt like a Turtles movie beyond the veneer of the IP.

Anyway, I hated the trailer, but I'm still taking my girls to see it because they'll love it.

Maybe I will too.
 
I never pretended that sexism had nothing to do with the downvotes. I've always said that the idea of a grand conspiracy

It's not a "grand" conspiracy. The shit is mundane in 2016. That's my point. You keep trying to frame the mere idea that such a thing could happen as borderline ludicrous—It's been happening for fucking years now, man. Gaming side is a goddamn combination minefield/graveyard due to this kinda shit specfically.
 
It's not a "grand" conspiracy. The shit is mundane in 2016. That's my point. You keep trying to frame the mere idea that such a thing could happen as borderline ludicrous—It's been happening for fucking years now, man. Gaming side is a goddamn combination minefield/graveyard due to this kinda shit specfically.

So do you think that a majority (80% or more) of the downvotes are because of sexism? Because that's the idea that I find ludicrous.
 
Who did I jump down?

Certainly not yours. I had missed your previous post and had just felt it odd that one could go from in board to fuck it all after one trailer.

Then I read back saw your point. Responded to you acknowledging that you had a point and apologized for having missed it.

Certainly mine, yes. Maybe you didn't intend the incredulous tone that dripped off your response to me, but my previous post was 17 out from that one. On the same damn page. Having a trigger finger that itchy, that you somehow spotted that post and replied in 2 minutes flat, but missed the longer more obvious one above it? That's suspect. It's not a good look even if you apologize afterwards (which took some prompting on my part and didn't come nearly as quick as that first quip of yours).

Yeah, it leaves a bad taste, dude.
 
So do you think that a majority (80% or more) of the downvotes are because of sexism? Because that's the idea that I find ludicrous.

It's a combination of a lot of things. Manchildren upset that something is "ruining their childhood", people who genuinely don't like Melissa McCarthy or others, and yes, sexism.

As Chris Rock would put it, not "women should stay in the kitchen" sexism, but sorority sexism. The people probably don't even realize it, they just know that the image of 4 women in those roles feels wrong.
 
So do you think that a majority (80% or more) of the downvotes are because of sexism?

I think a large majority are, yeah. I don't think it's ludicrous at all. I think it's fuckin obvious. To the point where I'm befuddled why one would even attempt to contest it, especially when you don't even have to contest it in order to express disappointment in the contents. I don't have to try and invalidate the last few years of conversation surrounding this film in order to lodge complaints about editing, lighting, direction, joke selection, music choice, etc. etc. I can note all those things and also acknowledge this film was announced to the world with a negative bent, and has been working beneath that particular pissy little raincloud ever since.

Bananafactory explains the varieties of disgruntlement that would fall to some degree under the general sexism umbrella pretty clearly, I think.
 
Certainly mine, yes. Maybe you didn't intend the incredulous tone that dripped off your response to me, but my previous post was 17 out from that one. On the same damn page. Having a trigger finger that itchy, that you somehow spotted that post and replied in 2 minutes flat, but missed the longer more obvious one above it? That's suspect. It's not a good look even if you apologize afterwards (which took some prompting on my part and didn't come nearly as quick as that first quip of yours).

Yeah, it leaves a bad taste, dude.

My very next post in this thread was me apologizing for having missed the post. I was on mobile at school and had gone to class, came back, saw both your posts, went back re-read and apologized.

And I apologize again. Had I seen your initial post (I was skimming, my fault on that) I wouldn't have posted.
 
Bargaining for what?

I don't even like the trailer. I think it's a poorly done piece of advertising.

What's in it for you to dismiss the obvious, though? These dislikes are absolutely disproportionate. Why is the contextually obvious misogynistic aspect immediately dismissed as a major reason for that?

It's a reference to the popular 'stages of grief' model. Kind of used to be thing here.

I don't believe the dislike are disproportionate at all (versus other social media driven events), it's just that commonly people don't care enough to active dislike (or like) videos. Second, you only assume that this is 'completely out of the normal' because only a few specific videos becoming targets through media concentration, which means that there is no basis to jump to 'internet conspiracy' to explain the behavior other than regular social media exposure (that sounds weird, but it makes sense). It appears to be people simply not liking the trailer, not so much being specific about context.

I mean, by that logic, every chickflick known to man should have the same pattern. It doesn't, so the case isn't tenable. Also, MRA (*shiver*) is a relatively small niche, they wouldn't be able to create the effects nor would this be something they would care about, at all. I mean: being a nerd like the original ghostbusters is about as unmanly as you can get. That was actually a theme in the original movie, ffs! So possible delusions of grandeur aside, I don't think these numbers represent that. It's also jumping to conclusions when the trailer just isn't a good presentation for the product and active dislikes for a high-profile product are to be expected.

So, I'm going with Occam's razor: it's probably just people disliking the trailer because they don't like it.

If the trailer was brilliant and then it would happen, then you would have a case. Dislike on the TFA trailer just because it had a black guy is an example of that. But in this case they're muddled in with the rest, and we can't tell which is which.
 
Do people think that the, "That's gonna leave a mark!" joke is funny the 1,836th time it's been used in a movie? Did the person writing that into the script think it was the first time it's been used or did the person think it's such a clever and funny joke that it just had to be used again?

"That's gonna leave a mark!" is such a great example of why the "jokes" in this trailer didn't land properly. They're not jokes. They're just re-hashed gags from Sandler-tier movies. I wonder how many times Melissa McCarthy will fall down in the movie. I'm almost willing to bet there will be some kind of ghost fart joke as well.
 
I don't believe the dislike are disproportionate at all (versus other social media driven events),

They are. You're wrong.

I understood the Kubler-Ross reference, I was suggesting you were misusing it, or rather, I was disagreeing your insinuation that accomodating the frankly obvious notion sexism has something to do with the disproportionate negative reaction there with the thumbs has something to do with my need to defend the quality of the film, or my own expectations for it.

I also think it's disingenuous/weird to suggest that a vocal minority of MRA can't negatively influence the thumb up/thumb down rating on a single YouTube video. They can force people out of their fucking homes, but they can't affect YouTube ratings? Okay.
 
I mean, by that logic, every chickflick known to man should have the same pattern. It doesn't, so the case isn't tenable.

Not really, no, because this is the only movie that takes a pre-existing concept that was a vehicle for four funny men and turns it into a vehicle for four funny women. "Every chickflick imaginable" isn't a reboot of Ghostbusters with women. Also, just because it stars women, does not make GB16 a chick flick.
 
I have never been more indifferent to a trailer in my life, it doesn't look awful but they failed to get any excitement out of me.
 
The horror, please not like this...

Edit: The humor looks so dry and forced , it reminds me of The Big Bang Theory, eew
 
Alright, here we go:

Let me start with your ultimate paragraph

Maybe it's because I am white, and I do have an unfair privilege in life over others, but I don't see Patty as a Magical Negro character. When the Sony leaks happened I was hoping for her to not be the everyman character and then when they officially announced who was playing who, I was disappointed that it seemed like they were falling into the same trope (didn't know what it was called at the time) that Winston fell into. But after seeing the trailer she looks far, far more important to the movie and the team then that. I think that the Magical Negro trope existing is fucked up, I empathize with the frustration of seeing role after role delegated to that sort of character, but I don't see why or how Patty fits that role. But maybe I'm taking the definition of the Magical Nego to literally? I am absolutely open to explanation and clarification. And I think I saw someone suggest I might be racist in my thoughts? I may have misinterpreted that but I sincerely fuckin hope I'm not and if anything I've said has come across that way please for the love of God tell me because that is not something I ever want to be.

Yes, you are indeed taking it too literally. The point is that, constantly, we are portrayed as the outsider. The other. Bringing with us knowledge and powers that require no learning or effort to obtain, but that are simply innate in the nature of being black. Common sense, street smarts, wisdom, athleticism, etc etc. At the best of times it's a skill obtained through years of experience (no study or practice, we've been doing it so long we're just that damn good at it). Whatever it may be, through no more than simply being born and living our lives we've come into possession of this trait that the white characters lack. And now we must use his skill to benefit the white stars (or in the best of cases our white co-stars) so that they may progress.

This is the problem with the Magical Negro at its core. We don't GET to be the well studied, well practiced characters. Blacks are lazy, don'tcha know? Can't have them portrayed doing things that take years of intensely applying yourself to manage.

This is Patty. Her use to the team, as far as the trailer AND Bronson's post indicate begin and end at "she knows the city because she works the tunnels and she's a normal person." She didn't study, or practice, or train to hone the talents that make her an asset. She just has them, either innately or because she's been doing the same job for years.

This same thing applied to Winston, but at least Winston didn't stack stereotypical buffoonery on top of it.

So, help me out please if you have the patience to do so. I know I can be opinionated and stubborn, but I always try to keep an open mind because nobody is infallible and if I'm wrong about something, I want to know so I can correct my way of thinking and acting. You talk about wanting representation. You get a character that this time is a main, driving force in a team, moreso than her spiritual predecessor Winston ever was. You even get a link to the actress' twitter feed where she is recounting an email from a fan literally saying "Hey, I have that job, and it means a lot to me seeing you up there kicking ass. Thanks for the representation." but you are still upset. Is it purely because she has an everyman job? If she played the exact same character, in the exact some way, except she was a biologist instead of an MTA worker, is that better? And if so, why does that part of it matter so much? If it was the exact same character played the exact same way but by another race, would they become a "Magical Caucasian" or "Magical Asian"? Or would they, simply by virtue of skin color, become just a "normal" character and nobody would think twice about it? Like imagine someone like Sean William Scott playing that roll. "Hey, you guys might be all smart with the sciencey stuff, but guess what fuckers? I've got a car, and I work MTA so I know this city better than anyone, so I'm joining your little gang." is he the white equivalent to a Magical Negro?

When I talk about representation in the context of the future generations of my family, I'm talking about them getting to see examples of black characters on film and television who aspired to be and achieved more than "the cool levelheaded street smart guy." Yes, there is a major difference between casting a white person in that role and casting a black person in that role. Especially in a film that so clearly aspires to be progressive and cross barriers in the genre. White children have no shortage of examples of white people on screen excelling academically and professionally. I'm glad someone feels good about their job having representation, but would they feel any worse if it was McKinnon instead of Jones? We had the black character play the 'everyman' in Ghostbusters films. Why do they have to be in this film as well? Might as well make them all men again if you're choosing to be that static (and don't get me started on why it had to be 3 white women. That's a whole other can of worms).

I agree that having Magical Negro characters is insulting unfair bullshit, but I actually think it's unfair to the actress and the character to assume that her only role is to come help the white women. And on top of that, from what you and others in this thread have said, it comes across as if you think her character is actually somehow STUPID compared to the other three simply because she has a regular job instead of a scientist, teacher, or author. Wait two of those sound like pretty normal jobs to me too? I would actually put "government employee" higher on the list than "author-slash-ghost-hunter" but that's just me and isn't really here or there.

As a writer and aspiring professional novelist, writing takes a lot of work. And a lot of practice. No one honestly believes she's stupid, but when the god damn writer's literally have her declare "you guys are really smart about this science stuff, but I know New York," can you not see the issues this raises? Like I said in an earlier post, if they still wanted her to be the down to earth practical one, they could have easily made her the engineer, given her a role to play on the team besides passive knowledge and a connection to a vehicle owner, and leave everything else intact. She could still be working the subway, just not taking tickets or at the turnstile. Or better yet, like I said, switch her and McKinnon and let her be a part of the in-group instead of the outsider with her strange and practical wisdom.

I think breaking down the rest of your post would just have me repeating myself, but I can if you'd like. As is, can you see where I'm coming from on this? Why it pisses me off so fucking much? For a film that pretends to try to break out of the mold so hard, a shit ton of things are no different than they ever were and it's infuriating.
 
I can't fuckin stand the "thats going to leave a mark" style of "comedy" or "jokes" it is grating cliched shit. But my daughter is going to go nuts for this like she did for the originals and I did when I was a kid. Good news is no new Back to the future to get this treatment. All girls going back in the future rehashing good movies in new age "really" style jokes. So that is good.

Only movies left that I really treasure from that era would be Beetlejuice and Addams Family. Still wondering about the new Beetlejuice rumored with Keaton back at it.
 
I finally know exactly what this reminds me!
The big bang theory mixed with the live action Scoobydoo movies, but not as good.
 
The difference between GB2016 and other meh looking movies getting dislikes is that the other meh movies (like gods of egypt) don't actually have a lot of defenders. Not only does GB2016 have a lot of defenders, a lot of ire has been directed (by the media) at people who don't like it.

Random person sees a meh/bad trailer on youtube -> most likely just closes the video, maybe downvote

Random person sees a meh/bad trailer on youtube and reads an article saying that people hating on the movie are sexist -> very likely downvote

Personally I never cared for the ghostbusters and this trailer definitely didn't make me care any more. It looks extremely average for a comedy film. Maybe even slightly cringe inducing in some parts like the stereotyping. McKinnon is almost always great though.
 
Is somebody actually playing the sexist card on the dislikes on the trailer? what a joke, a better joke than the ones on that trailer in fact.
 
I thought that it looked absolutely dreadful.

Initially I thought that was because I wasn't a huge ghostbusters fan but looks like fans of the series hate it too.
 
Alright, here we go:

Let me start with your ultimate paragraph



Yes, you are indeed taking it too literally. The point is that, constantly, we are portrayed as the outsider. The other. Bringing with us knowledge and powers that require no learning or effort to obtain, but that are simply innate in the nature of being black. Common sense, street smarts, wisdom, athleticism, etc etc. At the best of times it's a skill obtained through years of experience (no study or practice, we've been doing it so long we're just that damn good at it). Whatever it may be, through no more than simply being born and living our lives we've come into possession of this trait that the white characters lack. And now we must use his skill to benefit the white stars (or in the best of cases our white co-stars) so that they may progress.

This is the problem with the Magical Negro at its core. We don't GET to be the well studied, well practiced characters. Blacks are lazy, don'tcha know? Can't have them portrayed doing things that take years of intensely applying yourself to manage.

This is Patty. Her use to the team, as far as the trailer AND Bronson's post indicate begin and end at "she knows the city because she works the tunnels and she's a normal person." She didn't study, or practice, or train to hone the talents that make her an asset. She just has them, either innately or because she's been doing the same job for years.

This same thing applied to Winston, but at least Winston didn't stack stereotypical buffoonery on top of it.



When I talk about representation in the context of the future generations of my family, I'm talking about them getting to see examples of black characters on film and television who aspired to be and achieved more than "the cool levelheaded street smart guy." Yes, there is a major difference between casting a white person in that role and casting a black person in that role. Especially in a film that so clearly aspires to be progressive and cross barriers in the genre. White children have no shortage of examples of white people on screen excelling academically and professionally. I'm glad someone feels good about their job having representation, but would they feel any worse if it was McKinnon instead of Jones? We had the black character play the 'everyman' in Ghostbusters films. Why do they have to be in this film as well? Might as well make them all men again if you're choosing to be that static (and don't get me started on why it had to be 3 white women. That's a whole other can of worms).



As a writer and aspiring professional novelist, writing takes a lot of work. And a lot of practice. No one honestly believes she's stupid, but when the god damn writer's literally have her declare "you guys are really smart about this science stuff, but I know New York," can you not see the issues this raises? Like I said in an earlier post, if they still wanted her to be the down to earth practical one, they could have easily made her the engineer, given her a role to play on the team besides passive knowledge and a connection to a vehicle owner, and leave everything else intact. She could still be working the subway, just not taking tickets or at the turnstile. Or better yet, like I said, switch her and McKinnon and let her be a part of the in-group instead of the outsider with her strange and practical wisdom.

I think breaking down the rest of your post would just have me repeating myself, but I can if you'd like. As is, can you see where I'm coming from on this? Why it pisses me off so fucking much? For a film that pretends to try to break out of the mold so hard, a shit ton of things are no different than they ever were and it's infuriating.

Alright yes, I see where you're coming from now and yeah, I can understand that that must be really fuckin frustrating and annoying to have to see and deal with over and over again. As I said I was pretty let down myself when they announced that she would be playing the everyman character but you explaining those kinds of tropes and history of it give it a totally different perspective. Thank you for taking the time to walk me through it and explain it like that, I really appreciate it.

And seriously why ARE they three white people and one black person again? They're obviously changing up a ton of other stuff, if there was ever an opportunity to diversify the lineup this would be it.
 
And seriously why ARE they three white people and one black person again? They're obviously changing up a ton of other stuff, if there was ever an opportunity to diversify the lineup this would be it.


Indeed I'd have been cool with no Wiig and Mccarthy for that matter even if I do like her a lot.

Just don't touch Mckinnon
 
Alright yes, I see where you're coming from now and yeah, I can understand that that must be really fuckin frustrating and annoying to have to see and deal with over and over again. As I said I was pretty let down myself when they announced that she would be playing the everyman character but you explaining those kinds of tropes and history of it give it a totally different perspective. Thank you for taking the time to walk me through it and explain it like that, I really appreciate it.

And thank you for

A.) Taking the time to do some research

and

B.) Listening

Oh, and BTW. The reason I keep bringing up McKinnon as the one to switch is mainly because all of her non-science scenes in that trailer could go 100% unchanged if she had Jone's roll.

And don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge Jones going out there and getting her money, nor defending her work.
 
And seriously why ARE they three white people and one black person again? They're obviously changing up a ton of other stuff, if there was ever an opportunity to diversify the lineup this would be it.
I'm less bothered by the one black person as much as I'm bothered that her "talent" she brings to the group is that....she knows New York City and can borrow a car from her uncle.
 
Oh, and BTW. The reason I keep bringing up McKinnon as the one to switch is mainly because all of her non-science scenes in that trailer could go 100% unchanged if she had Jone's roll.

And don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge Jones going out there and getting her money, nor defending her work.


I'd switch Wiig. McKinnon's wackyness melds perfectly with her engineer/inventor role, her best moment in the trailer was the unveling of her ghost trap designed like a high teck hellacious bear trap.

I can see Mccarthy too but I think like Spy her being a scientist allows her to escape the stereotypes that get put on her.
 
Couldn't the character Patty Tolan be a scientist AND have street smarts? Don't like how a movie empowering women, neglects the women that need it the most.
 
Couldn't the character Patty Tolan be a scientist AND have street smarts? Don't like how a movie empowering women, neglects the women that need it the most.

I think there's benefit to having a more blue colar character in the mix but it should not have been Jones.
 
I really hope this movie bombs so hard, that the shock waves are felt in the whole film industry.

Not because of the female cast or anything close to that, but to stop Hollywood from not making original movies who will make some money like Pacific Rim or in the case of Deadpool a lot of money. But taking the laziest route with remakes in the hope to make a lot of money for the least amount of work.

This would be a great time to send Hollywood this message, to finally get new stuff done, to let the new generation get their own classic instead of pandering towards old movie audience, who will not like those remakes anyways.

Stop this, stop this Prometheus 2 Alien Prequel, Blade Runner 2 and all of this and make movies that have not existed already. There are thousands of books out there, comics and other sources for movies. You have to look forward, if you are only watching towards the past, this is what you will get.
 
I actually think McKinnon would have been a perfect fit for that role with the way she protrays her character.

Eh I'll disagree on that because like I said her mad inventor/engineer thing is too awesome to give up.

McCarthy is the obvious choice but I do believe Wiig would be best for breaking stereotypes.

Or drop Wiig entirely and get someone else.
 
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