The Internet is sometimes a black hole of rage. A place that has given just about everyone a platform to spew hatred toward any given subject. A place where a comment section about a happy puppy can bring out the trolls, drooling with delight, as they point out how stupid someone is for thinking said puppy is cute, and spam it with wordpress links to blogs about topics unrelated to said puppy. In short, the Internet can be an awful place for terrible people — shrouded behind anonymity — to spew their lousy ideas and beliefs upon the world.
And thus, former Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd treaded the waters of this murky hell-on-earth and bravely said he liked the new “Ghostbusters” reboot. A position that goes against the grain of thin skinned fans going all sorts of insane about the sanctity of movie they liked from 1984 about four guys who battle a giant marshmallow man with lasers.
Here is what Dan Aykroyd, the man who actually helped create the original two films, had to say over at Whosay:
“As originator of the original: Saw test screening of new movie. Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films plus Bill Murray is in it! As one of millions of man-fans and Ray Stantz, I’m paying to see that and bringing all my friends!”
You got to give it to Aykroyd, he trolled these haters with the “man-fans” reference, which caused them to naturally lose their minds and spew their verbal excrement all over Reddit, Twitter, Facebook — just about anywhere one can post their opinions online. Sure, he is an executive producer so he has a vested interest in the film’s success, but that doesn’t mean this was a totally cynical ploy to get butts in the seats.
Now, I have been critical about this reboot. I was not happy when it was announced, really unhappy when I found out Paul Feig was directing it, but I was a little happy when I saw the cast (after seeing “St. Vincent,” I have had a little change of heart toward Melissa McCarthy, whom I was unsure of initially).
I think people with legitimate critiques, like Angry Video Game Nerd James Rolfe, have put their views in a way that I respect.
Makes perfect sense. Why go to a movie you know, going in, you are going to hate? I may not agree 100 percent on his position, but he presented it in a way that I said “OK, that’s a legitimate excuse for him. I get it.” I was disgusted by how the other end of the rage spectrum began attacking him for his views, showing that nobody owns the concept of “irrational anger of everything.”
But these critiques get lost in the mix of the rabid anger of fans who go on rants that, let’s be honest, are pretty messed up. People are taking a reboot of a beloved film to levels of madness. I get being annoyed over unnecessary reboots of films — a lot of my blogs here make fun of that very subject — but when it becomes hatred, then I think we as a culture need to step back and reevaluate ourselves, because at the end of the day, it is just a movie that nobody is forcing you to see.
Originally, I was not going to see the film. I figured, like Rolfe, if I am going in thinking I’m going to hate it, then why bother. But after thinking about it more, I realized that I may be missing out on not only a film that could be good, but another “Ghostbusters” movie that could be good. The main cast from the first one (minus Harold Ramis because he has passed on, and Rick Moranis because he just didn’t see the point) will have cameos. If it is bad, then I don’t have to see it again. I have sat through bad movies, so I think I can handle this one if it is a stinker.
This movie is not going to somehow make the first two go away. They still exist. The bitterness that we never got a proper third installment with the original cast is not this movie’s fault. That was mostly on Bill Murray, who had no real interest in returning to the franchise (he did reprise his character in the video game, as did the others). And since Ramis has passed on, we are not getting that film. So we are getting this film, that has cameos from the original cast. Not the greatest situation, but here we are.
Sure, they could have just not made this movie, and I think that’s what most of us would have preferred. But Hollywood is a soulless beast hellbent on making money, not preserving legacies and our childhood memories. This reboot was going to happen, no matter how much fans complained.
And if you want to protest it by not giving it money, all the power to you. I respect that. That is a valid protest. If the movie is a dud that doesn’t make money, then this reboot will be mostly forgotten. If it is good, then it is good. None of us will know until it comes out. But if it does suck, we still have the first two, and the great memories we have associated with that. That is not going away because of this film.
The JOE-DOWN 