Ghostbusters trailer: Sony subtly lampoons fan outrage
Chris Hemsworth has been deployed as the ultimate weapon to crack down on haters
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Your support makes all the difference.A new Ghostbusters international trailer has landed, and it's quietly laughing at all the supposed outrage surrounding its all-female reboot of the 1984 comedy.
Horrified to see a trailer for a Ghostbusters movie that involves women, and only women on the team? Here, have Chris Hemsworth. Loads of Chris Hemsworth. We're smacking Chis Hemsworth right into your face to remind you that, yes, there is also a man in this movie.
A man who is wont to draw giant boobs on his own version of the Ghostbusters logo; a nicely meta-take on the horror and obsession being directed towards its all-female cast, usually done without the consideration that 3 SNL pros (Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones) and a box office queen (Melissa McCarthy) could possibly be the best picks for the job, regardless of gender.
But wait, there's more! Unhappy that the original Ghostbusters are all referred to as 'scientists' in the first trailer, even though Winston's non-science background was probably discarded the second he strapped on a proton pack? OK, here's a new trailer in which they're referred to merely as 'friends'. Upset that the new film is too shiny, new, and different? Here's the old Ghostbusters theme tucked into for good measure.
The trailer also seems to take a dig at criticisms that Leslie Jones' Patty Tolan character is featured not at a scientist, but as a civilian MTA worker; featured across from three white scientists, it did seem in danger of sliding towards tired stereotyping. However, this new trailer now cuts out the offending, "you guys are really smart about this science stuff, but I know New York"; for a more simple, "I know New York".
Plus, the controversy appears more directly addressed in the moment, when a concert audience allows her attempt to crowd surf end with her flat on her back, she exclaims; "OK, I don't know if it was a race thing, or a lady thing, but I'm mad as hell." Jones had previously responded to the criticisms on Twitter with, "Regular People save the world every day so if I'm the stereotype!! Then so be it!! We walk among Heroes and take them for granted."
If there's one thing to take away from this trailer: consider those haters directly, and thoroughly, addressed.
Ghostbusters hits UK cinemas 15 July.
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