Are There Lesbians? Yes

What Happens?
Four women bust ghosts and save the world in a reboot of the original movie.

The Verdict:
So I get that Ghostbusters is a pretty hot topic right about now and that everyone and their aunt has done a review or discussion piece or whatever, but I can’t even consider not jumping on board that train because it is gaining traction and with good reason. Ghostbusters is truly awesome, and I must do everything in my power to convince as many people as possible to see it. I almost wish I was kidding when I say that pretty much every conversation I have these days goes thusly:

Me: *breathes in and points aggressively at friend* GO –
Friend: see Ghostbusters? We get it its awesome, please stop turning up at my house in the middle of the night, how did you even get in here?

Why am I so evangelistic about this movie? Because there are so few movies with a majority female cast that isn’t about “female problems”, because I genuinely love it, because it’s important to create revenue for the things we want so that producers can see that there is a need for this type of thing, and mostly because I want that damn sequel which is hinted at in the post credits scene. Yes there’s a post credits scene so DONT YOU DARE LEAVE THE CINEMA TIL THE CREDITS ARE OVER.

Right now that’s dealt with let’s get down to it.

This movie, dear lord this movie. What did we do right to deserve this cinematic masterpiece? If Ghostbusters was a person I would bring them flowers and chocolates and date them in the most romantic way possible. I want to woo this movie. Leave me alone, I have so many emotions right now.

Ghostbusters is everything and more that I want out of a reboot of a classic. There were subtle nods to the original without laying it on too thick and it was exciting to see the original actors make their appearances in ways which felt natural. It was certainly enhanced by the appearance of Sigourney Weaver as a gay academic, which turned out to be everything I didn’t even know I wanted and would now like that to be a movie all of its own please and thank you. As for plot similarities – it was nice for the ultimate battle to be similar enough to the original that you knew it was on purpose, but also it wasn’t exactly the same (though don’t worry sweet tooths, the Stay Puff’d man still makes an appearance).

Now onto what really makes Ghostbusters great – the women! Nearly everyone who matters is female and with a majority of the plot devoted to the idea that the ghosts were fake, it was refreshing to see that the characters were mocked on account of the pure unreality of their claims rather than the fact that they were women. In fact there is no use of misogyny by anyone in the film save for the bad guy, who is a world-blaming megalomaniac with a chip on his shoulder of the same mold as Kylo Ren. You know what the best thing about the world of Ghostbusters is? At no point are these kickass ladies met with claims that they can’t do their jobs because they are women or for the way they dress etc (although there is a funny exchange where they are being chewed out by the Mayors representative for “standing out” and choose to deliberately misconstrue this as being about Patty wearing large earrings). Three of the characters has doctorates and Kristen Wiig’s character Dr Erin Gilbert is a respected member of her field… up until she is heavily discredited due to her belief in ghosts. Even thought Leslie Jones’ character doesn’t hold any significant academic record that we know of, she is never treated as being dumber by her fellows and adds layers of real-world knowledge to balance out their more academic interests. While it is certainly problematic for it to be the only black character to be the urban navigator, we do not get any feeling that Patty is relegated to this role because she is any lesser than the other women, but because it is her real-world rather than academic experiences that have lead to her join them. If I wanted to talk about Dr Jillian Holtzmann and how much I love her I would have to devote a whole post to it so I’m going to seriously restrain myself and just say this: I love my new wife. She has such swagger and confidence and I’m still not entirely sure whether she’s life goals or wife goals. What I am certain of is that that gun-licking and shooting sequence was very unnecessary, but also very necessary.

Moving on from the intense fangirling, I did think there were a few slow moments in the plot. However, while watching, almost as soon as I started thinking that the plot was taking a bit of a downturn, the pace would pick up again, so while it seems like the movie isn’t going anywhere at some moments it is really just taking a breather before hitting you with more awesome. That’s really all that I found wrong with the movie. One of my best friends did note some aggressive misandry at one point which clearly doesn’t help the feminist angle of the movie and I can see where
she is coming from but at the same time… Guys hit each other in the nads in movies all the time and it’s funny, and female body parts gets mocked with alarming regularity so… I think it’s ok for four girls to aim at the giant ghosts junk this one time.

If we wish to talk humour – and this movie is definitely funny – then Ghostbusters is filled with the kind of dry, self-reflective humour that I love and which I find more common in female-driven moves, or maybe that’s just me. Chris Hemsworth steals almost every scene he is in with his fantastic portrayal of dumb-blond Kevin who is met at every turn with exasperated sighs and eye-rolls by the female cast. I can’t help but think that it didn’t take any convincing at all to get Hemsworth to play this part.

Ghostbusters is seriously the best movie I have seen in a while (and that includes Mother May I Sleep with Danger – which has lesbian vampires for goodness sake!) and I am completely in awe of this movie and the beautiful women who worked so hard to make it a reality. I can’t wait to watch it over and over again.