Ivan Reitman's 1984 film Ghostbusters is an iconic comedy film, beloved by many for its irreverent blend of horror and comedy, its hilarious cast and script, and its ingenious use of visual effects. When producers began to think about creating a remake, fans of the original, understandably, got possessive. The conversation got more complicated, however, when the filmmakers announced that the remake would feature an all-female gang of Ghostbusters. Indeed, director of the remake Paul Feig made the choice to make them all women precisely because he wanted to avoid competing with the classic appeal of the 1984 original. What was supposed to be a deferential decision was quickly misinterpreted by fans and critics alike who could not envision the gender switch. The remake, starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon, became one of the most controversial films of 2016.
The backlash was almost instantaneous and grossly disproportionate. Fans of any franchise are often rabid and loyal to the memory of an original, but the resistance to an all-female cast pushed beyond the fanatical into the sexist. Many fans claimed that Feig was "ruining [their] childhood," and while some tried to mask their particularly gendered critiques, many were more open in their sexism and their belief that it was the particularly feminist bent of the film that they found so grossly unacceptable. The trailer for the film is the most "disliked" trailer on Youtube, and the choice to replace the male posse with women was met with vitriolic trolling across many different internet platforms. Leslie Jones, a black star of the remake, was preyed on by the infamously bigoted alt-right personality Milo Yiannopoulis and his followers, who trolled the star of the film for her involvement with racist slurs and abusive comments.
The backlash and controversy seemed all the stranger because no one who had made the original film had a problem with the premise of the remake. Ivan Reitman, the director of the original, as well as its other creators, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, signed off on the remake and the choice to make it all women, warmly endorsing the update. Refreshed by his perspective, Reitman signed off on the film's director Paul Feig, saying in an interview, "I felt he could be trusted with it. You know, this is a very important movie for all of us, the creative group that’s passed it on. We really needed it to be successful, and wanted it to be successful for all kinds of reasons. So I’m happy to say that we’ve created a film together that I think fans will be happy with, too."
