Ghostbusters Director Calls Out "Assholes in Geek Culture"

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
9,354
0
0
Ghostbusters Director Calls Out "Assholes in Geek Culture"

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1319/1319930.png
Paul Fieg says the criticism of his upcoming Ghostbusters reboot is from "assholes in geek culture".

Ever since the Ghostbusters reboot [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/ghostbusters%20reboot?os=ghostbusters+reboot] was announced, it has been under attack. Ghostbusters is a very special part of geek culture, and reboot direct Paul Fieg has received the brunt of these criticisms. Well, he's sick of it, and he has called out all of the "assholes in geek culture" for attacking his movie.

"Geek culture is home to some of the biggest assholes I've ever met in my life," Feig told the New York Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ghostbusters-director-paul-feig-responds-attacks-article-1.2621647]. "I don't care what shape or size or color or anything they are," Feig said, responding to criticism that SNL star Leslie Jones' character merely plays into Hollywood's mad black woman clicha. "I live or die on what things are funny and whether or not people will be entertained by them."

He claims that the all-female cast is a mere co-incidence: the funniest people he knows just happen to be women, which is why he has cast them in the movie.

"(Melissa McCarthy) is just this hilarious woman who is so funny," he said. "I don't care WHAT she looks like. As long as she's funny and is a professional. She's hilarious."

Recently, pundits started a campaign to downvote the new movie's trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ugHP-yZXw] into oblivion. At time of writing, its sitting at 200,000 "likes" and over 700,000 "dislikes.

Source: New York Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ghostbusters-director-paul-feig-responds-attacks-article-1.2621647]

Permalink
 

Lufia Erim

New member
Mar 13, 2015
1,420
0
0
I like milissa mccarthy probably a little bit too much compared to the next guy, but when the hell did she become so popular? I mean before the string of McCarthy comedies, all i knew her from was gilmore girls.
 

RaikuFA

New member
Jun 12, 2009
4,370
0
0
"Look at that nest of angry hornets, what would happen if I started bugging the hornets? Why are the hornets stinging me now? It must just be the asshole hornets."

Maybe don't sell your movie as a heartless cash grab then you won't feel the sting.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
14,334
0
0
It's true that the geek community can be quite toxic at times (just like everything else on the internet), but the trailer also failed to endear your movie to us. In which case I suggest you fire your marketing department.
 

Bob_McMillan

Elite Member
Aug 28, 2014
5,175
1,851
118
Country
Philippines
RaikuFA said:
"Look at that nest of angry hornets, what would happen if I started bugging the hornets? Why are the hornets stinging me now? It must just be the asshole hornets."
Thanks for the laugh

OT:

He claims that the all-female cast is a mere co-incidence: the funniest people he knows just happen to be women, which is why he has cast them in the movie.

Please don't insult our intelligence, Mr. Director Man. Bad enough you're making a shitty movie.
 

someguy1231

New member
Apr 3, 2015
256
0
0
Fieg, Fieg, Fieg...

You're just making a bad movie. Deal with it (though it appears you can't).
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,415
3,393
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
Bob_McMillan said:
RaikuFA said:
"Look at that nest of angry hornets, what would happen if I started bugging the hornets? Why are the hornets stinging me now? It must just be the asshole hornets."
Thanks for the laugh

OT:

He claims that the all-female cast is a mere co-incidence: the funniest people he knows just happen to be women, which is why he has cast them in the movie.

Please don't insult our intelligence, Mr. Director Man. Bad enough you're making a shitty movie.
To be fair we don't know its a shitty movie, we just know it has a shitty trailer.
 

Lightspeaker

New member
Dec 31, 2011
934
0
0
Steven Bogos said:
He claims that the all-female cast is a mere co-incidence: the funniest people he knows just happen to be women, which is why he has cast them in the movie.
Sorry, I'm calling total BS on this right here.

Given the original reveal of the film, plus the marketing, plus the way the trailer has been handled, plus the marketing push to present any criticism whatsoever of this movie as 'because sexism'...claiming that it was a co-incidence comes across as completely dishonest.

I'd have more respect for the guy if he'd just own the decision. I've never been impressed by what I've seen of any of his directing work (bits and pieces mostly, I just can't bring myself to sit through the entirety of one of his films) and based on the dialogue from the trailer it seems he's a terrible writer (in fact the only thing I was impressed with about the trailer was how well several of the actresses involved did with such poor material). But I'd have at least some respect for the fact he could make a decision on something, own that decision and go 'so what?' to people. From this its like he's trying to weasel out of any criticism.
 

DoctorM

New member
Nov 30, 2010
172
0
0
Way to win over audience that don't understand why a classic film needs a reboot/remake.
If Fieg wasn't so desperate for money he never would have gone near this project.

I think I will choose to skip this... and any other film Fieg ever makes.
 

Neverhoodian

New member
Apr 2, 2008
3,832
0
0
Well this discussion is certainly going to end well and definitely won't reopen old wounds YET AGAIN. Thank you Mr. Fieg, this is JUST what we needed more of around here.

/s

For the record, the humor in the trailer would have fallen flat for me regardless of the type of actors or actresses involved. I hope you weren't serious on that whole "live or die by what things are funny" bit, Mr. Fieg. This is certainly not worth losing one's life over.
 

BX3

New member
Mar 7, 2011
659
0
0
So I wanna call him a huge jerk that's generalizing an entire culture based on the poor reception to some dumb movie trailer, but....

Recently, pundits started a campaign to downvote the new movie's trailer into oblivion. At time of writing, its sitting at 200,000 "likes" and over 700,000 "dislikes.
...I wish we wouldn't make ourselves so gahdamn hard to defend....
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Apparently having everyone call your movie a shameless, heartless, unfunny cash-grab based off the trailer that was crapped out to us is one of Mr. Fieg's triggers. :3

Some would say you can't judge a movie by it's trailer, and I certainly agree with that notion. The problem is that giving a movie the benefit of the doubt only works half the time. The other half of the time you get Batman v Superman: crap trailer for a crap movie. :p
 

Objectable

New member
Oct 31, 2013
867
0
0
And you know what the scary part is?

He's right. Geek culture is terrible and needs to be ended,
 

StatusNil

New member
Oct 5, 2014
534
0
0
Oh, Mr. Feig... The disingenuousness of claiming his crass femsploitation of a beloved (despite that sequel) entertainment brand is merely "coincidental", after how many weeks of shameless cross-promotion with the tawdriest of the gender-grudge mongers the Internet has to offer, is way more hilarious than any movie he might hope to make. In all my years, I don't think I've ever seen a more soullessly cynical campaign of wedge marketing. Pretty much the whole rationale of this harsh (re)booting is "Familiar logo taken over by Girl Power! Are YOU going to risk the consequences of withholding support from the Right Side of History?"

This of course is a function of the synergy purveyors of Product like Feig are building with the dominant "geek culture" Commentariat. People deciding what they like for themselves is a hopelessly inefficient model for making a profit from the Industry point of view. The solution is to turn cultural products into "social causes", with the ensuing social pressures conveniently helping direct consumer behavior. The producers empower the "critics" by inserting their talking points into their products, and in return the "critics" enforce the support of the audience by sanctions such as stigmatizing the recalcitrant with shameful labels. There's quite a bit of leverage for wrangling the masses in this scheme, as long as everyone in on it is on the same page.

Mr. Feig does have an accidental point, though. There sure are a whole lot of fairly gaping recta involved in the "geek culture" racket these days. I hesitate to call them "carpetbaggers" because of some residual positive connotations with the Union victory in that whole Civil War episode, but it does seem like a pertinent concept.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
13,769
5
43
Ohhh dear.

I mean, he's not wrong. "Geek culture" does indeed house some of the most bitter and petty bastards on the planet.

However, he really should have qualified that a bit. Because it comes across as "If you dislike my movie you're an arsehole" which is never a good look.
 

Creator002

New member
Aug 30, 2010
1,590
0
0
Steven Bogos said:
He claims that the all-female cast is a mere co-incidence: the funniest people he knows just happen to be women, which is why he has cast them in the movie.
Well, I don't want to call him a liar, since I don't know for sure, but... I kind of feel like the selling point was "it's women!" I don't like Ghostbusters that much, and thus I didn't really pay much attention to this movie, but that's all I really heard about it. "It's women!"
 

chadachada123

New member
Jan 17, 2011
2,310
0
0
BX3 said:
So I wanna call him a huge jerk that's generalizing an entire culture based on the poor reception to some dumb movie trailer, but....

Recently, pundits started a campaign to downvote the new movie's trailer into oblivion. At time of writing, its sitting at 200,000 "likes" and over 700,000 "dislikes.
...I wish we wouldn't make ourselves so gahdamn hard to defend....
What's unrealistic about 7 out of 9 people hating that trailer? It was an absolute flop as far as trailers are concerned. I question highly the veracity of this "campaign to downvote" the trailer, when it's a pretty shitty trailer on its own.
 

CaptainMarvelous

New member
May 9, 2012
869
0
0
"I live or die on what things are funny" well, you better get that tombstone worked on since genderbending aside, the script for this is STILL terrible.
 

weirdee

Swamp Weather Balloon Gas
Apr 11, 2011
2,634
0
0
I've never seen somebody giftwrap himself so neatly for ravenous trolls before.

The worst part about all this is that his shitty justifications are just going to be fodder for somebody else's shitty justifications, and it's going to be used against people who don't even have anything to do with this, and don't deserve the bullshit that's being thrown at them. It'll perhaps be many more years before another attempt, much less genuine, will be made by the mainstream to create a movie primarily featuring women that doesn't fall into shitty stereotypes and crappy marketing, much less have a chance because morons like this guy are given projects that the studio doesn't care about.