Ghostbusters Director Calls Out "Assholes in Geek Culture"

[Roboshi]

There's no right side here. Both sides are equally terrible. Fieg for being an ass and generalizing and the people hating on the movie and judging it before seeing it. Ghostbusters didn't need a reboot but it got one so instead of just hating on it how about we judge it when it comes out.

Everyone thought Affleck was going to be a shit Batman but what happened? He made a great Batman and people who hated the movie said so too. Let's just wait until it comes out and then let's judge it. Can we do that?

Honestly it's probably fine to say a trailer is terrible, after all this is what they're using to sell a movie and I often remember a rule with comedy movie trailers; "These are the GOOD jokes to lure you in".

I'm sure a bad trailer has lead to a good movie, but I can't think of a single good comedy with a terrible trailer. (though I'm sure it's possible I've missed one)

 

[WeepingAngels]

I don't know too much about all this but is it one of those "girl power" movies?

 

[Mikeybb]

Okay, followup question: what's worth defending about geek culture?

Because that sounds pretty awful.

Yeah, but given that it was mostly a bit of self depreciating snarkiness pointing out my own foibles that stem from geekiness, I'd hard pushed to find cause to defend it.
Well, aside from my tat which for some reason is oddly... precious to me.
Try to take that and I'd likely bite your finger off.

Anyway.
Primarily this lack of defense stems from the following.
The factors which make up geekiness (esoteric and ephemeral as any definitions may be) aren't really the kind of things that are attacked all too often, if they can be at all.

Sure, people sometimes perceive things as an attack, but that's more about their own hang ups than a genuine all out assault on all that is nerdly and good in the world.

Take the feller in the article.
He's not attacking geeks with his movie, nor with his statements.
He's certainly not happy with the assholes who happen to be geeks, but he's not laying about with the accusation to all and sundry.
Even if he was I'm not sure it'd even really be an attack, just an ill thought out expression of disappointment that his vision of the movie wasn't lighting the fires of excitement he expected an especially dedicated element of his target audience.

An aside.
There was one thing I genuinely hoped would happen in the movie.
That Bill Murray would turn out to be playing the new busters "slimer".
Either as Venkman continued or a parody of his own cocktail swirling schmoozer persona.

 

[kris40k]

Right. So why didn't Amazing Spider-Man get such a reaction? AMS2? Man of Steel? Batman v Superman? Green Lantern? Fantastic 4?

Most of those trailers are sitting at over 90% approval ratings on YouTube.

For the same reason that Flappy Bird made its creator a metric shit-tonne of money while other, better games languish without being seen.

It went viral.

The others suck, they just didn't catch fire like Ghostbusters did.

Possibly because you don't see other groups freak out and react like this.

Yeah, no other groups freak out and act as bad as geeks. [http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/football-violence]

Edit:

[image height=200 width=300]http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article7649879.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/PAY-Daniel-Boylett.jpg[/IMG]​

Holy shit, this guy tried to punch an eagle [http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/charlton-fan-accused-punching-crystal-7649960]?!?

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

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....

Oh the dislikes were already around those numbers before the "pundits" started their campaign. It was the most disliked trailer on YouTube of all time before this campaign, if you can call it that, started.


OP:
Paul Feig and a good chunk of the usual blogs masquerading as news sites pull this "they hate the movie because its an all woman cast" out of their asses. Considering that the majority of Feig's movies have female leads and didn't get hate based on that, I find that narrative hard to believe. If Feig's logic held weight, The Hunger Games, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars 7 and Rogue One would all have negative views "because womyn".

Ghostbusters has already had a rough history when it comes to making a modern movie with Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd effectively saying fuck you to Hollywood for 20 years when it came to making it. They wanted Bill Murray to be in previous Ghostbusters 3 scripts as a ghost, then they had other scripts featuring the Ghostbusters in Hell. They went with a remake because making a 3rd movie wasn't going to happen.

This movie looks bad all round. When you spend 152 million on a budget and the special effects like as bad as the live action Scooby Doo movie it spells trouble.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

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.

So if I made a Ghostbsuters reboot and cast only white guys for all 4 of the main characters, and said I did it because "they're the funniest people I know", no one would lose their shit?

 

[Naldan]

TBH, I was more surprised about Mr. Bogos. I thought you were dead.


Mr. Feig is Mr. Feig. Have you ever seen this guy? He's like a neo-feminism-geek, working hard to prove himself right, right here, right now (in the article).

Just try to follow the leaked conversation between him and that SONY CEO. Holy shit. The more you read those emails, the more crazy this article here gets.

 

[Naldan]

I'd be offended by this if he wasn't so absolutely, 100%, spot on correct.

"Geek culture" has shown the world that most people who adhere to it act like massive children if they don't like things. Game didn't end the way you liked? Screech from the rooftops, demand they change it. Blizzard changes the pose of one of their characters to not concentrate on their ass so much? Screech from the rooftops, demand they change it. All women cast in a dead franchise? Screech from the rooftops, demand they stop it.

Terrible.

Know of any entertainment industry where this isn't the case? Or is geek-culture synonymous with hardcore fans?

I think the problem is more that through the internet, everyone could potentially hear everyone. And most people can't handle that.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I'd be offended by this if he wasn't so absolutely, 100%, spot on correct.

"Geek culture" has shown the world that most people who adhere to it act like massive children if they don't like things. Game didn't end the way you liked? Screech from the rooftops, demand they change it. Blizzard changes the pose of one of their characters to not concentrate on their ass so much? Screech from the rooftops, demand they change it. All women cast in a dead franchise? Screech from the rooftops, demand they stop it.

Terrible.

You don't think the feminists would be raising hell if the film had 4 white men as the Ghostbusters? They raise hell when Milo shows up to speak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s86uGGkkycg

 

[Roboshi]

Hell I just went to check the trailer for Pixels: 87k likes, 12k dislikes. That terrible movie with its terrible trailer that uses things from the 80's? Suspiciously nowhere near as much dislikes as a trailer that has women in a new movie from a dead franchise.

I think the main difference there is Pixels wasn't a reboot of a beloved franchise. It was just a movie based on a short youtube movie with sandler, no one expected it to be good and so it wasn't worth the effort. This is just the perfect storm of a bad movie insulting a good movie. If adam sandler fronted a reboot of beetlejuice you'd expect number just like these if not worse.

But to put that aside let me ask you one thing; Is a movie that will contain a joke about a woman getting slime in her vagina (a real joke we have in the trailer) actually gonna be progressive? Hell does it sound like the writings of a competent comedy writer?

 

[NoeL]

He's absolutely right, and you don't have to look further than this very thread to see it.

Feig: God, these geeks that have been all over me since before the casting for making a female Ghostbusters movie are real assholes.
Responders: Well you shouldn't have made a shit trailer!

Oh come off it. AS IF he's referring solely to the trailer's reaction. He's been getting shit from geeks for "ruining" Ghostbusters from the very beginning, and he's absolutely right that those geeks are assholes.

Just because those geeks in question saw the mile tall writing eternally on fire on the side of the mountain before the trailer came out does not make them assholes. This baby was always gonna suck with Feig at the helm, the fact he went with a genderbent reboot just made it suck that much harder. The only director that would make it worse is Uwe Boll.

Horse shit - those assholes lost it the second a genderbent reboot was announced, long before Feig or anyone was attached to it. And yes, pre-emptively judging a movie based on that alone does make you an asshole.

 

[Roboshi]

Horse shit - those assholes lost it the second a genderbent reboot was announced, long before Feig or anyone was attached to it. And yes, pre-emptively judging a movie based on that alone does make you an asshole.

I'm sure there were a few assholes being assholes about females in staring roles, but the majority of the outcry only started when the awful trailer came out.

EDIT; tell a lie, there was quite a bit of outcry at the initial announcement but that was mostly about them rebooting the franchise to begin with. There are VERY few who anticipated a reboot being any good after GB3 was in development hell for about 3 decades.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

See i'm torn, because he IS right - there's a strong 'asshole' element in geek culture - but at the same time, this has nothing to do with the current situation. Assholes are always assholes, this particular movie is just the special kind of bad that inspires nominally non-asshole individuals to treat it like they're assholes. By, y'know, being bad, and cliche, and trying to be a REBOOT of a cult classic. The women themselves are all kinds of talented and funny and I was/am 100% down with an all female team, the issue is the film you've put them in looks like garbage.

Relevant part put in bold... Ghostbusters was a box office smash hit, calling it a cult classic is like saying that Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, Back to the Future, and Men In Black are cult classics. Cult classic movies are like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Reefer Madness, movies that failed at the box office, but become pop-culture icons, usually because people find them so bad that they're ironically good. The other example of cult classics are beloved movies are like The Last StarFighter, a movie which bombed, but maintains a loyal fanbase and made more after it's box office run in later showings and on home video. Ghostbusters is not a cult classic, it's a blockbuster hit and a classic supernatural comedy.

OT: Well Feig is right, Geek/Nerd culture is a hot bed of hostility and assholery. This is plainly apparent and why many people who would like to adopt "geeky/nerdy" hobbies, refuse to because of the geek/nerd community itself. Internal fandoms are notoriously hostile, especially when there's a competing fandom, like how Warhammer 40,000 is with BattleTech, along with the famous inter-fandom hate between Trekkies and hardcore Star Wars fans. Even worse is the fact that anyone apparently female is harassed in the geek/nerd setting without mercy doesn't help in the slightest.

Still him claiming that the all female cast was a "coincidence" is a flat lie, the movie was announced to have an all female cast before casting even started. That doesn't excuse the way the film has been attacked since that announcement, mostly by internet misogynists and misogynistic geeks/nerds. Especially not when the prominence that misogyny has in the geek/nerd community, where I'm surprised that comic book stores and tabletop game hobby stores don't have "no girls allowed" signs on the damn doors.

Still a piss poor trailer and a blatant attempt at pandering to gender politics are the sorts of things that ensure a fanbase will shit itself as hard as it can, then go out witch hunting.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Still him claiming that the all female cast was a "coincidence" is a flat lie, the movie was announced to have an all female cast before casting even started. That doesn't excuse the way the film has been attacked since that announcement, mostly by internet misogynists and misogynistic geeks/nerds. Especially not when the prominence that misogyny has in the geek/nerd community, where I'm surprised that comic book stores and tabletop game hobby stores don't have "no girls allowed" signs on the damn doors.

How do you define misogyny? People not appreciating gender being the primary consideration during casting sound like they are the type of people who oppose sexism to me, or would it only be sexism if they purposely cast only white men?

 

[WeepingAngels]

You don't think the feminists would be raising hell if the film had 4 white men as the Ghostbusters? They raise hell when Milo shows up to speak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s86uGGkkycg

TIL Milo represents all white men and/or is a Ghostbuster.

That's about how relevant your post is.

I noticed that you didn't answer the question. Maybe you missed it?

You don't think the feminists would be raising hell if the film had 4 white men as the Ghostbusters?

 

[Roboshi]

I don't get this "bad movie insulting a good movie" thing. How is it insulting a good movie? Does it go back and delete the old movie? What does it do?

Your questions is odd, I mean you ask if it's going to be "progressive"? Where did the "progressive" part come from? I don't think I've seen any marketing that has tried to cast it as being "progressive".

Well perhaps insulting is not the word, but perhaps "cheap" could be right, like a batman themed box of tissues. A product is using the name of a loved movie just to add sales, but with nothing of the original to actually support that name and validate the use of that brand.

The "progressive" part of my post was about the general message the director is trying to convey, and the general way the advertising and new announcements have been presented to us. This news is just the next step, the people who hated the terrible trailer are labels as "trolls" or "haters" and the genuine critique gets lumped together with this (not helped by the rumoured deletion of any critical comments by women).

Studios are getting more social media savvy and they know that it's easier to build a following if you pretend you're furthering a good cause. This makes it harder and harder for people to tell the genuine article of people making a genuine effort to make a good product from those who are just using their tokens as a shield from their shortcomings as a moviemaker.

 

[Vigormortis]

Um...why the hell are so many posters adding a superfluous hyphen into the word coincidence? That's just weird. Stop it.

Geek culture is being surrounded by assholes "calling out" other assholes, then you eventually put a gun to your own head or someone else's.

Isn't it funny how these people attempt to 'cash-in' on geek culture, but then act shocked when their shitty projects garner negative reactions from geek culture?

"Here's a thing I want people to judge and pay me money to see!"
- people judge the thing poorly -
"Ugh! Stop judging me! You're all assholes!"

Fuck right off, Feig.

Yeah and getting punched in the face is better than getting stabbed in the eye. Geek culture's still packed to the tits with cunts.

But then why make the distinction? Why single out "geek culture" if it's but a small example of the wider issue of human cultures being "packed to the tits with cunts"?

Seems like scapegoating to me. No wonder geeks get angry, if this is how people treat them...

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....

Except, I can't find any evidence of this "campaign" anywhere, unless we want to consider Youtube comments as some sort of large scale collusion. It seems as though the notion of this "pundit campaign" is a complete fabrication on Mr. Bogus Bogos' part.

Which is not at all surprising, given his usual 'quality' of reporting.

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

As does any other culture, realistically. Again I wonder: Why make the distinction? I've never seen a mob of geeks riot, loot, and nearly burn down a city block, just because Batman V Superman was bad. But I have seen football fans do such a thing when their team loses. So why aren't we claiming sports culture houses some of the most bitter and petty (and dangerous) bastards on the planet?

People are assholes. I don't know why we can't accept that without trying to apply some kind of scapegoat-y reductionist filter on it.

 

[Roboshi]

People are assholes. I don't know why we can't accept that without trying to apply some kind of scapegoat-y reductionist filter on it.

You've hit the nail on the head really, there are always assholes amongst any group of people and to act like the only way someone is allowed to not like something is if they only fraternize with the purest humans on the planet.

And let me tell you, Tibetan monks rarely post on youtube.

But as an aside, who is deciding all these comments come from "Geek Culture"? Did we all tick it as an option on the youtube accounts?

 

[Vigormortis]

You've hit the nail on the head really, there are always assholes amongst any group of people and to act like the only way someone is allowed to not like something is if they only fraternize with the purest humans on the planet.

And let me tell you, Tibetan monks rarely post on youtube.

Hmph. Damn those monks. Such petty assholes. They're ruining everything!

But as an aside, who is deciding all these comments come from "Geek Culture"? Did we all tick it as an option on the youtube accounts?

You mean you didn't? I was under the impression that we all had to tick the check box beside the associative culture we most identify with before we could post.

 

[Roboshi]

You mean you didn't? I was under the impression that we all had to tick the check box beside the associative culture we most identify with before we could post.

Didn't you hear? a 16 year old girl liked Benedict Cumberpatch as Kahn in the last Star Trek. Therefore all Trekkie Culture is racist.