Boyd MarkhamFeminists and social justice warriors are once again complaining about meaningless issues, as their latest problems come from the new “Ghostbusters” movie. The core cast of the movie actually happens to be all-female, but of course that just isn’t good enough.
According to reports, feminists are up in arms about the “regular” ghostbuster being black.
Janessa Robinson, a contributor at The Guardian, the female cast of the new movie lacks a diversity of skin color.
“When Twitter began to buzz that the first ghostbusters reboot trailer had been released, I was anxious to see if it would soothe my uneasiness over the casting of three white female leads and one black woman as the sole representation of ‘diversity’ among the eponymous heroes. With three leading female characters, the film features no Latina, Asian or Indigenous women and simply opts to fulfill [sic] its black quota as a nod to the original storyline.”
Robinson then points to Leslie Jones’s character, Patty Tolan, who plays a “regular” character and is not a scientist like the rest of the ghostbusters.
She writes, “The trailer juxtaposes Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon as three experts in each of their scientific fields, then we cut to Jones. She enters with: ‘I’m here to join the club. You guys are really smart about this science stuff.’ This limits her character to an academically aloof, street savvy black woman who is apparently only allowed in the crew (and in the film) because of her familiarity with New York City.”
Of course, this criticism is ridiculous. Even the actor, Jones, has responded, saying, “Why can’t a regular person be a ghostbuster?”
Although Robinson says it is “reassuring” that Jones sees no issue with the role, she says, “we cannot ignore how racism and sexism limit the representations black women see of ourselves to characters that fall far too flat in comparison with our real-life, wide-ranging intricacies.”
She goes even further. Robinson says the movie is guilty of “praising white women’s access to roles that challenge patriarchy yet simultaneously harm black women through perpetuating racist tropes can only be feminist if the word has no meaning.”
She concludes by saying that she will not be going to see it in theaters, which comes as no surprise whatsoever.
