Who you gonna call?

How important do you believe female led feature films to be? I believe that they are very important indeed and don’t worry this isn’t because I’m a man hater, I love men…most of the time anyway. But the over excitement myself and my friend Hannah felt after we heard the news that the Ghostbusters remake will feature a female cast is proof that there is a gap in the representation of gender in Hollywood. And after the success of a number of other female led films such as Frozen, Lucy, Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids it’s obvious there’s an audience wanting more and rightly so!

More often than not females in film are subjected to being the love interest, the nameless bit on the side, the sidekick or the bitch – where are the independent female characters whose lives do not revolve around men? There are endless possible storylines for female characters, just as many as male characters in fact and probably even more if we take into account the plethora of women’s issues such as the pitfalls of living in a misogynist world *sharp intake of breathe* I know right!

When avid fans of the original Ghostbusters franchise heard of a remake in the works there was the expected excitement but also a united trepidation – after all it’s not uncommon for Hollywood to ruin a good thing. Early this week came a clear divide in the fans along with the announcement that the four main characters will be played by Kristen Wig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon; most cheered in joy and revelled in a refreshing take on the original that will be sure to invigorate and excite new audiences, whereas some thought it was all too much change and the idea that women could actually do what men can was beyond bizarre and potentially scarring.

I for one am so excited for the release which is due July next year and I’m not the only one. Dan Aykroyd, co-writer and star of the original has said that “the Aykroyd family is delighted by this inheritance of the Ghostbusters torch by these most magnificent women in comedy. My great grandfather, Dr Sam Aykroyd, the original Ghostbuster, was a man who empowered women in his day and this is a beautiful development in the legacy of our family business.”

The more I read about the project, which is still in negotiation, the more ready I believe the world to be; this will be a huge development in popular cinema and I hope more than anything that the writers, the cast, the director and the fans do it justice. These types of decisions are not made often, so whether you’re male or female it doesn’t matter! Please just enjoy it, this will be good for us all.

By Talia Maguire