The Washington Post’s Stephanie Merry has a problem with the new Ghostbusters film. But unlike everyone else, it’s not because of movie’s poor quality, terrible plot, or the social justice pandering. It’s because the male character in the movie is funnier than the female cast.
“Isn’t it strange that a non-comedic actor has one of the funniest roles in ‘Ghostbusters’? Aside from Kate McKinnon, playing a bonkers scientist with endless facial tics, Kevin, played by Chris Hemsworth, delivers most of the biggest laughs,” wrote Merry in her latest piece on the film.
“He plays the ghoul-shooting quartet’s idiotic secretary. He’s not much of an assistant — an 8-year-old would probably do a better job — but he’s so nice to look at that he gets the gig,” Merry notes.
Merry complains that because Hemsworth was the funnier character, Ghostbusters is not actually a film based on feminism and equality.
“The idea behind the casting was clearly surface-level feminist stuff. After years of seeing hot women subjected to the male gaze, ‘Ghostbusters, set out to even the playing field. How does it feel to be ogled, Chris?” Merry opines, casually describing modern feminism as not being a movement focused on equality but rather maintaining negative gender roles but with the sexes switched.
“The difference, of course, is that he’s not just there for his looks; he also gets some choice lines. So much for equality,” complains Merry.
Merry extrapolates Hemsworth upstaging his female counterparts into a problematic trend across Hollywood: “Should the inequality be surprising? Of course not. After all, we know that more men than women get roles on the big screen, and the discrepancy between the number of lines male and female actors get to say on-screen is particularly egregious.”
“But wouldn’t it be nice if, before someone gives the sad-eyed Kit Harington the chance to prove he can send us into a fit of giggles, someone lets Kate Winslet, Lupita Nyong’o or Serena Williams have their chance? A moviegoer can dream,” she bemoans.
Apparently Ghostbusters director Paul Feig and the rest of the team were blind to the number one mistake of trying to appease social justice warriors: in the end their job is to complain, act oppressed, and play the victim. They will never be satisfied with your offering. Ghostbusters was never going to be an exception.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Washington Post author’s name.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.
