Ocean's 8: Thoughts on Female Led Reboots of Classic Movies
Predominantly female casts in movies isn't a new concept as seen in films like "Mean Girls," "Pitch Perfect," "Wonder Woman," "Girls Trip" and "Bridesmaids." However, the idea of a majorly female led cast taking on reboots of classic movies that notably featured predominantly male legs casts seems to cause immense outrage from fans of the original source material.
This is majorly recognizable when the 2016 reboot of "Ghostbusters" (featuring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones) was first released causing an enormous backlash, specifically seen in the comments for the trailers of this movie. The movie itself is regarded as feminism pandering flop which as subsequently caused doubt for other movies of the same marketing choices, particularly "Ocean's 8."
"Ocean's 8" is actually a spin-off from the Ocean's 11 trilogy from the early 2000s (helmed by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon) which is notably a reboot of the original 1960s heist movie that starred Frank Sinatra. "Ocean's 8" follows Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the sister of Danny Ocean as she plans to steal from the Met Gala with eight other women on her team.
The first trailer garnered a similar reaction that the "Ghostbusters" reboot experienced, yet there seems to be more optimism for the spin-off which can probably be attributed to the fact that the movies features the acting styles of Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, among other big names. Plus the first trailer seemed to fit well within the style of the more or less original trilogy.
The problem with this reaction to these female led movies is the fact that people can be too invested into the original source material that sometimes they refuse to really give them a chance. Even worse is the fact that when these female led movies are announced, some people react with the mind set that it is just pandering to a feminist agenda within Hollywood which, even though that's a possibility, diminishes the hard work that everyone has put into making a movie with a little more inclusivity into genres of film that have been notably dominated by men.
Maybe these classic movies are already perfect, but what is the harm in women getting in on the action of these classics. The original still exists and it should be well established by now that your childhoods are not safe from being "ruined" by any sort of media. Maybe give these female movies a chance before completely writing them off as being terrible. This idea comes from the fact considering it took super long for a decent female super hero movie to be made, due to the fact that no one had faith in the idea until "Wonder Woman" got released, when people already decide that female led movies are bad before even watching them it becomes harder and harder for actual representation to push forward in media.
As soon as I read your headline, I immediately thought of what transpired after the release of the all-women Ghostbusters film. The backlash that was received in rebooting the film series into something different with an all women cast was really disappointing to see. Even though I didn't see the movie, I'm sure it was on par with the movies that were made three decades ago. I have the same feeling for Ocean's 8 with some of the biggest names in acting set to start in this movie. I wish that the opinion of a film that carries an all women cast isn't the fact that men are put aside but the acting itself, which I'm sure will be prominent.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more when saying that inclusiveness is needed in the media and movies more than ever. The formulaic patterns that movie houses get into seem to lose their vigor after a while but revamping content with completely new and unseen casts is something that may shift and grab attention as it becomes more accepted.
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