The “Ghostbusters” trailer has the most “dislikes” in history and some think sexism is to blame
Director Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters remake is currently ranked as the most disliked movie trailer in history, and the 23rd disliked video on YouTube in general. Yikes.
This might sound a bit surprising: Paul is perhaps best known for his work on the hilarious 2011 film Bridesmaids starring Kristen Wiig, who also appears in the new Ghostbusters flick. She stars alongside fellow comedy vets Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Melissa McCarthy in a much-loved film franchise. What’s not to love?
According to YouTube users, a lot. Unsurprisingly, many of the comments on the official trailer are too vile to be printed here, but many of them revolve around anti-feminist language. This one might help to shed little light on the general attitude of the commenters: “this movie looks awesome, love the all-female cast! –trash can.”
While remaking a classic always has its risks, it’s clear from the comments that sexism is playing some part in the Ghostbusters remake bashing. A compelling read on io9 titled “Stop Calling It the ‘All-Female Ghostbusters’“ addressed some of the conceptions concerning gender that were attached to the film last July. The article made the point that this is not a chick flick or a novelty film — it’s just a movie that stars top grossing actors that happen to be female.
However, despite the high number of dislikes on YouTube, it’s not all bad news for the new Ghostbusters: The trailer had a total of 29,588,481 views at the time of publication, with only 595, 780 of those views being ranked as dislikes. So thankfully, it seems like the misogynistic rants are only a small, outspoken percentage of the general public, and that lots of people (who don’t troll YouTube comment sections) might show up to see the film in theaters this summer. If you ask us, this all-star cast is sure to slay. Ghosts, that is. Check out the trailer for yourself below: