previously posted on January 31, 2015 at imaginary people
One of my favorite shows is NBC’s Hannibal. I am a huge fan girl when it comes to the Thomas Harris Hannibal Lecter series. Silence of the Lambs is one of my top ten favorite movies ever, and if you touch my First Edition copy of the novel of the same name, which my sister found at a garage sale, I’m going to have some serious questions as to why it’s in your grubby paws. Besides, there is a later edition copy right next to it.
I could not believe Bryan Fuller was adapting a television show set in present time as a prequel to the events that take place in Red Dragon, the prequel to Silence of the Lambs. The only qualm I had was that the show is set in the 2010’s − the age of the smart phone−when the novels take place in the 80’s, so none of those wonderful fashions from the era. On the other hand, I was excited when I watched the show and saw that male characters like Dr. Alan Bloom, and Frederick Lounds would become female characters. I did not think much of it at the time. Red Dragon is very male-oriented. While the female characters are certainly more than after thoughts, they have no relation to the stories other than being of a male character, a girlfriend, wife, mother, or victim. Unfortunately, Clarice Starling does not appear until much later in the story line after Hannibal Lecter is captured. That would ruin all of the fun, wouldn’t it?
I hope that was not a spoiler for anyone reading. My point is, I was not bothered about gender changes in characters that I loved, or changes in race I might add. Lawrence Fishburne plays Jack Crawford, and Gina Torres from Firefly plays his wife. What more could you possible want in a show, except of course, Gillian Anderson.
In all of the latest rage to re-adapt every fucking thing, you have to be pretty selective or you can find yourself watching some pretty lame stuff. Live Action Flintstones, I am looking at you. I understand that some people do not want their favorite characters tampered with in any way. My final verdict of revamped Hannibal: It’s a good show but it’s a total different animal from the books. I think of it as an Alternate Universe to the plot that I know. I appreciate it the way I can appreciate fan-fiction and still love the original. Besides, Gillian Anderson is in it.
Now my fan girl education started early. My parents took us to the local drive-in to see Ghostbusters. This is one of the first movies I remember going to on the big screen. I was either four or five, and especially loved the parts with ghosts flying around, and the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man terrorizing New York. As I re-watched the movie when I got older I came to appreciate the humor of comedy legends like Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Gozer was even the inspiration for Leda, a character from my novel Sacred Fire. Even after all these years Ghostbusters had remained in my top ten.
A few days ago, news of the Ghostbusters remake began to make the rounds. For some time I have anticipated the rumors because there were whispers that there would be an all-female cast. It was announced that Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones, the black African American woman added to the SNL cast after complaints, were going to play the parts of the Ghostbusters. Once again, I did not freak out about the gender change, but a bunch of fan boys lost their shit. There was downright outrage because the fan boys started their usual name-calling. I will not go into detail but some of the subject that came up were McCarthy’s weight, McKinnon being an out lesbian, and Jones being black. The quartet was described as not being attractive enough to live up to the standard of beauty set by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis. I mean really, in the looks category their present day equivalent are the guys from The Big Bang Theory.
The fan boys wanted young, sexy Ghostbusters like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone. I suppose they wanted them to wear skimpy costumes as well. There were complaints about childhoods begin ruined. Dude, if the livelihood of your younger years hinge on a comedy-action movie you already had a bad childhood. A reboot of Ghostbusters is not going to make a difference.
Do these fan boys not abide by Internet Rule #63. For those of you who are not familiar with rule 63 of the internet, it states that for every male character there is an alternate universe with a female equivalent and vice versa. It has become a kind of sexist meme. Some of it is just wrong, but there are some Rule 63 artists and cosplayers come up with some awesome, totally nonsexist ideas. Some shows like Adventure Time have completely embraced this idea. Go on ahead and Google it. I’ll wait.
I am almost certain a woman did not come up with Rule 63, so why don’t fan boys charge any reboots with female characters to Rule 63, it was their idea in the first place. Here is alternate universe for fan boys: a world where all of the fandoms are dominated my women and girls. Everything from writing, directing, acting, artwork down to conventions are just big good-old-boy’s clubs. Males are just so much fodder, tokens dressed in armor that does not cover much, they are demeaned in every aspect, especially if they don’t look a certain way, and even more so if they don’t play by the rules.
This is my reality. I certainly did not grow up seeing myself gender, or race wise in the media. That did not stop me from turning away from genres like Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Fantasy and Horror. I have always found solace in the underdog, and a really good villain. I am happy to see that the landscape is changing, even if it is slow. Fan boys, get over yourselves. Thor is a woman now.
