Ghostbusters 1984 vs 2016

Transgressive Appropriation

The poster for the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters includes an entirely new cast of actors; instead of having the Ghostbusters themselves still being male they were played females. This caused controversy because many individuals viewed the casting choice as a way of building feminist propaganda. looking at the posters side by side the changes are noticeably different. The poster clearly confronts dominant ideologies that men are more suited for the Ghostbusters job role in the film which further constructs that men are strong, brave and courageous as well as women not being able to carry out the job.

Firstly the the ideology is confronted through the use of the female actors, it states that these women are going to be the one who save the day in this film. Even the stance that the women have show bravery and attitude and that they're ready to catch the ghosts. Compared to the first film from 1984 the roles are completely flipped; Chris Hemsworth plays Kevin who is the receptionist, who at the time played Thor in Marvel film is a dominant hero, seeing him play a role that was previously played by Annie Potts shows that he is more of a background character despite his gender usually being the dominant hero. Kevin's background position is reinforced through his background positioning on the poster as well as his relaxed pose and his hands in a gun pose stating that he doesn't have a real gun so hes not a Ghostbuster but he is part of the team, but not as significant as the female Ghostbusters.

Adding Theory 

Levi Strauss - According to Levi Strauss' Theory of Binary Opposites there is a conflict among the film and the poster itself. Having knowledge of the film I know that there is conflict between the ghosts and the humans. Also there is almost a conflict between the female Ghostbusters and those who feel that they shouldn't have changed the genders of the Ghostbusters due to sexism and personal opinions. 

Stuart Hall - Stuart Hall's Theory suggests that audiences are reduced to a few recognizable  stereotypes. In this film/poster this theory doesn't fit because the stereotypes/gender roles are completely switched. Women are usually portrayed as the "Damsel in Distress" as well as being a side character who is weak and cowardly. This film has a range of strong female actors playing the role of the previous male Ghostbusters as well as a man playing the receptionist role that was previously played by a women. It shows that men and women can preform just as well as each other no matter the role.  

David Gauntlet - The film/poster helps us construct an identity of what we feel a certain people should be like including ourselves. It helps us with the "pick & mix" approach of the theory since it meets our needs to feel liberated since both genders are represented in different ways. The theory also states that more contemporary  media products are becoming more diverse ans complex which is true. In comparison to the 1984 film women are background characters whilst the male characters are the heroes this is evidently true since the roles are flipped.