Hollywood has been remaking movies since the birth of cinema. The movie industry is riddled with them, and they taint the industry with unoriginal takes on old films. But in recent years, another trend has surfaced involving remakes — the remakes with women.
For years, Hollywood has been slammed for not producing movies with mostly female characters, so hot-shot producers thought it would be a great idea to remake iconic male-dominated movies with women as the protagonists. Though it’s great the bigwigs finally acknowledged the lack of women in lead roles, they are going about fixing the problem the wrong way.
The most talked about remake of the past few years was the 2016 version of Ghostbusters, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones. The film reversed the male roles in the 1984 classic with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. But critics said the remake did not live up to the original, which is understandable.
Remaking Ghostbusters was a bad idea in the first place. Nothing was going to live up to the original, even if men were still in the lead roles. The cast is what made the 1984 version so charming. The producers were naïve to think putting an all-female cast at the forefront of this movie would live up to its inspiration.
Ghostbusters was just the beginning of the female remake era. In 2018, a remake of the Ocean’s series is set to be released. The movie, Ocean’s Eight, features a star-studded cast comprising Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson and Awkwafina.
The Ocean’s series is another franchise known for its amazing cast, and it’s easy to see the producers of Ocean’s Eight are trying to mimic the same level of celebrity status with its cast. But that creates another problem.
Instead of giving roles to up-and-coming actresses, all of the female characters are given to the biggest names in the industry. Yes, that group of actresses will surely put on amazing performances, but what happens when those people stop acting? There are not enough roles being given to new female actresses. People grow tired of seeing the same people in every movie — it’s time to switch it up a bit.
The most recent female remake to be announced is Lord of the Flies. The adaptation of William Golding’s 1954 novel about a group of prep school boys who are stranded on an island will feature an all-female cast.
The book was adapted for the big screen in 1963 and again in 1990, but neither seemed to gain traction in the film industry. The fact the movie’s cast won’t necessarily be compared to the past adaptations is a perk of remaking the film with all women, but it’s still not a good enough reason to change the original work’s concept. Lord of the Flies works with all men, and there is nothing wrong with that. If a film is better with a male-dominated cast, so be it. It appears the movie industry is looking for problems that aren’t there.
Hollywood needs to stop feeling as if it has to meet a female quota for its movies. Remaking iconic movies with a female cast does nothing for women in the industry. It forces women to portray unoriginal roles and puts them in a position to be compared to their male counterparts. The solution is simple: Hire more female writers, have them write original female characters and let those characters stand on their own. People have been saying that for years, but I guess that’s easier said than done.
Georgia Davis is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think about female remakes? Tell Georgia by tweeting her at @georgiadee35.
